Tallest Tower

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1. Standard 1: Creativity and innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.

   1. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes

   2. Create original works as a means of personal or group expression

   3. Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.

Key Stage 1 (Years 1-3 ):

When designing and making, pupils should be taught to:

Design 

• design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria

Make  

• select from and use a range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing]  select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristics

Technical Knowledge

• build structures, exploring how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable

Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6):

When designing and making, pupils should be taught to:

Design  

• use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups  

• generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design

Make 

• select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing], accurately

Evaluate

• evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work

Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9):

When designing and making, pupils should be taught to:

Design  

• use research and exploration, such as the study of different cultures, to identify and understand user needs

Evaluate

• test, evaluate and refine their ideas and products against a specification, taking into account the views of intended users and other interested groups

• understand developments in design and technology, its impact on individuals, society and the environment, and the responsibilities of designers, engineers and technologists

Key Stage 1-2 (Years 1-6 ):

Spoken language

Pupils should be taught to:

• ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge

• give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings

• participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates

Writing-composition (Years 3-4)

Pupils should be taught to:

• draft and write by:  

  • composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures (English Appendix 2)  

  • organising paragraphs around a theme 

  • in narratives, creating settings, characters and plot  

  • in non-narrative material, using simple organisational devices [for example, headings and sub-headings]

Reading comprehension (Years 5-6)

Pupils should be taught to:

• retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction

• explain and discuss their understanding of what they have read, including through formal presentations and debates, maintaining a focus on the topic and using notes where necessary

• Engineering Design (ETS):

  • ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems: Students must define the problem (building the tallest tower) within the constraints of their available resources.

  • ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions: Students will brainstorm and develop different strategies based on their resources.

  • ETS1.C: Optimizing the Design Solution: Students will reflect on their design and consider how they could improve it with different resources.

• Earth and Human Activity (ESS):

  • ESS3.A: Natural Resources: The discussion of natural resource distribution directly relates to this standard. Students will explore how natural resources are unevenly distributed and the consequences of this.

• ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems: The activity and subsequent discussion can lead to exploring how human actions contribute to resource inequality and its impacts on communities.

• ELA 1.6, 2.6, 3.6, 4.6, 5.6 (Grade 1-5): Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts. The student is expected to:

• (B) generate questions about text before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding and gain information;

• (C) make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures;

• (D) create mental images to deepen understanding;

• (F) make inferences and use evidence to support understanding;

• ELA 1.7, 2.7, 3.7, 4.7, 5.7 (Grade 1-5):  Response skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student responds to an increasingly challenging variety of sources that are read, heard, or viewed. The student is expected to:

  • (B) write brief comments on literary or informational texts;

  • (C) use text evidence to support an appropriate response;

  • (D) retell texts in ways that maintain meaning;

  • (E) interact with sources in meaningful ways such as illustrating or writing, notetaking, annotating;

• ELA 1.8, 2.8, 3.8,4.8, 5.8 (Grade 1-5):  Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--literary elements. The student recognizes and analyzes literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts. The student is expected to:

  • (A) discuss topics and determine theme using text evidence with adult assistance;

  • (B) describe the main character(s) and the reason(s) for their actions;

• ELA 7.1 (Grade 7):  Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, discussion, and thinking--oral language. The student develops oral language through listening, speaking, and discussion. The student is expected to:

  • (A) listen actively to interpret a message and ask clarifying questions that build on others' ideas;

  • (B) follow and give complex oral instructions to perform specific tasks, answer questions, or solve problems;

  • (C) present a critique of a literary work, film, or dramatic production, employing eye contact, speaking rate, volume, enunciation, a variety of natural gestures, and conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively; 

• ELA 7.5  (Grade 7): Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts. The student is expected to:

  • (F) make inferences and use evidence to support understanding;

  • (G) evaluate details read to determine key ideas;

  • (H) synthesize information to create new understanding; and

  • (I) monitor comprehension and make adjustments such as re-reading, using background knowledge, asking questions, and annotating when understanding breaks down.

• ELA 7.7 (Grade 7) : Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--literary elements. The student recognizes and analyzes literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts. The student is expected to:

  • (B) analyze how characters' qualities influence events and resolution of the conflict;

  • (D) analyze how the setting influences character and plot development.

Transferable Skills (Grades 1-5)

• A1.1 Receptive and Expressive Communication:  identify how transferable skills can be used to support communication in various cultural, social, linguistic, and domain-specific contexts, and apply them when reading, listening to, viewing, and creating texts of various forms

• A1.2 Student Agency and Engagement: demonstrate an understanding of how transferable skills help them to express their voice and be engaged in their learning

Oral and Non-verbal Communication (Grades 1-5)

• B1.3 Speaking Purposes and Strategies: identify the purpose and audience for speaking in formal and informal contexts, and use appropriate speaking strategies, including paraphrasing and restating, to communicate clearly and coherently

• B1.4 Oral and Non-Verbal communication strategies:  identify and use oral and non-verbal communication strategies, including expression, gestures, and body language, and explain how these strategies help them understand or communicate ideas and meaning

Comprehension Strategies (Grades 1-5)

• C2.6 Summarizing: Identifying relevant information and drawing conclusions: summarize the main idea of a text and the supporting details in sequence, and draw a simple conclusion

• C2.7 Reflect on learning: explain how strategies, such as visualizing, making predictions, summarizing, and connecting to their experiences, have helped them comprehend various texts