Myths about teaching can hold you back
- Year 8
- Year 8
Testing working properties of materials
I can test the working properties of materials.
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- Hardness is a material's ability to resist scratching and indentation.
- Vickers and Brinell are industrial hardness tests.
- The Vickers and Brinell tests measure hardness by pressing an indenter into the material and observing the mark left.
- A hardness test can be simulated in a workshop using a centre punch and a hammer.
- Hardness can be tested by scratching the surface of a material with a scribe.
Keywords
Hardness - ability to resist scratching and indentation
Indenter - a tool or object pressed into a material’s surface during a hardness test
Vickers - an industrial hardness test that uses a diamond-shaped pyramid indenter
Brinell - an industrial hardness test that uses a steel or tungsten carbide ball indenter
Common misconception
Hardness testing is destructive.
Although an indentation is left in the test piece, hardness testing is less destructive than many other working property tests, such as tensile testing.
To help you plan your year 8 design and technology lesson on: Testing working properties of materials, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 8 design and technology lesson on: Testing working properties of materials, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 design and technology lessons from the Material testing unit, dive into the full secondary design and technology curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
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