Investigation prior to 'Design and Make'
Background
Teacher: Jan Hancock, Penshurst West Public School
My 5/6 class started a Science and Technology unit of work on `Space' while I was on leave from school. When I returned I talked to them about what they had been doing and what they had learned. The students had completed some research and were keen to continue working in this area. Most students had completed an information report on one of the planets of our solar system. I questioned them about their understandings of the relationship between planets, stars, solar systems and galaxies.
A photograph of the Andromeda Galaxy was on display in the classroom. We speculated about how many solar systems exist there and whether it was possible to find out. This was an excellent opportunity to allow students to do some designing and making. Through some relevant design tasks, I would be able to see what students understood about different planetary conditions and how these might affect humans and other living things. I decided that I would work with students to establish some common understandings about what the design process was about. Then we would undertake some designing and making tasks, which would build on the understandings that students had gained through investigating.
Commentary
In Science and Technology the processes of investigating, designing and making, and using technology are often interdependent. Designing and making will often provide a purpose for investigation, and investigation will often lead to opportunities for designing and making. Tasks will not always follow a neat sequence of designing and making and investigating, but may necessitate moving flexibly between these processes based on what students need to find out and to design for specific purposes. Using technology will often be an integral part of both of these processes.
Unit Tasks
- Investigate a planet in our solar system.
- Find out and record the main features of this planet, considering why it could or could not support life. Present this information report to your peers.
- Investigate what the design process is about.
- Examine a diagram illustrating the design process, then relate the steps to the task at hand. Compare this design process with the processes used by others in designing products and systems. What are the important things you need to consider when designing?
- Work with others to design and make a model of a settlement on an imagined planet in another solar system.
- Consider what type of planet it is and the type of sun it has. Decide on its location in the solar system and the environment in which the settlement will be developed.
- Design brief
- Imagine that Earth is no longer able to support its population. Scientists have asked you to locate a planet in another solar system where you feel humans may be able to start a settlement.
You will need to investigate:
- planets outside our solar system
- our needs and how these are satisfied
- cycles in nature
- space travel
- how to draw a plan.
Having carried out your investigation, you are asked to design a suitable settlement. It must cater for all these needs and take planetary conditions into account.
You will need to write:
- labels for parts of your design
- an explanation of your design
- a procedural text outlining the steps in constructing or using a form of technology on your planet.
Commentary
Units of work can give students opportunities to develop skills and understandings beyond the focus key learning area. In this unit, students wrote information reports, explanations and procedures within the meaningful context of learning about space and the conditions necessary to maintain living things.
Effective integration is based on the consideration of appropriate teaching/learning tasks that enhance students' ability to transfer skills, knowledge and understandings in a meaningful way. Decisions about integration need to be based on assisting learning rather than on the need to cover all key learning areas in a unit of work.
Investigation Prior to the Design and Make Task
Before students started their model of a settlement for an imagined planet, we needed to clarify understandings about what a solar system is. As part of this, we discussed how stars can vary in size, temperature and age, and that this influences the types of planet in their solar systems. In addition to this, we needed to identify the factors that enable life to exist on Earth. We looked at our basic needs and identified them as:
- air
- food
- water
- light/heat
- shelter/protection.
In order to create a similar environment on an imaginary planet, we decided to investigate:
- where our water comes from
- what makes things grow
- how energy is produced
- how our food is produced
- what air is.
We investigated the water cycle, the carbon/oxygen cycle and the place of the nitrogen cycle in the development of new cells for animal and plant growth.
Student's diagram, with labels demonstrating the nitrogen cycle. Click on image for an enlarged view.
As a class, we investigated these cycles in a range of ways. We used Wonderful World of Plants - four big books, with accompanying small books, from the `Science Alive' series (Rigby Heinemann, 1995). We also used a range of fact sheets I'd developed previously for a horticulture unit. We shared the findings about how our needs are satisfied and cycles in nature. Luckily, some students who were in my class the previous year were able to draw on their understandings from the horticulture unit to help other class members. Through this, an environmental focus became an important part of the investigation, as students became aware of the importance of conserving and maintaining these cycles.
Commentary
Students can investigate in various ways. For example, they can communicate with other through interviews, surveys and telecommunications. Investigation can involve the use of reference material, both paper-based and electronic. Through investigation, students develop a range of information skills, which include locating information, recording key ideas and analysing data. Students need to develop skills in evaluating information by considering consistency, reliability and accuracy. Recognising the need to verify what they have found out and planning ways to do this are crucial aspects of investigating.
Reference
Wonderful World of Plants (`Science Alive' series), Rigby Heinemann, Melbourne, 1995.