THE HERB FARM REVISITED
Curriculum Links – Primary level
Technological products: Level 2
Achievement Objective: Students will understand that there is a relationship between a material used and its performance properties in a technological product.
Teacher Guidance: Identify what makes a 'technological product'. Students need to be able to understand that the product is a result of people wanting to meet a need or opportunity.
Activities
Bring everyday items to class and discuss:
- Why were they made?
- How well do they meet the need?
Possible inquiries:
- Cardboard and plastic has replaced glass for storing milk. Why?
- Students have clothes made from different materials. Why?
- Which is more useful, plastic, cotton, or paper for making shopping bags? Which carries the heaviest load?
Provide a range of materials and have students experiment and report on their performance qualities. This could be in verbal, written or graphic form.
Vocabulary
Conductivity, water resistance, texture, flexibility, ductile, durable, absorbent, flammable etc.
Provide students with various grades of paper, card, plastic or linen and ask them to determine which would be suitable to carry a store sandwiches in.
Provide a variety of products and work with students to identify the how the materials they are made from perform. For example:
- dismantle a torch and remove the reflector . Conversely make a simple torch with a battery and bulb and select the best material for the reflector.
- fill various containers with warm water to examine their conductive properties. Which would be best to protect skin from burns?
- test various coloured shirts to see which would be the most visible for cyclists.
- make batches of scones and vary the types of flour to examine taste, texture, binding properties etc.
Curriculum Links
Primary: Tech Products: Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Vocab | Branding - Level 3/4
Secondary level: Senior discussion questions
