THE HERB FARM REVISITED
Curriculum Links – Primary level
Technological products: Level 3
Achievement Objective: Students will understand the relationship between the materials used and their performance properties in technological products.
Teacher Guidance: Work with students to examine how certain materials perform in particular ways! Do they always perform the same way?
Activities
Teacher/students provide different examples of products and then examine them to see how they perform. Results are tabulated and students suggest suitable uses:
- bags (plastic/paper/cloth): test strength, porosity, resistance to heat, tear-resistance
- socks: test for warmth, odour prevention, drying time.
- various materials, such a tinfoil, rubber, plastic for insulation properties: Which, when wrapped around a tin of hot water, will keep it hotter that room temperature the longest?
What happens when the environment is changed or another variable is added?
For example:
- wet material compared with dry
- baked compared with raw
- cold compared with hot
Research the commercial use of materials. Example of 'what', 'why' inquiry questions:
- What types of flour are used in breads?
- Why do tyres have rubber compounds?
- Why are there metal strips around power poles?
Investigate how some materials perform certain tasks better than others:
- Construct a simple circuit. Remove a piece of conductive material and find how many replacements can be found. Some will conduct electrons but not as well. Examine the role of insulators and resistors.
Technologists sometimes use materials for models which are different from the materials used in prototypes (finished products). Students investigate this by:
- Constructing structures from paper ( bridges, buildings) to experiment with shape concepts.
- Using simple CAD programmes such as Google Sketchup to create models of possible structures-school seating, playgrounds etc.
Students experiment to attempt to change attributes of a product or materials. For example:
- change the surface of a piece of wood from rough to smooth
- change a sheet of newspaper from flimsy to strong
- change a cake mixture from 'neutral' to sweet
- change the edge of a chosen material to become tear-resistant.
- change a chosen food to become more nutritious
- change paper to become waterproof
The teacher provides examples of commercial products, briefly explains their purpose and the students suggest attributes. Then students examine the products to determine how accurate they are. Possible products include:
- face cream (soothing, healing, cool, sticky...)
- toothpaste
- machine oil
- plastic bag/cloth/hemp...
- shampoo
- wholemeal flour
- burn treatment
- socks made with different material
- a new type of chocolate.
Curriculum Links
Primary: Tech Products: Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Vocab | Branding - Level 3/4
Secondary level: Senior discussion questions
