: Help Me Peel

Level: Year 4 and year 8 Approach: Station
Focus: Designing equipment for a person with a physical disability.
3.5MB Resources: photograph, instruction card, recording sheet.
Questions / instructions: Read the instruction card and draw your plan here.
			% responses
			y4	y8
does plan need second person:		no	74	94
		yes, to help	15	4
		yes, to peel potato	11	2
does plan seem workable:		yes, clearly	26	23
		probably	21	42
		possibly	31	27
		no	22	8
quality of plan/diagram as a drawing, not judging workability		quite detailed	24	55
		rudimentary	67	42
		none	9	3
quality of explanation		quite detailed	29	60
		rudimentary	56	34
		none	15	6
nature of solution		way of holding potato still	39	71
		way of holding peeler still	2	4
		machine that can be operated with one hand	15	12
		getting someone else to peel potato	9	2
		getting someone else to help	13	4
		no workable solution	22	7
Commentary: This task would have been better if the instructions had ruled out help from another person with the task of peeling the potato. About one quarter of the year 4 students used that option, which accounts for slightly higher workability that they achieved. Otherwise, 20 to 30 percent more year 8 than year 4 students succeeded with the main elements of this task.

	Help Me Peel Exemplars
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