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STRUCTURES
Staff are often asked to teach structures without much training. It is seen as a whole faculty skill but it needs good preparation and planning to get across the basics. Otherwise, teachers spend their time pointing to roofs and stools and going... That is a strut, that is a roof.
NEW September 2005 Set of Structures worksheets for KS2/3 or just a bit of fun. there are 6 full colour double sided sheets and a help guide. It is designed for use with cheap plasticine and wooden spills. All the photographs used in the sheets are separately available as 1024 x 768 pixel photographs, along with a few extra I didn't use.
Right Click on the sheets you wish to download and save to your computer. They are fairly large (3.5mb) files so it may take a long time
Gallery of Structures Photographs.
Quick Structures Teaching Ideas....
Can crusher
Get pupils to bring in identical sized, clean, completely unblemished tin cans. They should all be the same construction, aluminium or steel. Aluminium is better. Get the pupils to wash and dry the cans, then arrange in a cross shape like a dice. Place a piece of heavy, non-bending board on top (18mm MDF works great) then get pupils to slowly step up onto the board. It is vital they do not place their feet under or too close to the board edge. Increase the number of puils and when you have about 1 year 9 pupil per can, you will hear creaking as the can sides are put under great compression. If the pupils are evenly spaced on the board, it will collapse suddely straight down. They only drop a few inches and I have never had anybody fall off...
When you look at the cans, they should be almost totally flat. Put one end in a vice and pull the cans 'out' as far as possible. You will clearly see creases making up triangles. This is an excellent topic starter about crumple zones on cars. Also useable for talking about safety margins in design. If 1 can hold 1 child, how mant cans to be three times as safe. Talk about abnormal loads, wind shear etc.
Smack Down
Tape a piece of sellotape to the short side of a perfect piece of A4
paper. Roll it into a cylinder about 10cm across and secure with the end of the tape. Trim the tape so it is flush with the ends.
Place the cylinder on its end on a firm flat surface. Place a flat piece of wood on top. Then use a hammer or your fist to smartly strike the wood vertically. You musn't crush the cylinder, just crumple it. When you examine the paper you will see that the top has crumpled in usually concentric triangle creases as triangles are a stable shape.
Playing the Stool
Usea standard metal legged lab stool for this. You will know if you have the right type if you hold it by one finger in the air, balanced under the seat, and it rings when you strike the legs.
Show the pupils that the stool makes a note when you stand the stool on the floor and tap the leg, then get someone to sit on it. The note should go up. Explain this is because the legs are in compression. If the pupils are skilled, they can stand on one leg and lean on the centre of the stool to change the note while someone else repeatedly taps it.
Sphagetti chains
You can join raw sphagetti by heating the ends briefly in hot water and wrapping them around each other. they will quickly cool and reharden. Try making hanging mobiles.