At-Home Activities

Examine your kitchen can opener and explain to family members how it works.

Identify machines in your kitchen that make things easier to do. Discuss these with your family members.

Find examples of levers in your kitchen or work room. Explain to family members how these levers make something easier to do or move. Discuss how you could change the design to make it more efficient.

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Walk around your home and identify some everyday things you do (e.g., opening doors, climbing stairs) that would be difficult or impossible to do if you were missing a limb. Discuss with family members how an artificial limb would have to be designed to enable a person with a missing limb to perform the action or activity.

Identify toys or household items that use pulleys or wheels and axles (e.g., curtain or blind strings). Explain to family members the advantages of using the pulley or wheel and axle in each case.

• Use Lego blocks or other simple building toys to build a model of a dragline excavator or a power shovel
• With family members, visit a construction site in your community. Explain to them the different mechanisms that are included in the excavating machines, and how they work.

• Examine various toys and identify how friction has been reduced or increased in them. Share your findings with family members.
• Compare different in-line skate wheels. Why are some easier to skate or glide on?
• Compare mountain bike tires with racing bike tires. Which bike is easier to peddle? Why?

Identify mechanisms in your home in which friction is necessary for the device to work. Discuss ways in which your family reduces friction on certain household machines.

Describe to family members the model pulley system you designed in this Design Investigation. Discuss how a similar system could be used around your home (e.g., to hang a canoe in the garage).

Take home the model hand you built in the Try This activity in this lesson. Explain the design to family members. Interview a family member or acquaintance who may have a prosthetic limb to learn about their experiences.

Locate a variety of different kinds of shoes in your home closets (e.g., basketball shoes, soccer shoes, winter boots, etc.). For what purpose is each shoe used? Explain to family members how it is designed to meet the need for which it is intended.

Identify some mechanisms in your kitchen that are designed to increase or decrease the pressure exerted on an object (e.g., a fork). Explain to family members how they work to increase or decrease pressure.

Investigate different types of pumps used in your home (e.g, an air mattress pump, a tire pump). Explain to family members how they work.

Share your experimental results in this lesson with family members.

Locate examples of things in your home that use hydraulic or pneumatic systems. Explain to family members how they work.

Share the design instructions that you created in this lesson with family members. Ask them to try to follow the instructions. Ask for suggestions or ideas of how to improve the design or the instructions.

• Examine a room or a product in your home. What is it designed to be used for? What esthetic and ergonomic features does it have? Could you improve it? Discuss your findings with your family.
• Visit a kitchen or bathroom remodelling centre with family members. Discuss with a representative what esthetic and ergonomic features are considered in the design of a kitchen or bathroom. What features have changed from the designs used 10, 20 or 30 years ago and why?
• Visit a manufacturing plant with family members. Discuss with a representative what esthetic and ergonomic features were considered in either the design of the plant or the product(s) manufactured there. Suggest improvements that might be made to either the plant or the product(s).

Find a device you use every day. Discuss with family members how you could modify it for a person with special needs. Sketch the modification(s) you would suggest.

Closely examine your bicycle. Does it have the correct design for the type of riding you like to do? Can you think of any modifications that would make it more efficient?

• Identify some plastic products in your home that you use only once. With family members, suggest alternatives that would reduce the use of such products. Make a plan for a "litterless" day in your home.
• Visit the local grocery store with family members. Make a list of different ways in which items are packaged. Note the type of materials that are used in the packaging and how they would be disposed of in your community. Write a report of ways in which the packaging of certain products could be improved. What could you as a consumer do to ensure that companies improve their packaging practices?

Discuss the Role-Play scenario described in this lesson with your family. How do they like the idea of a downtown traffic-free zone? Would they support such an idea? Practise role-playing the scenario with family members in preparation for completing this assignment.

Note to parents: Since the Design Challenge may be used by teachers as a performance assessment opportunity, parents should consult with the teacher to determine the appropriate degree of parental involvement in their child's completion of the Design Challenge.

The Unit Summary in your textbook lists all the learning expectations you have covered in the unit and identifies the specific lessons in which the knowledge and skills have been developed.

You can use the Unit Summary to help you create a personal study guide in preparation for an end-of-unit test:

1. Copy down the list of learning expectations from your textbook. These are grouped under three headings: Understanding Concepts, Applying Skills, Making Connections.
2. For each learning expectation, locate the appropriate lesson(s) in the unit where the expectation was covered. These are found at the end of each expectation (e.g., 2.1).
3. expectation and make study notes of the key ideas or skills you learned.