Analysing everyday objects: the windscreen wiper
Characters:
Theme: The technological process. Technological solutions to everyday problems
Competencies
Competence in Linguistic Communication
Mathematical competence in science, technology and engineering
Personal, social and learning to learn competence
Entrepreneurial Competence
Subjects and year by Educational System
Spain > Technology and digitisation > 1st ESO > Troubleshooting process. Materials, products and technological solutions
Spain > Technology and digitisation > 2nd ESO > Troubleshooting process. Materials, products and technological solutions
Spain > Technology and digitisation > 3rd ESO > Troubleshooting process. Materials, products and technological solutions
Enunciation
Surely, someday it has started raining while you were on a drive. The following picture shows a windscreen wiper (invented by Mary Anderson) of the beginning of the 20th century. Obviously, its design has evolved a lot since then, but, without any doubt, thanks to this invention, we can now drive safely when it rains or snows:
a) Using arrows, match the number of each piece with its name:
| Part 1 |
handle |
| Part 2 |
set-screw |
| Part 3 |
arm |
| Part 4 |
rubber |
| Part 5 |
centre of support |
| Part 6 | spindle |
b) Currently, windscreen wipers work automatically by means of an electric motor, but initially this was not the case. How do you think the windscreen wiper in the previous image worked?
c) Draw the sketch and outline of the windscreen wiper of your car. (Remember that the outline has measurements and more details than the sketch).
| SKETCH: | OUTLINE: |
d) The following picture shows us a windscreen of a car that does not have windscreen wipers. You have to design the necessary windscreen wiper(s) so that when it rains we can drive without problems.
Observations and context
We can relate this invention by Mary Anderson to other everyday inventions made by women in the late 19th and 20th centuries: the dishwasher (Josephine Cochrane), the hypodermic syringe (Letitia Geer), coffee filters (Melitta Bentz), the disposable nappy (Marion Donovan), the lifeboat (Maria Beasley), the ink pen (Bette Nesmith Graham) or the bra (Mary Phelps Jacob).
Description
Exercises to put into practice the concepts of sketches and outlines and the analysis of objects, within the topic of the technological process.
Objectives
- analysing technological objects to see their usefulness
- drawing outlines and sketches to use them as elements of graphic information of objects in the school environment.