Aspex Software - aspexTabs-MST DT Project

aspexTabs^MST provides a medium to help students develop their skills in designing and making. Pupils generate the ideas for their designs and develop criteria to achieve the final product.

Designs are modelled on the computer as students draw and combine 3D mathematical shapes. Accurate dimensions and angles can be displayed and shapes can be altered, edited, and rendered with colour or bitmap images. Nets can be printed as well as the various projections.

A design project using aspexTabs^MST The project described has been used with groups of KS/3 pupils and with altered focus the project is easily adapted to KS4 graphics products. Project: Design and make a box with a specific volume to package sweets.
Experimental nets	Teacher Guidance We chose Bassett's Liquorice Allsorts for the project so that the pupils can measure and calculate the typical volume occupied by each type of sweet. They work out how many sweets there are in 100g, and how much spare volume they need to leave in the box to allow space between the sweets. The class average is 18 sweets. Lots of cross-curricular maths is involved! Pupils will discuss and make decisions about issues such as: Is the package aimed at children or adults, or both? Will the boxes stack on shelves in the shops? How will the boxes be made commercially? aspexTabsMST is used to produce the net of the box design, the program was chosen because it enables pupils to consider many designs quickly and easily at the prototype stage. The manufacturer of 'Bassett's Liquorice Allsorts' has asked you to design a box, which will contain 100 g of sweets. Resources Use aspexTabsMST software to design the box then make it.
Aims At the end of the project you will hand in a design folder containing: 1. A front page with title, cover design and pupil name. 2. A design brief. 3. A specification. 4. Research. Before you can start on the design there are things you will need to find out, such as the size of box that will be needed. 5. Preliminary designs - use aspexTabs-MST to produce several 3D views of designs for the shape of the box. Design images, or use clipart or scanned images to render onto the package. 6. Final design: Print out your final box design in light card and construct it. 7. Evaluation of the project including the software used.
	Aknowledgements Bassett's Liquorice Allsorts and Bertie Bassett are trademarks of Trebor Bassett Ltd. Designed and used by Andrew Wild, ICT Coordinator. Stockport. School

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