Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: Importance of assessment

25 minutes

Find Out: Ideate and design

15 minutes

Take Action: Assessing for success

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

generate design ideas for a specific user and purpose.

Success criteria

Students can:

generate and communicate design ideas through visual representations
identify materials, tools and processes required to implement their design.

Tune In: Importance of assessment

Step 1

Over the last 2 lessons, students have explored the design process and learned what goes into creating assistive devices, including assessing assistive device designs – a crucial step in the process. Now, pose the following question to the students: Why is assessing devices important?

Invite students to share their insights with the class. If needed, support their discussion with the following suggested responses:

Assessing devices is important to:

ensure the device works in the way it is intended to
find out what needs improving
ensure it is safe and comfortable for the end user
analyse quality and reliability
check it meets the design criteria.

Step 2

In pairs, instruct students to choose an everyday object that is readily available in the classroom (for example, a pencil case, drink bottle, pair of scissors) and complete a quick ‘mini assessment’ of it. Lead students to answer the following questions together:

Does it work the way it’s intended to?
Is it safe, reliable, and comfortable to use?
What could be improved?

Step 3

After 3-4 minutes, invite a few pairs to share what they discovered, helping students see why testing and assessment are essential parts of the design process. Explain to students that without these steps, designers have no real way of knowing whether their product actually does what it’s supposed to do.

Assessment provides designers with the opportunity to observe, collect feedback, and implement improvements. It’s how ideas turn into effective, real-world solutions. Without assessment, a design is just a guess. However, with testing and evaluation, it becomes a proven solution that meets people’s needs.

Step 4

As a class, watch the following videos, which demonstrate what can occur when a product is not tested and assessed:

I made a lipstick robot – (youtube.com/watch?v=WcW70-6eQcY)

The Breakfast Machine – (youtube.com/watch?v=E2evC2xTNWg)

Step 5

After watching the videos, ask students to discuss with the person sitting next to them what they noticed about these designs. Allow students 3 minutes to discuss and then ask for volunteers to share their ideas with the class.

Suggested responses could include that the designs:

show what happens when you don’t test your ideas and make changes to improve your design
were creative and funny, but didn’t work the way they were intended to
were complicated for a task such as putting on lipstick or making breakfast
looked great in theory, but in practice, they were messy or unreliable
showed that just because you have an idea, it doesn’t mean it will work the first time
tried to solve a problem but made the process harder, not easier.

Explain to the students that a product or design can often seem perfect in the ideation and design stages, but it is not until it is tested and assessed that the designer becomes aware of whether the design is working as intended and what changes are needed.

Learning extension: Ask students to imagine they are the designers of each of these devices. What changes would they make in the next iteration of the design to ensure the devices work the way they are supposed to?

Find Out: Ideate and design

Step 1

Invite the class to revisit the profiles. Explain to students that their task is to select 1 profile. Using the Student Worksheet, students will design and ideate an assistive device that supports their chosen person in completing a specific task related to their life or interests.

Ask for verbal suggestions of devices students may choose to design and ideate. Suggestions could include an assistive device:

to support Aaliyah with painting
that helps Ana turn pages in her book, or a tool to support her with cooking
that helps Noah paddle out in the surf, and can be of support when waxing his surfboard
to support Jack in feeding his daughter with a bottle and/or to assist with taking photos.

Allow students 15 minutes to design and ideate their assistive device or tool.

Step 2

Once students have completed the ideation stage of their design by sketching their device or tool, ask them to begin annotating their design to include the materials, tools, and processes they will use in the next design stage: constructing their design.

While working, encourage students to use their devices to research which materials, tools and processes they would like to use for their design.

Step 3

Ask students to pair up and present their designs to each other. Encourage students to seek feedback and constructive criticism about their design, materials, tools, and chosen processes.

Learning support: To help scaffold student thinking, provide the following feedback sentence starters to students who need additional support with this task:

One thing I really like about your design is…
One part that could be improved is…
I’m curious about how you will…
Have you thought about trying…?
This part seems strong because…

Take Action: Assessing for success

Step 1

Students will now assess their designs against the criteria of sustainability, aesthetics, functionality, and accessibility using the assessment tool they created in Lesson 2: Design Your Device. Ask students to retrieve their assessment tools and begin evaluating their assistive device design using these.

Allow 10 minutes for students to complete this assessment.

Step 2

Ask students to gather in the same pairs they were in for the previous task and to swap assistive device designs. Ask students to imagine that they are going to be the end user of their partner's device and to answer the following questions about the device:

Would you be happy with this assistive device?
How would you feel using this assistive device?
Would you feel comfortable and confident using this assistive device in public?
Are there any changes you would make to this assistive device?

Reflection

Ask the students to reflect on the task of designing an assistive device. Out of the 4 criteria that students have been focusing on (sustainability, aesthetics, functionality and accessibility), invite students to reflect on what has been the hardest to meet during the design process, and why.

Encourage students to consider the materials they need for their prototype, and ask students to collect as many materials from home as possible before the next lesson. This could include:

cardboard
recycled plastic milk bottles, boxes or tins
toilet and paper towel rolls
wire
wood

Designing with Purpose

Go to

Summary

Learning intentions

Success criteria

Lesson Guides and Printables

Lesson Details

Skills Required

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Additional Information

Related Professional Learning

In this lesson