Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v5 - Grade 5

Lesson Video

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Performance objectives

• Identify at least three processing techniques.
• Design a simple product from given materials.
• Safely use basic tools for a processing task.
• Explain how processing adds value to materials.
• Describe temporary and permanent changes.

Lesson summary

Processing is all about changing materials into something more useful or desirable. Think about the food you eat, the clothes you wear, or the desk you use in class. All of these have been processed from raw materials. In South Africa, processing industries are vital for creating jobs and providing goods that people need. From food processing to manufacturing goods from our natural resources, understanding processing is crucial for future economic development. This week, we'll focus on understanding different processing techniques and applying them in simple design and make tasks.

Lesson notes

What is Processing? Processing means changing something from one form to another. This often involves taking raw materials and transforming them into finished products. Raw materials are things found in nature, like wood, sand, metal ore, fruits, and vegetables. Processing makes these raw materials more useful and valuable.

Types of Processing Techniques: There are many different ways to process materials.

Here are a few important ones: Cutting: Separating a material into smaller pieces. Examples include cutting wood with a saw, cutting paper with scissors, or cutting vegetables for a salad.

Shaping: Changing the form or contour of a material. Examples include bending metal, moulding clay, or shaping dough.

Joining/Assembling: Putting different pieces of material together. Examples include gluing wood, sewing fabric, or bolting metal plates together.

Mixing: Combining different ingredients to create a new substance. Examples include mixing flour, sugar, and eggs to make a cake batter, or mixing cement, sand, and water to make concrete.

Heating: Applying heat to change a material's properties. Examples include cooking food, melting metal, or baking clay.

Cooling: Removing heat to change a material's properties. Examples include freezing water to make ice, or refrigerating food to preserve it.

Smoothing: Making a material's surface less rough. Examples include sanding wood or polishing metal. Temporary vs.

Permanent Changes: When we process materials, we can create either temporary or permanent changes: Temporary change: A change that can be reversed. For example, melting ice is a temporary change because the water can be frozen back into ice. Bending a paper clip is also often a temporary change, because it can be bent back (though repeated bending can weaken it).

Permanent change: A change that cannot be easily reversed. For example, burning wood is a permanent change because you can't turn the ash back into wood. Cooking an egg is a permanent change because you can't uncook it. Mixing cement, sand, and water creates concrete through a chemical reaction, leading to a permanent change.

Adding Value Through Processing: Processing adds value to raw materials. This means the processed product is worth more than the raw materials it was made from. For example, a log of wood is worth a certain amount. But if the wood is processed into a table, the table is worth much more because of the work, skills, and tools required to make it. This increased value creates jobs and economic opportunities. Think about fruit. A farmer might sell oranges for R5 each. But a company that processes the oranges into juice and packages it can sell the juice for R

2

0. That extra R15 is the value added through processing.

Worked example

Example 1: Making a Clay Pot:

Raw material: Clay.

Processing techniques: Shaping (moulding the clay), heating (baking the clay in a kiln).

Finished product: Clay pot.

Type of change: Permanent (the baked clay will not revert to raw clay).

Example 2: Making a Sandwich:

Raw materials: Bread, cheese, tomato, lettuce.

Processing techniques: Cutting (slicing the tomato and cheese), assembling (putting the ingredients between the slices of bread).

Finished product: Sandwich.

Type of change: Temporary (you can take the sandwich apart, though it may be messy).

Example 3: Making a Bracelet from Beads:

Raw materials: Beads, string.

Processing techniques: Assembling (threading the beads onto the string), joining (tying a knot to secure the beads).

Finished product: Bracelet.

Type of change: Temporary (you can cut the string and take the beads off, though that would destroy the bracelet).

Guided Practice (With Solutions)

Question 1:

List three raw materials and describe what product can be made from each using a processing technique. For each, identify the processing technique used.

Solution:

Raw Material: Wood

Processed Product: Chair

Processing Technique: Cutting, Shaping, Joining (assembling)

Raw Material: Milk

Processed Product: Yogurt

Processing Technique: Mixing (with bacteria cultures), Cooling

Raw Material: Wool

Processed Product: Scarf

Processing Technique: Spinning (into yarn), Weaving (or knitting)