How the World Works 2021-22

The Central Idea: The design of a structure is based on its purpose.

Lines of Inquiry:

  • exploring design around us. (connection) 
  • identifying how designs have met their purpose (Function) 
  • using scientific principles to problem solve and design structures (causation)

Related Concept: Purpose

Learner Profile: Thinkers, Caring, Risk-takers

ATL’s: Thinking Skills, Self-management Skills

 

Story #1

Paper Power Challenge!

Explore materials and their properties to build a BRIDGE!

1) Watch the video for instructions.

You will need:

  • one A4 regular paper (NO Card)
  • some books
  • some coins

2) Design and build your own bridge.

3) Reflect:

  • on what you did (the design of your structure)
  • on how it helped you hold the coins

 

Student Responses!

 

 

Story #2

Creating Structures with Shapes

The students were invited to recreate a structure using shapes.

TASK:

  1. Choose a structure that you would like to recreate with shapes. Recreate it

Three Options:

  • Option 2: Use paper shapes to create a collage

  • Option 3: Use play dough or clay

  • 2. Create a table showing all the different shapes you have used.

Student Responses

Through this experience, students were learning that:

  • information can be expressed as organised and structured data 
  • geometric shapes and associated vocabulary are useful for representing and describing objects in real-world situations
  • specific vocabulary can be used to describe an objects position in space
  • shapes can be transformed in different ways

 

Story #3

Structures Around the World

The students have been exploring shapes in structures. We wondered what we already know about these structures. The students worked in groups to share their ideas.

  • What do you already know about these structures?
  • What questions do you have? 

Group A Brainstorm 

What we already know about these structures:

  • These structures are tall.
  • They are all popular structures.
  • These structures are in different countries.
  • Bridges go across the water. They help people go across from one side to the other.
  • The bridges are tall, because if the water comes up then the cars will go under the water, so they need to be tall.
  • They use hard things like metal and brick because they are strong and the people and cars will not drown in the water.
  • The bridge is made out of metal and concrete. Concrete is very hard so the car can go on it.
  • We use iron because it is hard.
  • They might use bricks and metal.
  • Some structures might be made of one material.

Questions we have about these structures:

  • What are these structures (structure 1)?
  • What did they use to make these structures?
  • Where, or what country is the first structure in?
  • How are structures made?
  • What materials were used to make the Eiffel tower?

Group B Brainstorm 

What we already know about these structures:

  • My structure is a bridge. A bridge helps people to cross the river.
  • All these structures are made of different shapes, like sphere, triangle, rectangle, rectangular prism, circle etc.
  • We need to use technology to build these structures. They help our life. We work more easily. A sailboat helps us to go across waters.
  • These structures are located in different places.
  • The spaceship helps us to go to the outer space so we can see things in the outer space.
  • They all look special.
  • They are different in shapes, they are made by different people in different places of the world, and they can look complicated using tricky shapes.
  • Some of them are big and some of them are high.
  • They are all famous, pretty, and unusual structures. People talk to each other about them so more and more people get to know these structures.
  • They have different shapes and different colours to make them more pretty. They do not use too many colours because that would make people dizzy.

Questions we have about these structures:

  • Why do people build these structures?
  • What do people do on the structures?
  • Why are some of the structures big?
  • What do people need structures for?
  • How can the people build a bridge across the river?
  • How do these structures help us?
  • Why do these structures look so difficult? How can they build such difficult structures?

Group C Brainstorm 

What we already know about these structures:

  • Some of the buildings are big and tall.
  • Some of the buildings have spheres.
  • I know they are tall buildings because I saw a tower line the one with the circles (3).
  • These are made out of shapes like cylinders, cones and cubes.
  • I know they are made of different sizes and many people can visit them. I think they are very tall and everyone wants to see it.
  • The building (3) has very funny shapes, this building is in China.
  • All buildings are made out of concrete. Concrete is like cement. Cement is really hard so that the house stands tall. Cement is really heavy.
  • I know it is made out of clay and some are made out of glass because picture 5 is wide white and it looks like it has clay and picture 3m the bottom has 5 cylinders shapes and that is why I think it has a glass.
  • All the different constructions are famous ones from different countries. They are famous because, picture 1 is a landmark from France, picture 2 is from Australia, picture 4 is from the Netherlands.
  • Picture 4, this is used for dumping water. They are used in many countries.
  • Picture 2 is kind of like a house because houses have the roof just like that. And the rest are not houses, they are buildings. The pictures 1,3 and 5 are really tall, but picture 4 is like it has wings on it, it is like a fan that goes round and round.
  • Picture 5 is the Sydney Opera House.

Questions we have about these structures:

  • Why do people make towers?
  • Why are some of these towers tall and some short?
  • Picture 5, how is that tower not falling because it is leaning?
  • Why do they need to be tall? – Why do people like to build tall and big structures?
  • Do people like to build tall towers? – Picture 3, there are little wooden rectangles, have they used glass or is there nothing inside?
  • Who built the towers? Who made the 1st tower?
  • Why are these towers made out of shapes?
  • Do people like towers made out of shapes?
  • How are towers made?
  • Which is the oldest and latest tower?
  • Number 5 is the oldest and number 3 is the latest building.

Next, the students used guiding questions and sentence starters to write about the structures they had chosen to recreate with shapes.  

Form:

Name it! What is your structure? My structure is…

Describe it! It is…

Structure: What materials have been used to create it? Why?

Purpose/Function: What is it used for? How does it work?

Connection: How is it connected to us?

 

How might we use new vocabulary to talk about our own structures? 

 

 

Story #4

What are Structures?

