51ºÚÁÏ

Design Brief: Design and make a mini greenhouse to provide the right conditions for growing plants and vegetables all year round.

Sequence of Learning for Teachers
In this project children learn about how greenhouses are used to grow plants and the conditions that are needed for healthy plant growth. Children learn about frame structures and the different techniques that can be used to make them stronger, stiffer, and more stable. Children learn how designers use isometric drawing techniques to draw 3D objects. They use these drawing skills to design a mini greenhouse to grow plants seedlings in. They further their understanding of frame structures by following their design to make a mini greenhouse using the Jinks method of constructing wooden frameworks. As part of the evaluation, they plant and grow seedlings.

This knowledge, skills and understanding is delivered through the following six sessions:

1. Investigate Task 1: All About Greenhouses & Investigate Task 2: Investigating Frame Structures
2. Investigate Task 3: Understanding Structures & Focus Task 1: Making a Wooden Frame
3. Focus Task 2: Drawing in Three Dimensions
4. Design & Make: Designing Greenhouses
5. Design & Make: Making a Mini Greenhouse
6. Evaluation Session

Some activities / sessions can be re-arranged or delivered in different ways in the learning sequence to allow for whole-class teaching and/or small adult-led sessions to take place at the same time.