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PlayOwl

Science · Grade 6

Accessibility, Sustainability and Tradeoffs

Good designs work for the full range of people who will use them and do as little harm as possible across their whole life. Learners apply universal-design principles and check accessibility with real users, trace a product's environmental impact through its life cycle, and weigh competing criteria with a weighted decision matrix and a sensitivity check. A Going further lesson compares options quantitatively with functional units, break-even points and payback times.

  • 4 lessons
  • About 115 minutes
  • Accessibility, sustainability and tradeoffs check: 10 questions
  • Ways to answer: choose an answer, match pairs, type a number, put in order, sort into groups and true or false
See plans Included with Family, Teacher and School plans. Open in PlayOwl

What learners will discover

  • Apply universal-design principles to identify and remove barriers, so a design works for people with a wide range of abilities, ages and body sizes.
  • Trace a product's environmental impacts through its life cycle, find the stage that matters most and choose strategies such as repair, reuse and design for disassembly.
  • Use a weighted decision matrix to compare concepts across competing criteria, check how sensitive the choice is to the weights, and justify a tradeoff.
  • Going further: compare options quantitatively using a functional unit, break-even uses and payback time.

Lessons

  1. Designing for everyone 8 steps4 practiceabout 28 min
  2. Thinking across the whole life cycle 6 steps4 practiceabout 28 min
  3. Weighing tradeoffs 7 steps5 practiceabout 30 min
  4. Going further: functional units, break-even and payback 6 steps4 practiceabout 29 min
  5. Accessibility, sustainability and tradeoffs check 10 questions at the end

Keep exploring

Games to practice with

  • Marble MountainLay straights, curves, drops and splitters to roll marbles down the mountain.
  • Bridge LabBuild a bridge from beams, brace it with triangles, and stay on budget.
  • Circuit Workshop 3DWire up batteries, bulbs and switches on a 3D workbench.

More 6th grade science

Guide for grown-ups