Sandboard unit
Level: Year 9 Hard Materials
Teacher: Keith Cave
School: Tauraroa Area School, Maungakaramea
Category: Classroom unit
In this 10-week (20-hour) unit, students each made a sandboard using a generic plan, with variable design elements, such as shape, colour, foot security. Production involved a range of materials and processes.
Sandboards are similar to snowboards, with binding straps to hold the feet, and are used to ride on sand dunes.
Students constructed a former, and laminated their boards using 7mm ply 'seconds'. Boards were limited to 1200mm long, which ensured that there was minimal wastage. Rough laminations were trimmed to shape and the bottom of the boards sheathed with 3oz or 6oz fibreglass cloth. Some students used nylon webbing for footstraps.
In developing this unit, Keith says he wanted students to concentrate less on brief and product development and more on construction and implementation.
"Too often I saw projects completed, marked, and disappear home, and thought I was missing a whole lump of important practice. So this project is all about implementation, trialling and testing."
The whole class spent a very enjoyable day at the beach testing and evaluating their boards and comparing their performances.
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