Distressed Dinosaurs – Year 1

 INTRODUCTION: A volcano has started erupting and destroying the homes of the dinosaurs.
All the dinosaurs are distressed and need to find a new home. Dinosaurs prefer walking into
the wind. Can you help the dinosaurs find a new home by telling them the direction of the
wind?

 BRIEF: To help the dinosaurs find a new home and figure out which way the wind is blowing
you need to create a windsock or wind. A windsock or windvane shows people in which
direction the wind is blowing.

 GENERATING DESIGNS: What you need to think about when coming up with a design…
Which base will hold the instrument that I am using so that it doesn’t fall down if the wind is
too strong? Which instrument/pole will be strong enough to stand against the wind if there
is a strong wind? Which instrument will move better in the wind? Which instrument will be
better for giving a more accurate reading of the wind when sticking the thing to the pole?

 PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS:
- Limitations:
o Your design can only be a maximum of 20cm tall and 20cm long.
o You can only use 3-7 small plastic dinosaurs.
- Materials:
o Base: Playdough, plasticine, cardboard, straw, sand or soil, small bottle.
o Stem: pencil, straw, wood skewer
o Bit that shows the direction of the wind: feather, streamers, ribbons, strip of
paper
o Extra: Dinosaur, sticky tape, blue tack, glue

 PROJECT MANAGEMENT:
- Lesson 1: Introduction to the design brief and students start generating ideas.
- Lesson 2: Students finish up generating ideas, choose a design, make a more specific
design adding measurements, the materials used, listing everything they will need
and making anecdotal notes on why they chose those materials.
- Lesson 3: Students collect materials and start constructing their chosen
windsock/vane design.
- Lesson 4: continue to build chosen windsock/vane and make finishing touches.
- Lesson 5: Present to class. Show to class design, explain what they liked, what the
result is, what could they improve on and why they chose those materials.

 EVALUATION:
- Was the base that I chose strong enough?
- Was the stem that I chose strong enough?
- Did the material I chose to show the direction of the wind show the direction of the
wind? Why/why not?
- What was the best part of my project?
 - What could I change for next time? And why?

 PRESENTATION: Students in groups will present their chosen design to their peers. Students
will explain if their design was successful, what they liked, why they chose those materials
and what they could improve on for next time.

TIME: 5, 40-50minute lessons.