Ready for action?
Resources
Tangible Resources
Resistant materials, graphic materials, electronic components, workshop tools and equipment
Human Resources
Technical support staff
Preparation
Prepare materials, set up electronics workstations.
Goals, messages & concepts
Specific goals
- To recognise the different values of ‘wants’ and ‘needs’ in product design.
- To build a technical prototype of the design by applying new electronics skills.
- To be a reflective learner by rigorously testing and evaluating each iteration of the design to improve it.
Specific messages
- Some elements of a design idea are essential to its success, and some are ‘nice to have’.
- Testing, evaluation and using the opinions of others improves a design.
- Failure is a valuable part of designing which you can learn from.
Main terms
- iteration
- prototype
- test
- evaluate
- needs
- wants
Practices & skills
STEM practices
- Analysing and interpreting data
- Constructing explanations and designing solutions
- Developing and using models
- Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
- Asking questions and defining problems
- Planning and carrying out investigations
Soft skills
- Dealing with uncertainty
- Learning failure is a part of learning
- Teamwork and collaboration
Management skills
- Planning
- Use of resources
Course of activity
step 1
Students will produce their prototype according to their plan with guidance from their teacher. Students will evaluate successes and failures at the end of each making session in order to inform their plan and progress in the next session.
step 2
Further development the model/prototype to include electronic components:
- Gather materials
- Divide task and roles
- Discuss the difference between needs and wishes.
- Need: What requirements must the design meet? Which requirements decide which solutions actually solve the problem.
- Wish: What requirements could the design meet? What's positive about the project? Which wishes can the student use to assess which solutions are better than others.
step 3
Test model/prototype - Students don't have to test the entire function of a design at once. They can break down what a design should do into its component parts and test each part individually.
- What should it be able to do? Encourage students to think about what their design needs to be able to work well.
- Ask students to think about whether and how they could test the function of their prototype(s). What is required to be able to test? Is anything extra needed?
- Students choose which parts to actually test. When choosing, they pay attention to whether these elements are important for the operation and whether they can test it properly.
- Students carry out their test plan part by part and record the results.
step 4
Add electronic parts – When students have tested their prototype and are satisfied with the results they can add in electrical parts like sensors, motors, LEDs, etc.
- Students think of which part of their model they want to improve with electronics and what they need to make it work.
- Students will explore different solutions and choose the best one to implement.
step 5
Test model/prototype with electronics - by trial, error and testing, teams will gain a deeper insight into the inner workings of their design and in doing so they will uncover new questions about the solution and areas that could be improved.
step 6
Receive feedback from the teacher.
step 7
Fine-tune final prototype.