Process
Hello again young engineers! I would like to thank you once again for choosing to help us design the next Ford Mustang.
I have been told that you know your three dimensional (3D) shapes quite well. So I know you will do amazing at step 1. After completeing step 1 you will then move onto learning about measuring with standard units.
Good luck and show me your best,
- From the Mustang enginerring team.
The steps and tasks are to be competed by yourself unless you are told differently.
Please click HERE to find the rubric. Do this before you start and while you are completing the steps to make sure you are doing the right thing and are on the right track. The rubric is what will be used to mark your work.
Prior Knowledge (what you have already learnt)
Step 1
You will need to revise what you already know about 3D shapes so you can make the best Mustang design yet. To start your revision, click on the play button on the video below. Watch it two or three times if you think you need to.
Don't forget to look at the rubric HERE.
Now use your knowledge of shapes and their properties to help save the human race from evil robots in the game below. Just click on the picture to open the game.
Now that you remeber everything to do with 3D shapes, you get to make some shapes from their nets. When designing your Mustang you will have to work as a team to get many ideas and make the job easier. You now have a chance to show how you can work as a team so you will need to move into groups of five. Each group is to collect the nets below from your teacher and work together to make the nets into their shapes.
Well done, your 3D shapes are excellent. Now lets see how good your team skills really are. Each group is to draw two nets of any 3D shapes and make them into the actual shape. For example if you were to choose a cube you would draw the net of a cube with its tabs, cut it out and glue it together. Make sure you don't use a ruler to measure, you can use objects such a pencils though. Take a picture of all of your 3D shapes and email it to your teacher along with the names of the students in the group.
This is the end of the first step. It should have taken you about one lesson but when you have finished move onto step 2.
New Knowledge (what you will learn)
Step 2
Good engineers need to be able to measure so that their designs are the correct size and to make sure all of the pieces will fit together. By now you would have had lots of practice measuring with everyday objects such as pencils, your hand and maybe even containers. But just to remind you how to measure length, watch the video below by clicking on the play button on the video.
Now I would like you to measure your desk from side to side using your pencils. How many pencils wide is your desk? Post your answer HERE (click on me).
Look at other people's answers. Are they the same as yours? If they are different, why do you think this happened? Go to the bottom of the same page and enter your answer in the table.
The chances are that when using many smaller objects to measure a larger object it won't be very accurate. This means that everyone might get a different answer. This is why standard units were created. They are a way of measuring things so that everyone will get a very close answer and knows exactly how long each unit is. The video below shows some different units of measurement you might use. Click the play button below to watch the video.
The photo below shows you the difference between a millitmetre (mm), centimetre (cm) and a metre (m). Use this for the task below.
Group up in groups of four (4). Collect a tape measure from your teacher and measure each of your desks in centimetres (cm). Write your name and the length of your desk on THIS PAGE (click on me). Look at other students lengths and talk with your group about how different the lengths are. Are the lengths nealy the same? Is this better than using your pencils to measure? Post your answers at the bottom of THIS PAGE (click on me).
Step 3
Now that you know using standard units like centimetres (cm) make measuring much easier, lets practice! Use your knowledge of centimetres (cm) and millimetres (mm) to complete the following (click on the pictures to play):
Well done, you are getting great with your centimetres (cm) and millimetres. You have found that there are 10 millimetres (mm) in each centimetre (cm), but there are 100 centimetres (cm) in one metre (m). This means that a metre (m) is much bigger than a centimtre (cm) and a centimetre (cm) is much bigger than a millimetre. Practice using meters by clicking on the image below.
Wow, you are really doing great! Soon you'll know so much you will be able to design your own Ford Mustang. After finishing the worksheet below and emailing it to your teacher, you will be on the last step to becoming the next Ford Mustang engineer.
Step 4
Now that you know a lot about shapes and measurement, it is time we put the two together. If you want to make a three-dimensional (3D) shape that is a certain size, you must measure the net. For example if you would like to make a cube 5cm high, 5cm wide and 5cm long all of the squares in the net need to be 5cm high and 5cm wide. This means that this net:
makes this cube:
Print one of the cube nets in the document below or collect one from your teacher. All of the cube nets are different sizes. It is your job to measure the net of your cube and type what you think the heignt, width and length will be on THIS PAGE (click on me).
Construct your cube. Measure your cube's height, width and length. Go back to THIS PAGE (click on me) and type if your cube turned out to be the same or different. Type this next to your name.
Click on the worksheet below to match 3D shapes with their nets. Make sure you look at the measurements. Talk to the person next to you to see if you got the same answers and why you chose your answers.
Great job, you've finished the student process page. Don't forget to look at the rubric HERE to make sure you have learnt everything you need to so you can make your Mustang.