Happy Monday and welcome to Dive into Design! Our class is off to a great start. We had a wonderful day getting to know each other and diving into the world of measurement and design. We started off by observing assorted objects, such as dolls, paperclips, toy cars, toy food, blocks, rulers, etc., and played “Same height, Half as Tall, Twice as Tall…” where we compared objects. For example, we might have to find an object that is the same height as the doll or find an item that is half as tall as the toy car. Creativity was ignited as students considered how the orientation of an item impacted the meaning of height, length, and width. For example, the height of a doll should be measured from bottom to top, whereas an eraser’s height could be measured from top to bottom depending on its functional orientation. Objects with different attributes are measured in different ways. We discussed how a model is a physical, conceptual, or mathematical simplification of an object or process. More simply put, we defined a model as a smaller, simpler version of something touchable, an idea, or math-connected. Examples identified included drawings, blueprints, a toy robot, numbers in a math equation, and toy cars. We got into groups to explore examples of models and talked about why people need models. Some ideas shared were that models help show us things that are too big or too expensive. Models help us learn about things that can be dangerous or not safe to have, and some models help us experiment on things we can’t always experiment on – like living things. What models can you find around your home?

In the afternoon, we discovered our challenge for the week:

“A swimming pool is about to be built in your neighborhood! The architect and construction workers need your help to figure out how to build it. The community has had several meetings to decide how to design the pool, but everyone seems to have different ideas about how deep the pool should be, what shape it should have, and what special features would be important. The adults cannot seem to agree on a design, so now the architect has decided to ask you for your ideas!”

We dissected what we knew, what we needed to know, and how we could learn about what we need to know to successfully build a pool model. We then began the first steps in the engineering design process:

We got into groups to brainstorm various shapes of swimming pools, features that swimming pools and swimming areas can have, and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of how deep or shallow a pool should be. Ask your learner about their initial pool model ideas!

Tomorrow, we’ll sketch our first individual designs and investigate 2D shapes, 3D shapes, and dive deep into measurement!

Here are some dinner table discussion questions:

Have a great evening!

Ms. Courtney and Kat