Project description
Embarking on a new landscaping strategy Orleton CE Primary School in Shropshire wanted to engage their students in the design and construction of canopies that will be built in the playground.
Orleton students help make a structure © A&M Photography Ltd
The school involved a local architect and structural engineer to work with year 5 students to create and construct designs across a range of subjects.
Exploring the form and function of the canopies resulted in scale models, drawings and inhabitable structures within the school grounds. The findings were presented to the rest of the school, including parents and governors, and will be used to inform the final design of the school’s canopies.
As well as developing a sense of ownership of their school environment, the students participated in a rich educational process.
Key stage
Key stage 2 (year 5)
Curriculum and whole school areas
- design and technology (unit 6A – shelters)
- art
- maths
- science
- Learning Outside the Classroom
Learning objectives
For students to:
- learn about architecture
- learn how to visualise and understand 3D space though exploring scale and making measured drawings
- understand how structures work
- understand the power and possibilities of spatial design
- work out simple costs of a project
- understand the possibilities arising from using different materials.
- understand the life cycle of a building from its starting point as raw material to the finished product and beyond, and how this is at the core of sustainability
- work collaboratively.
Length of project
Selected days between December 2008 and March 2009.
Students help build parts of the structure © A&M Photography Ltd
What did the learning involve?
Activities
Activity 1 - carrying the classroom outside
The children created an outline of their classroom from string netting. In the playground they had to orientate the classroom correctly and find their usual sitting positions – this helped them to understand scale and to perceive their classroom in different locations.
Activity 2 - measuring play
Each child made their own “stixx” (paper rod made from old newspapers). They invented games for the playground area and measured the playground using stixx as a unit.
They made 1:50 models of these play spaces which they placed onto a 1:50 site plan. This exercise enabled the children to communicate the range of play they enjoyed as well as learning to use architectural techniques such as understanding plans and scale.
Activity 3 - making structures
An engineer illustrated the principles of structural engineering using diagrams and his own (failed) attempt to break the teachers precious wooden metre rule! The students then constructed various structures for play and shelter in the school grounds.
Activity 4 - class visit: from living tree to built structure
Students were asked to consider the use of local materials in their designs. So a visit was organised to a local forest at Croft Castle and Parkland to meet a local timber manufacturer to understand how the timber is treated and fabricated.
Activity 5 - canopy ideas
Students spent their final workshop drawing and modelling their ideas for canopies. The drawings and models made by the children were carefully recorded and will act as the students’ brief to the architect designing the new canopies for the school.
Students erecting their structure with a little help © A&M Photography Ltd
Resources used
- Stixx machine
- model making materials
- local forest
- architect and engineer
Funding
£1,500 was received as a (CABE) educational grant.
How well were the aims met?
Outcomes
- construction skills and understanding
- team work
- listening skills
- confidence to test out ideas.
What worked well
- all children designed and created a model of a canopy that they felt met the brief
- students acquired tools for thinking about architecture
- they discussed and understood a large number of issues that will influence the design of the new school canopies and will hopefully feel a sense of engagement with and to some extent authorship of the canopies
- the making of the large scale stixx structures
- children being inspired by the jobs of the architect and engineer, which made them think about what jobs they could do in the future
- increasing the children’s awareness of the potential of their built environment.
Students holding up the structure © A&M Photography Ltd
What didn’t work well
- lack of time to finish 1:50 models of canopy proposals
- the school has limited storage so the larger models that the children built could only be displayed for 24 hours and then be dismantled. This meant that not all the children in school had time to have a good look at all the models.
Comments from teachers
‘It was a super project. Throughout the whole project the children were keen and motivated and they worked hard as a team.’ Rowena Morris, School Business Manager.
Further information
CABE education grantsUnit 6A design and technology, shelters scheme of work
Read the 2008/09 grant winning projects here on Engaging Places:
A BSF design think tank at Sittingbourne Community College
Constructing a straw bale building at Dr Thomlinson Middle School.
Exploring regeneration at Archbishop Blanch School
School grounds design at Chesham Bois CE Combined School
Community art at Lower Darwen Primary School
