Observation Deck
MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SEE IT 7TH & 8TH GRADE Observation Deck | S.T.E.M.
BEFORE YOU GO…
Essential Question: How can we change our perspective? Class Discussion (can even be a debate where they defend their thinking and revisit it after they work with perspective and ratio to see if they have new learning to add to their thoughts.) Does our perspective change when we look at things from different angles? Have students: • Practice working with proportional relationships. • Perform operations with numbers expressed in scientific notation, including problems where both decimal and scientific notation are used. • Use scientific notation and choose units of appropriate size for measurements of very large or very small quantities • Graph proportional relationships, interpreting the unit rate as the slope of the graph. • Compare two different proportional relationships represented in different ways.
WHILE YOU’RE THERE… MATERIALS Science Notebooks Pencil
Once you arrive on the observation deck, have students observe and consider how natural and manmade resources look from 1000 feet above ground. They will compare and contrast how the perspective of buildings they just passed on ground level have changed at 1000 feet. Students should make note of the differences in their notebook if they decide to move around the observation deck. • Did the engineer consider what the building would look like from 1,000 feet above ground? • Are there patterns used that you didn’t notice before? • Do the attributes of the building change when you get further away from it? (1000 ft vs. ground level) • Is the city laid out in a particular pattern? • How would everything look if you saw it from a different point in the city? • Students will use their science notebooks to write down observations and illustrate diagrams of what they observe. • They can also begin to sketch what the building might look like from a different perspective.
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MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SEE IT 7TH & 8TH GRADE
WHEN YOU RETURN… Once you return from your field trip, students will begin the engineering process to design a model that answers the question: How can you change a person’s perspective of something they see every day? Using their knowledge of ratios, geometry, and mathematical equations, students will begin working through the engineering process. Please note that this process works in a continuous fashion. Engineers are constantly working to improve their ideas. Therefore, designers (engineers and students) may work through all of these steps over and over. This process could go on for a very long time depending on the depth and complexity of their designs. The time given to the students is completely up to the teacher.
Ask/Figure out the Problem:
Observation Deck | S.T.E.M.
Can you change how something in your everyday life looks by considering it from a different angle? How will you present your new perspective? Will you make a 3D model or illustrate the change? How will you know if the person looking at your model will understand what they are seeing? How will ratios change when you create the same object from a different point of view? Are ratios important to how you view the object?
Come Up With A Plan:
In their notebook, students will use their knowledge of proportional relationships and point of view to illustrate and label a diagram of a model that they intend to create.
Make a Model of Your Plan:
LEARNING STANDARDS
Math Grade 7: 7.RP.2.a-d Math Grade 8: 8.EE.4, 8.EE.5 Engineering Design Grades 7 & 8: MS-ETS1-1, MS-ETS1-2, MS-ETS1-3, MS-ETS1-4
Students will create a physical or illustrated model of their plan. Students may need to collect recyclable materials or bring in other materials they would like to use on their project. Part of their model should include an expression that mathematically shows how they came up with the ratios of their new perspective.
Test Your Model:
Perspective Walk - have students display their models/illustrations. Allow other students to view their creations. Can they figure out what the building/object is by looking at it from this new perspective? If not, what can you change?
02
MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SEE IT 7TH & 8TH GRADE
LOOKING FURTHER • Reflection and Redesign: Another step in the continuous circle of the engineering process is reflecting about your solution and redesigning. After students have tested their model, they can make changes and retest. This can continue until they get a solution to the problem. As students make changes, they should reflect their ideas by adding details to their original diagram or by creating a new diagram that illustrates their new plan. • For this project, an extension could be to change the perspective, again. Look at your object from a different point of view. Adjust the ratios to expand the object. Can something new come from changing your perspective?
Observation Deck | S.T.E.M.
SNAPSHOT VIEW LEARNING STANDARDS
Math Grade 7: 7.RP.2.a-d Math Grade 8: 8.EE.4, 8.EE.5 Engineering Design Grades 7 & 8: MS-ETS1-1, MS-ETS1-2, MS-ETS1-3, MS-ETS1-4
Have a discussion about how the view from the observation deck would look from an ant’s perspective. How would the view be different if they were looking at the scenery from below ground instead of so far above it? Have a discussion about how our perspective is limited due to our view. We have to put ourselves in new situations and locations in order to open our eyes to a different way of seeing our world. How important are ratios when building or constructing? How do they affect the structure?
