Carpet crawlers
Some of the best ideas for design labs use the simplest equipment but I hadn't realised we could do without chairs and tables, in fact they are not even in the lab. Better not tell the director of studies about that or I might find myself timetabled to be in the corridor. The design lab they are undertaking is about a bow and arrow made with a strip of cut up ice cream carton, a bit of string and a drinking straw. Believe it or not that's the bow on the end of the bench, the black square thing. Some groups didn't quite get the idea of how to construct a bow. It's called a bow because the uh, bow is made to form a bow shape by the string. Some of my students made what would be more correctly called a straight. Controlling the variables is quite difficult in a lot of these experiments and students need to think carefully about how to launch the arrow (straw) in the same way each time. Many quickly found out that there was quite a spread in their results.
Frequently asked question:
"Can I still get a good grade for design if my method is rubbish"
Frequently said answer: No
If you don't know where the title comes from: