Science // Scientific Inquiry

Modelling with Sketches

Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem

Ages
5 to 8
Type
Method
Builds on
1 topic
Leads to
2 topics
Standards
1 code

Quick check

Can the learner draw or build a model to show how they'd design something — like a boat shape that floats well — and explain why the shape matters?

Ask this to see whether the topic is secure.

Topic // Mastery

What mastery looks like

What a learner can do once this topic is secure.
  • Create a sketch, drawing, or physical model of a design solution
  • Explain how the shape or structure of the design helps solve the problem
  • Relate the model to the real-world problem it addresses

Topic // Map

Where this fits

What to learn first and what this topic opens up, with the reason for each link. Required links come first.
  • RequiredMust come first
  • HelpfulHelps, but not essential

Before this

1 topic
  • Asking scientific questionsRequired

    Scientific Inquiry // Ages 5 to 8

    Must ask questions about problems before modelling design solutions

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Modelling with Sketches

Ages 5 to 8 // Method

Leads to

2 topics

Topic // Research-informed

Teaching notes

From the Marble Skill Taxonomy. These notes have not been validated in classrooms, so treat them as a starting point for your own judgement.

The approach

For children aged 5–8, teach modelling as a design-thinking tool: a sketch, drawing, or physical model is a way to show and reason about HOW the shape or structure of a design helps it do its job, not a decorative picture. Anchor every model to a given problem, make the form–function link explicit ('how does that shape help it work?'), and let children iterate — change a shape, re-check, and re-explain. Use real objects whose form obviously serves a function as worked examples, and have children annotate features with their purpose.

Common misconceptions

  • Treating the model as a picture to make pretty rather than a tool to show how a design works.
  • Not connecting the model to the problem it is meant to solve.
  • Being unable to say WHY a chosen shape helps the object function.
  • Thinking any shape will do — that form and function are unrelated.
  • Believing a model must look exactly like the finished object rather than illustrate the key idea.
  • Seeing the first sketch as final rather than something to test and improve.

Useful representations

  • Shape-to-function pairing (wide base → stable; sloped roof → sheds rain; point → cuts through)
  • Annotated sketch with feature labels explaining purpose
  • Real-object exemplars whose form serves a function
  • Design-cycle position: define → MODEL possible solution → test → compare
  • Model-to-problem link card (which real problem this solves)

Teaching practices

  • Anchor every model to a given problem so it is a purposeful solution, not a decorative drawing.
  • Make the form–function link explicit: for each feature ask 'how does that shape help it work?'.
  • Use real objects whose shape obviously serves a function (boat hull, umbrella, spoon) as worked examples before children design their own.
  • Treat the sketch/model as a thinking-and-communication tool — something to show others how the design works and to improve.
  • Encourage labelling/annotation of features with their purpose, building explanatory vocabulary.
  • Allow iteration: let children change a shape and re-explain, so the model develops as their idea does.

Activities to try

  1. 1

    Shape Shop: build and test a shelter

    Why it works: It was not a fancier roof that kept the animals dry — it was the SHAPE: a slope sends water away, and a wide base helps keep a structure from tipping. Form does functional work, and a model lets you show and improve how a design works.

    1. Read/hear the given problem: 'Design a shelter that keeps the toy animals DRY in the rain.'
    2. Assemble a shelter from choosable parts — a base, walls, and a roof you can shape as flat, domed, or sloped — drawing or placing your solution.
    3. Run a rain check: on a flat roof, watch whether water sits and pools (and, if the roof has gaps or leaks, drips through onto the animals); reshape the roof into a slope that overhangs the walls and run the rain again to see whether the water runs off the edge and away from the animals.
    4. Try a stability challenge too: give a tall tower a narrow base, test it with a gentle nudge (it may wobble or topple), then widen the base and re-test to compare.
    5. Label your finished design with why each shape helps, e.g. 'the roof is sloped so the rain runs off.'
  2. 2

    Shape detectives: real objects whose shape has a job

    Why it works: The shapes of made objects around us are usually chosen on purpose: the form of a designed object is tied to the function it serves, and you can read a design by asking what each shape is for.

    1. Explore real objects whose shape serves a function — a boat's pointed hull, an umbrella's dome, a spoon's scoop.
    2. For each, tap or point to the key shape-feature and reveal/say 'this shape helps because…' (the point cuts through water; the dome makes rain run off its edges, away from the person underneath; the scoop holds liquid).
    3. Build vocabulary by naming the feature and the function it serves.
    4. Then take your turn: pick a problem and start your own model, carrying over the 'this shape helps because…' move.
  3. 3

    Design a squirrel-proof bird feeder (make-and-explain)

    Why it works: A good model foregrounds the working feature and can be justified by how its shape solves the problem, and it adapts when the challenge gets harder — the model shows how a design works, not just what it looks like.

    1. Take the problem: birds keep eating from the feeder, but so do the squirrels. Design a feeder birds can use but squirrels can't reach the food in.
    2. On paper or with simple materials, sketch or build a quick model of your idea.
    3. Point to the specific shape or structural feature that stops the squirrels (e.g. a narrow perch, a dome, or a baffle) and explain how that feature does the job.
    4. Relate your model back to the real feeder and the real squirrels.
    5. Raise the challenge: a squirrel can jump and hang upside down — does your shape still work? Change it and re-explain if needed.

Topic // Standards

Curriculum standards

Codes for the curriculum statements this topic maps to. Each publisher owns its standard text.
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) K-5
K-2-ETS1-2

Science // Scientific Inquiry

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