ANIMALS IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT- YEAR 1

STEM Design Brief:

Building our Class

Aquarium- Year 1
Introduction to the
STEM project:
 We have a problem
here in the class,
our class aquarium
has too many
animals inside and
is starting to leak
out of the sides.
How could we fix
this?
 Your task- it is
your job as
partners we need to
design an
aquarium that
would cater to fit
each ocean animal
that we are having
our class aquarium
as well as maybe
including extra
animals to our
aquarium to make
it more interesting
and bigger for the
classroom.
 ANIMALS IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT- YEAR 1

Generating Designs:
 Allow children to explore multiple types
of aquariums, prior to the project
students would have visited AQWA and
had seen the aquariums they have and
the animals they have inside of them.

Project
Specifications:
 The final diorama
will not be life size
as some students
may want to make
a huge diorama of
the aquarium
 Students will need
to use materials
such as:
o Cardboard
boxes
o Ribbon
o Sand
The Design Brief:
o Branches
o Rocks
 Students are to visually design and draw a diagram of
the Paper
o aquarium they will create
 Students will need
The student’s finial diorama will be created using
to list what realmaterials
sustainable
materials they
would use if they
were really
designing an
aquarium on one
design and on
another, they will
list the materials
they are to use
when creating the
in-class diorama
 ANIMALS IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT- YEAR 1

Project Management:
 Lesson 1 (50 minutes)
o Get into partners
o Research aquariums, what they are made of and the size they usually are
o Research what animals would fit in an aquarium that students wish to build
 Lesson 2 (50 minutes)
o Design a draft aquarium with rough sizing, this will be the copy which outlines what
materials students would use if they built the aquarium in real life
 Lesson 3 (50 minutes)
o Create a final design, this will include the materials the students will need to complete the
diorama
 Lesson 4 and 5 (50 minutes each)
o Students are to create their designed aquarium
o Complete the class gallery walk and vote on which groups design was best.

Presentation:
 You need to present the final product out of sustainable materials
 These will be made into a diorama that will include all concepts that have been explored and developed
within the design of your aquarium
 Students will explain to their peers the process they went through when designing their aquarium and
why it would be made the way it is, this will allow other peers to understand the though process prior to
voting for the best aquarium.
 Once all students have finalised their diorama a class gallery walk will take place with a voting system to
allow children to pick whose aquarium was best, the class vote will be based off of a set of design
criteria for example, will their plan fit the animals the class already owns as well as fitting one of their
choice animals in.

Time:
Evaluation:
 Students will be given ample amount of time over
 When students are designing their three lessons to complete the STEM design brief.
aquarium, they should consider: The six lessons they are provided will run for
o The size of the animals that roughly 50 minutes each which will allow them to
will live in there focus and emerge themselves into their design.
o The best material to make
 Prior to the commencement of the STEM design
it out of
brief occurring students will be scaffolded with tools
o The size of the actual tank
and information they will need to complete the
o Where this may be placed
within the class project at a sufficient level. This will be done in the 5
o How it will not leak E model prior to the students being told about the
STEM project and the commencement of the project.