To end this half term, the children ‘got creative’ once again and began decorating their end product of making their very own cam mechanism.
During their Design and Technology project, ‘Making it Move’, they learnt about lots of different types of mechanisms. They looked at levers, sliders and different shaped cams before making their own.
Machines and mechanical toys.
turn a rotational movement into an up and down movement.
Firstly, they designed their own cam mechanism and learnt that in order to ‘make it move’ they needed to make sure that it consisted of these 3 main components; a follower, axle, and cam wheel. They learnt that a cam wheel comes in many different shapes, but most commonly are pear shaped. The axle is a rod attached to the cam and when the axle is rotated the cam wheel rotates. The follower is positioned so it is in contact with the cam wheel and when the cam is rotated the follower moves as it follows the shape of the cam. This changes the rotational movement of the cam and axle to the up and down movement of the follower. This mechanism can be used for many different purposes.
The children then moved on to the making stage, where they worked together in pairs to assemble their designs. They worked really well in pairs and were very helpful to one another as well as listening to each other’s suggestions and taking turns. They loved painting and decorating their cam mechanisms too!
Finally it was time to evaluate their work where they thought about what they liked about their end products, what things they found tricky about making their design and what improvements they could make if they were to do it again. They were super reflective learners during this final stage. Well done, Year 3!
