WV State Standards: Science: SC.9.4.6, SC.9.5.4 National Standards:  Math: 1, 2 Blooms Taxonomy: Collect, construct, design, calculate, compare, plan, investigate 21st Century Skills: Critical Thinking and Systems Thinking, Problem Identification, Formulation, and Solution, Thinking and Problem-Solving, Communication, Information and Media Literacy, Interpersonal and Collaborative, Self-direction, Accountability and Adaptability

Objective(s)

Students will collaborate to engineer a habitat that will fulfill all the size and caloric constraints that were discovered during their research.  Once they agree upon a design they must scale down the dimensions to model size to be built during the next phase of this unit.

Time Required

45 - 90 minutes

Pre-Requisite Skills

Students will need to find area and volume of a 3-D figure and be able to scale down the dimensions

Calculators, computers (Word or other computer drafting software)

• Student Handout 4: Review Worksheet  (Precision and accuracy of the calculations on this worksheet are left to the discretion of the teacher)
• On line tutorial (optional, for help with area and volume calculations) 
• Review worksheet key

1. Students will work through Student Handout 4 to recall calculating surface area and volume of 3-D figures. If students need additional help with recalling area and volume they can access this On line tutorial.  This can be done individually or in their groups. 
2. Go over the Review worksheet key as a class.
3. Using the results of their research and the initial constraints of the mission, the group will collaborate to decide the size and shape of their habitat.
4. Students will calculate the surface area and volume of their habitat as they investigate different shapes to determine if their design will satisfy the needs
5. Students will construct a drawing of their habitat on a Word document (or other computer drafting software) that includs the actual dimensions (3-D if possible)
6. Students must scale down the dimensions of their habitat so can build a scale model.
7. The group must decide what materials they will use to make the model and determine how they will acquire these materials to be ready to build their scale model. The results of this decision should be recorded on the document with their drawing.

Differences in ability level and special needs should be addressed when grouping students.

Students who are stronger in math and technology will coach others on the review worksheet and with computer drawings of scale models.

The instructor may need to provide students with a list of suggested materials available to them for building their scale model or have students provide their own materials.  During this lesson the instructor may have students use Excel to help them with the calculations needed for scaling down the size of their habitat.

The evaluation will be based on the completion of the entire worksheet, developing an appropriate design for their habitat and creating a document to show a drawing of their habitat and a list of  materials they will need to build it.