Transform a Friend: Costume Design Challenge

Students will:

• Use the Design Thinking Process to problem-solve a challenge and prototype a solution.

• Research and identify key visual traits of a selected character from literature, history, or even a superhero.

• Become familiar with the Makedo tools and connectors by cutting, folding and connecting upcycled cardboard.

• Learn to work with upcycled cardboard as a material for making and building.

• Present and explain design choices to an audience whilst highlighting how the costume reflects the chosen character’s identity.

Students can:

• Use research to develop design criteria to make a functional and appealing costume.

• Use cardboard and Makedo to construct a wearable costume that represents their chosen character.

• Collaborate effectively with a partner to design and create the costume.

• Include at least three distinct features or symbols to represent their character.

• Construct a costume that is safe, wearable, and made of cardboard!

• Share evidence of planning and creative thinking in annotated sketches and design briefs.

• Present design choices and character traits presented in the costume to classmates.

Costume, character, design brief, annotated sketch, ideate, blueprint, prototype, accessories, functional, key traits

The Stanford Design Thinking Process helps solve complex problems with creative solutions.

We've broken down the process to support you when engaging with your Makedo STEAM Challenge here.

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• Dive into historical figures, design, and costumes to explore how the past impacts society with the History in the Making: Exploring History with Cardboard Costumes lesson plan.

• Explore the world of animal adaptation with the Animorph Costumes: Animal Adaptations Lesson Plan.

Creativity and innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processesb. Create original works as a means of personal or group expression

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W (Grade 2): Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL (Grade 4) : Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W. (Grade 7): Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.  

• 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.

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

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

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