Intermediate
60 mins
Teacher/Student led
+90 XP
Teacher-led from the board — pupils need no device

Sketching and Communicating a Design

In this lesson you will learn how to create clear design sketches by adding labels for parts, materials and sizes. You will then share your sketch with a partner to see if they can understand it from the drawing alone.

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    Your turn
    Your teacher is running this lesson on the board. Here is the part you can try yourself.
    Demonstration
    Design challenge
    Observation

    1 - Getting Started ~5 mins

    The real object the lesson designs: a book held upright, hands freeLook at the two drawings your teacher has put on the board. They show the same idea. Which one could a partner build without asking any questions? Hands up for drawing A or drawing B, and be ready to say why.

    Key point

    It is the same reason a flat-pack shelf comes with labelled diagrams: so someone who was not in the room can still build it.

    2 - What Makes a Design Sketch Clear? ~8 mins

    Compares what each drawing tells a partner: part, material, sizeLook back at Drawing A and Drawing B. What three things does Drawing B tell a partner that Drawing A does not?

    A neat outline still leaves a partner guessing — they need to know what each part is, what it is made from, and how big it is in centimetres.

    Key point

    We will use those three things on every label today: part name, material, and size in centimetres.

    3 - Model a Clear Annotated Sketch ~6 mins

    Order the teacher adds outline then the three kinds of labelYour teacher draws a book stand on the board: first the plain outline, then the labels, thinking aloud as each one goes on. Watch how those labels turn a rough outline into a plan a partner could follow, and call out what is still missing when you are asked. You do not sketch yet — next you invent your own stand.

    4 - Sketch Your Design ~20 mins

    Design challenge

    The materials children must name on their labels, shown togetherInvent your own simple stand that holds an open reading book upright on a desk so hands stay free for writing. Make it different from the demo — your shape, your sizes.

    Constraints:

    • Base no bigger than about A5 (15 cm by 21 cm)
    • Must stand on a desk by itself
    • On your labels, name the junk-modelling materials you would use (card, tape, elastic bands, lolly sticks or similar) — nothing is built or handed out today except paper and a ruler
    • Today's product is the sketch, not a finished build
    Your sketch

    On your Design Brief page, draw one clear annotated sketch. Check every main part against this list:

    • part name
    • material you would use
    • size in centimetres

    5 - Swap Sketches: Can Your Partner Understand? ~12 mins

    Key point

    Swap Design Brief pages with a partner and do not explain your drawing. From here on, the page has to do the talking for you.

    Read your partner's sketch in silence for one full minute. Then take turns working through the prompts on the board, in the order they are written.

    Note

    This is a spoken test of the sketch only. You are not building yet.

    Pupil practice · Investigation Journal
    Module 5 · Engineering: the Design Process and Structures
    Lesson 30 · Sketching and Communicating a Design
    Download Investigation Journal sheet (PDF)
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