Lesson 4 Furniture design
Furniture design
| Overview | Resources |
| Pupils use data handling in practical settings requiring measurement and per pair, all in the selection of typical values. They build on their intuitive understanding of median and range as the chosen descriptors (statistics) for the data. The familiar context of furniture provides a concrete basis for the deeper Worksheets 1-4 thinking and challenges. | Furniture/wardrobe catalogues or pictures (optional) Measuring tapes, one per pair, all in the same scale Worksheets 1-4 |
| Aims | Curriculum links |
|
|
|
| Note | |
| Concepts handled in this early CAME practical lesson can be rehearsed after the lesson both at school and at home, and offer greater scope for transfer into other contexts. Alongside this it is building an understanding of 3-D concepts through physical measurements and therefore forms a useful basis for the future development of the 3-D coordinate system. There are two areas of focus for TM 4: handling 3-D space in relation to personal measurements, and finding typical measurements in a batch of data. | |
| Episode 1 | |
| Wardrobe design | |
| Here pupils are introduced to the task of designing (quantifying and drawing) a wardrobe of suitable dimensions for an ‘average’ pupil in the class. The terms are introduced and dimensions qualified through the pupils’ individual drawings. | |
| Episode 2 | |
| Physical measurement and finding the middle | |
| In pairs the pupils collect their personal measurements of length, width and height. After this they work in groups of 3,4 or 5 to find the ‘middle’ The whole class now find the middle (median) value and the confusion between median and mean is aired and discussed. The episode ends with a discussion concerning the problem of measurements to suit everyone, This is a good stopping point that will allow further thinking at home, and is also a good introduction to Episode 3. | |
| Episode 3 (Extension) | |
| 'What about beds and doors?' | |
| Here the challenge is for the pupils to decide upon the dimensions of the doors and beds for a new house. They have to see that this is not a case of ‘middle’ measurements. But what they are and how we decide upon a good way of describing them should open up a whole new way of looking at the use of data handling in the world around them. |
|