Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today about Recycled robots: exploring drawing and sculpture.

We're going to be doing lots of thinking, talking, and exploring together in this lesson.

So, shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to create a robot using recyclable materials and be able to explain the choice of materials you've chosen.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are maquette, sculpture, assemble, recyclable material.

I'm going to say those again and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Maquette, sculpture, assemble, recyclable material.

Good job.

Now let's take a look at what each of these keywords mean by looking at their definitions.

A maquette is a small, rough model of a sculpture used for planning.

A sculpture is a three-dimensional piece of art made by shaping or combining materials.

Assemble means to fit together the parts of something.

Recyclable material is left over or discarded materials that can be reused for creative purposes.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you are ready to continue, press Play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

Selecting materials for creating a robot and then assembling and constructing a robot.

In the first learning cycle, we're gonna explore selecting materials for creating a robot.

How do materials used for this robot sculpture help shape its design and purpose? Hm, take a look at that robot there.

Pause the video here and have a think about how the materials used for this robot help shape its design and purpose, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? What could you notice there about those materials? Well, the materials help shape the robot by giving it structure and making it strong or flexible where needed.

What recyclable materials have been used to create this robot? Well, we can see we've got a serial box that's been used for its card for parts of the body.

We've got some wire for the armature.

Some buttons or card for the details, like the eyes here.

And some elastic bands or pipe cleaners for the arms. Could you see those recyclable materials there? Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

This statement, "You should choose recyclable materials based on your robot's purpose and material's properties." Is this statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself some time to think about this, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

If you said this statement is true, you are right.

Well done.

When selecting materials, you always got to think about what your robot needs to do and then choose the materials that will support that purpose.

For example, if your robot needed strong arms, you might choose a sturdy material like cardboard.

Recyclable materials should also be chosen based on their properties.

Aisha says, "Let's use this cardboard box for the body.

It's sturdy and easy to cut.

And we can use bottle caps for buttons and controls because they are colourful." Laura says, "Then the toilet rolls can be the robot's arms. They're lightweight and easy to attach.

And we can wrap them in foil to make them look metallic." And you see how they've chosen those recyclable materials based on their properties and what to use them for.

Here's what Aisha wants to use for her robot sculpture.

Bottle caps for eyes or buttons, plastic bottles for ears or arms, cardboard tubes for arms and legs, and straw or string for the wiring.

Remember, you are the artist, so you get to make your own choices.

These are just some of the ideas that Aisha wants to use for her robot sculpture.

What do you think you'd like to use? Let's take a moment to pause here.

Discuss which recyclable materials you might choose for different parts of the robot and why.

So, pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? What would you like to use? Well, maybe you talked about some of these things.

Maybe some yoghourt tubs or some plastic bottles, some milk cartons.

There's so many options that you could choose from.

Now, you might choose sturdy materials like cardboard for the body, or flexible materials like plastic bottles for arms or legs.

You need to consider how the materials you choose match the robot's purpose and make sure it's sturdy and functional.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to choose five recyclable materials to assemble your sculpture, considering your robot's purpose.

Look back at your maquette.

Use it as a guide to help decide which materials suit each part.

Think about purpose.

What will your robot do? And choose materials that support its function.

Then explore different recyclable materials.

Consider their strength, flexibility, and texture.

Have a good feel of those different recyclable materials and really think hard about which ones will work the best.

And then I'd like you to explain your choices.

Why did you pick each material? How will it help assemble your robot? So, pause the video here and give yourself enough time to carefully choose your five recyclable materials to assemble your sculpture and thinking carefully about your robot's purpose, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Were you able to use your maquette as a guide to think carefully about the purpose of your robot? Which recyclable materials did you choose? Why did you choose them? Perhaps you chose carb or tubes for legs because they are strong, and foil for buttons to make them stand out.

Maybe you chose a plastic bottle for the robot's body because it's lightweight and sturdy.

Maybe you'll use bottle caps for the eyes to give a 3D look.

And perhaps for the arms, you picked rolled up newspaper because it's easy to shape and attach.

And maybe you'll wrap it in foil to make it look metallic, just like a maquette.

Well done for having a go at this learning task, thinking about those five recyclable materials you might use to assemble your sculpture.

This brings us to the second part of our lesson.

We're going to explore assembling and constructing a robot.

Now that you've planned your design and you've chosen your recyclable materials, it's time to assemble and construct your robot.

* Now, Sofia, she'll be trying different ways to connect pieces and adjust them as she goes.

Whereas Andeep, he's gonna look back at his maquette to help with placement and structure.

