Introduction to Materials and Design (The Sling Shot Jet) 材料和设计简介
In this activity students will get a chance to learn about materials and processes as they build a simple plane. The aim of this project is to help students develop the procedural skills that they will need to attempt larger more complex designs in the future (click for design ideas). Students should familiarize themselves with the tools and materials that they will use, while also exploring concepts such as balance in the design of an airplane. By practicing these skills first, students will be better equipped to fully interact with the ideas and concepts that are covered in the final.
在这项活动中，学生们将通过建造一个简单的飞机模型来熟知所需材料和过程，旨在加强学生在今后尝试更加复杂的设计时所需的技能。在熟悉工具和材料的同时也将探索飞机设计中的一些概念如平衡等。通过预先练习这些技能，学生将能够更好地在后期最终项目或期末检测中做好准备。
To complete this project students should work in pairs or by themselves if there are an odd number students (groups of 3 don’t work out well as one person tends to get left out). First mount the designs on a sheet of A3 foam-board and then cut out each of the sections of the plane. With all of the parts cutout students will need to figure out how all of the parts assemble.
该项目要求学生两人一组或独立完成（尽量避免3人一组防止其中一人容易被孤立）。首先，将设计图粘贴到A3泡沫板上，再分别切割出飞机的每个部分，然后思考如何将这些切割好的部分组装成飞机。
With the plane fully assembles students can then use a bit of hot glue to secure all the pieces together. It is recommended to use an 8w glue gun that uses 7mm glue sticks.
待飞机组装完成后，建议用8W(内部胶棒为7厘米)的胶枪粘贴各粘合处使其更牢固。
NOTE: The larger 20w glue guns that use the 11mm glue sticks get to hot and can melt the foam-board and can also cause serious burns if misused.
注：20W的胶枪（内部胶棒为11厘米）过大过热，易融化泡沫板，且使用不当易灼伤。
Once students have completed their plane you can have them find an open area to fly them. They may not fly well at first as the balance of the plane may be off. So the next things students will want to do is to add counterweights to their planes to make their planes fly better. You can buy a scientific weight sets for this but 1RMB coins work just as well. When adding weights to the plane ask students the following questions: “what is missing?”, “an engine perhaps?”, “where would the engine go and how would that affect the weight distribution of the plane?”
完成之后找一个空间较大的地方进行试飞，你会发现一开始飞机由于失衡飞得并不好。那么，接下来要做的就是在飞机上增加重量使其飞得更好。你可以购买一套科学重量仪，但1元人民币硬币也完全可以。当给飞机添加重量时，向学生提问以下问题：“飞机缺少什么？”，“是发动机吗？”，“发动机应放在哪里？这会如何影响飞机的重量分布？”
Extended Learning Opportunities
To add complexity this project you could have students attempt to recreate their planes on the computer. TinkerCAD offers a great free online solution for students to design and build objects on the computer. Have students measure the plane, the lengths of each side, the angles, everything and then try to recreate those measurements as accurate as they can on the computer. It is harder than it sounds but it is a skill that is in high demand and is worth spending the time developing.
为了增加这个项目的复杂性，你可以让学生尝试在计算机上重新创建他们的飞机。TinkerCAD为学生在计算机上设计和构建对象提供了一个很棒的免费在线解决方案。首先让学生测量飞机，包括每边的长度、角度等，然后按照这些测量数据尝试在计算机上尽可能精确地设计。实际操作起来比听起来要难，但这是一项需求量很大的技能，值得花时间去练习。