We documented our initial ideas about structures

  • Seolah “Like a building. Like a bridge.” 
  • Yuchan “Some building that is manmade.”
  • Hyun Seo “It can be high and low and it is like a building.”    
  • Agata “A structure can be a tower.”  
  • Lawrence “Something that is manmade to help people.”  
  • Ethan “Some structures are hard to break.”  
  • Seungbin: Structure is like a building.
  • Amber: Structures sometimes can be tall. They build it to be tall.
  • Eirinn: Structures can be small or tall.
  • Ella: It’s something that people build to go in or to look at.
  • Fedo: Structures can have different shapes.
  • Yuki: Structure is building.
  • Gihyeon “Something that a car can go on, it can go somewhere like over the river or ocean. We can go to in the elevator and up to the tower.  
  • Hayoon “Can be a tower or a building or a castle and bridges.”  
  • Alejandra “Like a building that people can go in and play or eat. Then you can stay in the same place without leaving the building. You need a ticket to go into Disneyland. That castle is only for looking and playing inside. Kids and adults might want to know what an actual castle looks like in real life so then they want to go in. You can do some activities in there.”  
  • Diego “A place that people need structures because they want to live in there like a hotel. If they go to another county then they can live in a hotel.  
  • Grace “Something hard or something can go inside or something you cannot go inside. Disney castle is a structure you can go into. You can’t go into structures to rest and eat snacks like the Eiffel tower.  

Next, listened to the story ‘Iggy Peck, Architect‘ by Andrea Beaty. 

Then, we continued to add to our ideas.   

  • Seolah “Like a famous building.” 
  • Yuchan “A model of something.  
  • Hyun Seo “Something is manmade and they use materials to make it.”    
  • Agata “A building could be a model. They might be building cities for other people to go into the structures. They can be outside the city. If you are in a city and close to the building you can go there easily but if you need to go into a building you need to travel to a city.”  
  • Lawrence “It can help people to cross the ocean or go to outer space like a rocket. They use metal to make the rocket.”  
  • Ethan “Some structures are like towers and towers might have metal and it is very hard so it is hard to break. They use nails and put the nails in the metal and connect things.”  
  • Seungbin: Structures could use any material like diapers, sticks, or blocks. 
  • Amber: Structure can be made out of anything. Structures can be made of art. You can make a structure with clay, just like art work. 
  • Eirinn: You can make structures out of lego, sticks, and even fruits. Buildings can be old and new. Some buildings are old-style, but they can be newly built. 
  • Ella: Structures can be things that help us go in or keep safe. There are many purposes or reasons for people to build structures. There are many famous structures in the world, such as landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, the Great Sphinx and so on.  
  • Fedo: Structures can be made with different materials like wood, stone, sticks and everything else that they can have. 
  • Yuki: Structures can be made from concrete, just like buildings that people live in Japan. Structures can be hard things. 
  • Hayoon “We can make structures with almost everything!” 
  • Grace “You can use materials around you like tree trunks, sticks or mud.” 
  • Alejandra “You can also use materials like pillows and stuffed animals and glue to build structures. You can use chalk and pencils.” 
  • Gihyeon “We don’t always use glue, we can also use honey to stick things together.”
    Diego “Structures can not just be bridges and buildings.”  

This led to a discussions about structures with the students sharing examples of structures

Then, the students went off to design and create like architects

 

 

Story #5

The Tower Challenge!

Explore materials and their properties to build the Tallest Tower!

TASK:

1. Watch the video for instructions.

You will need:

  • 50 toothpicks
  • a material that can hold the toothpicks together (suggestions: tape, clay, play dough)

2. Design and build your tower

3. Measure your tower in centimeters (cms)

4. Reflect:

  • on what you did (the design of your structure)
  • on what you learned about the materials and structure

 

What we learned…

 

 

Story #6

Design Challenge – The SNOOP Family Home!

The Brief:

Your task is to PLAN and then use any type of Lego or any other building material to CREATE a home for the SNOOP family. They have made a list of requirements. Think of how you might design and create a strong, safe and beautiful home for them.

The home:

  • should be 2 floors high (don’t forget the staircase!)
  • each floor should have 2 rooms
  • will need a chimney as they want a fireplace
  • must have lots of windows to let the cool breeze in
  • should have a beautiful garden with two big trees
  • should include an outdoor kennel for the their pet dog ‘Woof’
  • must have a two-door garage to park their two cars
  • an outdoor pool

1) Make a PLAN on paper.

2) Use building materials to CREATE the structure. Make sure you think of ALL the requirements to make a safe, strong and beautiful home.

What do we need to know about building structures?

We watched ‘Look at That Building!: A First Book of Structures‘ by Scot Ritchie. 

This wonderful picture book introduces young learners to basic construction concepts through the eyes of five friends keen on building a doghouse for their pet pooch, Max. Many important concepts, and vocabulary are explored through this simple picture book. 

Snoop Family Home Designs and Final Structures

 

Story #7

Design Challenge – Obstacles and Prototypes

If you could design any structure in the world, what would it be?

The students began to create their design plans, labelling and providing important information about the ‘purpose’ of their structure.

Challenges and Obstacles:

The students shared their first plans with a learning buddy. They interviewed each other, asking challenging and thought-provoking questions about the design, materials and its purpose.

Then, they were encouraged to think about the ‘challenges’ or obstacles they foresee in their own design. They identified this using a red sticker. The students presented their challenges to the class.

Their next step would be to create a prototype of their design. They would need to apply the knowledge they have about materials, and use the skills they have gained through the different design challenges they have experienced during the unit, to complete the task.

Conceptual Understandings:

– we solve problems during the creative process by thinking critically and imaginatively

– designs grow out of natural curiosity 

 

Story #8

Presenting the Prototypes

The students have been working on their prototypes over the last few weeks. They were ready to present their prototypes to the class. 

Success Criteria

Then, the students reflected on their learning journey.