I think these are both good ideas to help with you assembling and constructing a robot.

So, this brings us to our second learning task.

I want you to begin by creating the individual parts of your robot using your chosen materials.

So, we've got the head, arms, body, legs, and other features, maybe some antennae or some buttons.

So, pause the video here and give yourself enough time to create those individual parts of your robot first.

Take a look at this image here.

You can see how we've got the different parts.

And press Play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Have you got all of your individual parts of your robot ready? Okay.

Now, to assemble your robot, you have to join these parts.

And there are many ways in which you can do this.

We need to think about how to attach the arms, the head, the legs, and things like the antennae, if we've got some.

So, let's take a look at this.

How did the artist here join these parts? Take a good look.

What is this artist using? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? That's right.

The artist is using some tape to stick these parts together to join them.

Gum tape can be used to hold materials together.

You need to cut the gum tape to size and dampen the adhesive side with a wet sponge.

Then press it firmly onto the join.

And smooth it down to secure.

So, that might be one way in which you join your materials together.

Here are some other ways that you could join your parts of the robot together.

You could use some glue, you could do some slotting, or some tying.

So, glueing , slotting, or tying those are some ways in which you could join parts of your robot together.

You could also join the parts using flange, tab, or a split pin.

How might you use these joining techniques to construct your robot? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner about which of these techniques you think would work for your robot, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, Aisha says, "When our making our robot, we need to think about how the pieces join together.

Some joins are stronger, and some let parts move a little." Jacob agrees.

If we want a strong join, we could use a flange or tabs because they help attach pieces firmly.

Andeep says, "If we need a quick or flexible join, tape might be a good choice." Different joins are best for different parts, so you need to choose carefully for your design.

Alex tried to join the head of his robot to the neck with tape, but it's not secure.

What other joining technique could he use? Pause a video here and give yourself a moment to think, and then press Play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? What other technique could he use? Well, perhaps he could attach the head with a flange because that's a really secure technique, and that's what we need for the head.

Now, to create a flange, you need to cut slits around the base of a tube, around one to two centimetres apart, making sure that they are even all the way around.

You need to fold the slits outwards and then apply glue to the folded sections, making sure each one sticks securely to the surface.

Can you see how this artist is cutting those slits all the way around and then pushing them outwards, then attaching the glue so that it sticks to the surface? When you press the flange down, it will then secure itself to whatever you've attached it to.

So, if we're gonna create a flange by cutting slits around the tube's base, then folding them out, and glueing them down for a strong attachment.

That's good for body parts like the head.

So, I'd like you to have a go at doing that now.

Pause the video here and have a go at creating a flange with a piece of recyclable material and then attach it securely to your sculpture.

Pause the video here and give yourself enough time to do that, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Well, hopefully the slits and folds have provided a strong attachment, making the connection stable.

Now, if I was to attach two pieces of cardboard using slotting, I need to cut a small slit in each piece and then slide them together to create a strong join.

So, can you see here how I've cut those and then slotted them together? You have a go now at slotting two pieces of recyclable material together to make a secure connection.

Pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go, and press Play when you are ready to continue.

How did you find that? While the slits and folds help create strong, stable connection, glue and tape will not be needed.

So, it is a quick way to join pieces together.

But remember, you choose which join to use.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to assemble and construct your robot.

So, use your chosen recyclable materials to build your robot.

Look back at your maquette for guidance.

And attach parts securely using appropriate joining techniques.

Make sure that your robot structure is stable and suits its purpose.

Now, here are the different joining techniques that you can use, glueing , slotting, tying, flange, tab, and split pin.

So, you need to think about which one of these joining techniques you'd like to use for each part.

It's up to you as the artist.

So, pause the video here and give yourself enough time to construct your robot using those different joining techniques, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Were you able to assemble and construct your robot using those techniques? Well, maybe your robot might look a bit like this one, and you've used these techniques.

You might have assembled your robot referring to your maquette for guidance.

So, you may have carefully selected those recyclable materials that suit your robot's purpose and made sure it's secure using different joining techniques.

And you see how this robot has the flange joining technique, joining the head to the body.

We've got some glueing on the arms and also some tape, and using tabs for the legs.

Well done for having a go at assembling and constructing your robot using those different joining techniques.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about sculpting a robot using recyclable materials.

Using a maquette as guidance helps us to select materials and to choose how to assemble a sculpture.

And selecting recyclable materials based on strength and flexibility for different parts of the sculpture is helpful when we're assembling it.

And securely joining using methods like tape, tabs, slots, and flanges can connect parts securely based on their needs.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.