Minimising material waste
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can use materials efficiently.
Key learning points
- Minimising waste is important for both economic and environmental reasons.
- Stencils and templates are used to ensure materials are used efficiently.
- Nesting is used to ensure materials are used efficiently.
Keywords
Accurate - correct and precise, with no mistakes
Efficient - using materials in a way that minimises waste
Tesselation - arranging identical shapes in a repetitive pattern without gaps or overlaps
Nesting - arranging varying shapes onto material to make the best use of space
Common misconception
Minimising waste means reducing the size of a product.
Using materials efficiently can be achieved by reducing size, but also by working accurately. This can be done by using stencils / templates, tesselation and nesting.
Teacher tip
It would be a good opprtunity to share the stencils and templates you use, such as a circle template. Demonstating nesting on CAD would also be useful.
Equipment
Paper and standard drawing equipment. Graph paper would be useful for Task C.
Content guidance
Risk assessment required - equipment
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.How does reducing waste benefit the environment?
Q2.What does 'sustainability' mean when it comes to using resources?
Q3.What is a key difference between natural and synthetic materials?
Q4.Which polymer is commonly used in school for vacuum forming?
Q5.Where do most synthetic polymers come from?
Q6.How does material wastage impact production costs?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What can you do before starting a project to help minimise material waste?
Q2.Which statement is a phrase to help measuring and marking out accurately?
Q3.What are the benefits of using a stencil or template when manufacturing?
Q4.What is the purpose of tessellation in manufacturing?
Q5. is the process of arranging different shapes on a material in a way that minimises waste
Q6.Which of the following shapes can tessellate on a flat surface without gaps or overlaps?
To help you plan your 7 design and technology lesson on: Minimising material waste, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 7 design and technology lesson on: Minimising material waste, 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 Principles of materials and manufacturing unit, dive into the full secondary design and technology curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.