Re-examine the data and ideas collected in the class science journal over the course of the teaching sequence.

Discuss what conclusions students have drawn about materials and how their size, shape, colour etc. can be physically changed, whilst the material itself remains the same.

Refer to the image gallery of sculptures from the Launch phase. Discuss again the materials used and how those materials were changed. Challenge students to think more deeply about what they are observing in the sculptures.

Using the steps of the design thinking process, students use their understanding of materials and how they can be physically changed to design a 3D sculpture or model. You might present students with a design brief to outline what you would like them to do. Consider if you will add some parameters around the design (for example, it needs to contain materials that have been bent, folded and stretched). Consider if the sculpture created should adhere to a specific theme related to your school or community context.

Define

Outline the problem in a simple manner such as:

How can we … (use and physically change everyday materials) ... to ... (design a sculpture/model)…for…(a sculpture walk/garden/display)?

Ideate

Brainstorm ideas related to the design of the sculpture. At this stage, to support creative thinking, every idea offered by students should be recorded in the class science journal. No idea is discounted, as the practicality/possibility of each idea will be considered later.

As students offer ideas, ask probing questions (Why do you think … or How do you know that…) to draw out the reasoning and evidence behind the idea.

Once all ideas are listed discuss which ones might be easy to include in a design and which ones might not be.

Introduce the criteria for which the designs will be assessed. Invite students to add to these criteria if appropriate.

Prototype

Students draw a design of their sculpture. Their design should include clear labels stating the materials used and how they will be changed.

Once students have drawn a design, they should build using their materials. Encourage students to use a variety of methods to connect different materials together, including sticky tape, glue, toothpicks etc.

Optional: Students are provided opportunities to share their ideas so they might receive peer feedback.

Test and share

Students share their designs with an appropriate audience, describing the materials used and how they were changed. You might do this by organising a class or community art show, by recording video of students displaying and discussing their artwork, or taking photographs of each artwork for students to annotate.

Consider how students might communicate their ideas about their sculpture/model with their audience. They might record a short video that can be watched as their sculpture/model is viewed, write a description to appear with their sculpture/model, stand alongside it and answer questions from the audience directly, or any combination of these.

Reflect on this sequence

You might:

• refer back to the list of student questions asked in the Launch phase. Determine which questions have been answered over the course of the learning sequence, what the ‘answers’ to the questions are, and the evidence that supports these claims. Address questions that have not been answered during the learning sequence, discuss why they might not have been addressed and potential investigations that might support students to answer them.
• consider what students have learnt about how materials can be changed, the factors that might determine how easy it is to make these changes, and how, despite these changes the materials remains the same. Ask students to represent this learning in words, symbols and pictures.
• discuss why it’s important to have a good understanding of materials and how they can be changed. What kinds of jobs would require you to understand this? What about in your everyday life?