Last week Division 7 embarked on a journey in ADST (Applied Design Skills and Technology) to design a first-class paper airplane. Ms. Rudolph, in the library, guided students in a lesson about the four forces of flight: drag, lift, gravity, and thrust.
Students explored different designs through the links:
On our second day, students were tasked with applying what they learned from the first day to create their own designs. Interestingly, students really wanted to use the iPads again to watch the instructions. It was a stretch for them to have the confidence to experiment with design elements on their own. Tasks like this encourage children to rely on their own thinking and think critically through mistakes, figuring out other approaches as they work through the design cycle.
Steps:
- Learn concepts.
- Look at examples and explore design elements used by others.
- Apply concepts to develop own designs.
- Test, revise, test again.