03
BEFORE YOU GO…
Essential Question: How can we change our perspective? Class Discussion (can even be a debate where they defend their thinking and revisit it after they work with perspective and ratio to see if they have new learning to add to their thoughts.) Does our perspective change when we look at things from different angles? Have students: • Practice working with proportional relationships. • Perform operations with numbers expressed in scientific notation, including problems where both decimal and scientific notation are used. • Use scientific notation and choose units of appropriate size for measurements of very large or very small quantities • Graph proportional relationships, interpreting the unit rate as the slope of the graph. • Compare two different proportional relationships represented in different ways.
WHILE YOU’RE THERE… MATERIALS Science Notebooks Pencil
Once you arrive on the observation deck, have students observe and consider how natural and manmade resources look from 1000 feet above ground. They will compare and contrast how the perspective of buildings they just passed on ground level have changed at 1000 feet. Students should make note of the differences in their notebook if they decide to move around the observation deck. • Did the engineer consider what the building would look like from 1,000 feet above ground? • Are there patterns used that you didn’t notice before? • Do the attributes of the building change when you get further away from it? (1000 ft vs. ground level) • Is the city laid out in a particular pattern? • How would everything look if you saw it from a different point in the city? • Students will use their science notebooks to write down observations and illustrate diagrams of what they observe. • They can also begin to sketch what the building might look like from a different perspective.
01
MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SEE IT 7TH & 8TH GRADE
WHEN YOU RETURN… Once you return from your field trip, students will begin the engineering process to design a model that answers the question: How can you change a person’s perspective of something they see every day? Using their knowledge of ratios, geometry, and mathematical equations, students will begin working through the engineering process. Please note that this process works in a continuous fashion. Engineers are constantly working to improve their ideas. Therefore, designers (engineers and students) may work through all of these steps over and over. This process could go on for a very long time depending on the depth and complexity of their designs. The time given to the students is completely up to the teacher.
Ask/Figure out the Problem:
Observation Deck | S.T.E.M.
Can you change how something in your everyday life looks by considering it from a different angle? How will you present your new perspective? Will you make a 3D model or illustrate the change? How will you know if the person looking at your model will understand what they are seeing? How will ratios change when you create the same object from a different point of view? Are ratios important to how you view the object?
Come Up With A Plan:
In their notebook, students will use their knowledge of proportional relationships and point of view to illustrate and label a diagram of a model that they intend to create.
Make a Model of Your Plan:
LEARNING STANDARDS
Math Grade 7: 7.RP.2.a-d Math Grade 8: 8.EE.4, 8.EE.5 Engineering Design Grades 7 & 8: MS-ETS1-1, MS-ETS1-2, MS-ETS1-3, MS-ETS1-4
Students will create a physical or illustrated model of their plan. Students may need to collect recyclable materials or bring in other materials they would like to use on their project. Part of their model should include an expression that mathematically shows how they came up with the ratios of their new perspective.
Test Your Model:
Perspective Walk - have students display their models/illustrations. Allow other students to view their creations. Can they figure out what the building/object is by looking at it from this new perspective? If not, what can you change?
02
MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SEE IT 7TH & 8TH GRADE
LOOKING FURTHER • Reflection and Redesign: Another step in the continuous circle of the engineering process is reflecting about your solution and redesigning. After students have tested their model, they can make changes and retest. This can continue until they get a solution to the problem. As students make changes, they should reflect their ideas by adding details to their original diagram or by creating a new diagram that illustrates their new plan. • For this project, an extension could be to change the perspective, again. Look at your object from a different point of view. Adjust the ratios to expand the object. Can something new come from changing your perspective?
Observation Deck | S.T.E.M.
SNAPSHOT VIEW LEARNING STANDARDS
Math Grade 7: 7.RP.2.a-d Math Grade 8: 8.EE.4, 8.EE.5 Engineering Design Grades 7 & 8: MS-ETS1-1, MS-ETS1-2, MS-ETS1-3, MS-ETS1-4
Have a discussion about how the view from the observation deck would look from an ant’s perspective. How would the view be different if they were looking at the scenery from below ground instead of so far above it? Have a discussion about how our perspective is limited due to our view. We have to put ourselves in new situations and locations in order to open our eyes to a different way of seeing our world. How important are ratios when building or constructing? How do they affect the structure?
03
