Casting in pewter
Class: Year 10 Hard Materials
Teacher: Keith Cave
School: Tauraroa Area School, Maungakaramea
Category: Skill development
Because Tauraroa Area School near Whangarei, teaches core classes at Year 10, Keith felt it was important to present students with a unit that would appeal to them, but at the same time demand they pay attention to quality.
"I wanted to impress standards on the students that would stand them in good stead if they choose Technology as a Year 11 option."
He also wanted to use the unit to introduce the new strands of the revised curriculum and widen the range of materials Year 10 students conventionally used.
The idea of having his class design and cast pewter ornaments came from something Keith had seen at a neighbouring school."I stole the practical idea from Martin Bassett at Kamo High School and adapted the unit to suit," he said.
Simple moulds were made by cutting shapes into small squares of 5mm MDF with a bow saw. A pouring hole and air hole were formed in the top of the moulds and then a base put on. The pewter was melted on a gas camping stove in an old pot.
"In the Knowledge Strand, we looked at technological products and performance qualities of the outcomes, their high quality finish and their suitability for purpose. In the Nature Strand, we looked at fitness for purpose and the functional versus aesthetic nature of design."
The students completed different exercises on the theme, analysed their final design in terms of form and function, and completed a homework assignment on the topic.
RSS Feed
