LEARN NC

CareerStart lessons: Grade eight

3.7 Commercial and industrial designers: Working with volume

By Valerie Davis, Sonya Rexrode, and Monika Vasili

Provided by CareerStart

Essential question: How does the volume of a three-dimensional figure change when one or more of the dimensions changes?

Learning outcomes

Students will find the volume of a variety of three-dimensional figures and determine the percent of change in volume when the dimensions are changed.

Teacher planning

Materials needed

  • Graph paper
  • Optional: Colored pencils
  • Ruler
  • Box volume worksheet (includes answer key for table and drawings.)

Time required for lesson

One class period

Scenario

You work for a food manufacturing corporation that has recently gotten involved with a local charity organization. The organization is packaging up toys to send to needy children in the area. You have been given boxes of different shapes and sizes, and you must determine how much available space you have to pack the toys in each of the boxes. You have been given a list of the box shapes and the dimensions of each. You must check out the boxes and the job at hand and size things up.

Activities

  1. Read students the scenario, and share with them information about commercial and industrial designers. (See Career Information below.)
  2. Hand out the worksheet and have students complete the second column, labeled “diagram of 3-dimensional figure.” Students should draw and label each container on graph paper. You may want to have students color-code each face of the box with colored pencils.
  3. Next, tell students to determine the volume formula they will use to find the available space inside each box, and to write the volume of each container in the third column in the data table, labeled “volume.”
  4. Give students the following new scenario: The charitable organization calls and informs you that they have mistakenly given you last year’s box dimensions. You must now re-do your calculations to find the volume for the new boxes. Write the new volumes in the data table. They have requested that you give them the percent of change of the volumes from the old to the new size boxes.
  5. Based on the change in dimensions listed on the data table, have students fill in the new volume for the boxes in the “new volume” column of the data table.
  6. Have students create new drawing that reflect the new dimensions.
  7. Have students calculate the percent of change in volume for each box and fill in the last column in the data table.

Career information: Commercial and industrial designers

Career information comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Nature of the Work

  • Commercial and industrial designers usually work closely with a range of specialists including engineers, materials scientists, marketing and corporate strategy staff, cost estimators, and accountants.
  • About 30 percent are self-employed; many designers work for services firms.
  • A bachelor’s degree is usually required to start; many designers pursue a master’s degree.
  • Keen competition for jobs is expected; those with strong backgrounds in engineering and computer-aided design and extensive business expertise will have the best prospects.

Training, qualifications

A background in principles of design, sketching, computer-aided design, and industrial materials and processes is necessary. Creativity and technical knowledge are needed to be successful in this field. Designers must be able to communicate their ideas visually, verbally, and in writing. They must be problem solvers and meet deadlines.

Earnings

Median annual earnings for commercial and industrial designers were $54,560 in 2006.

Job outlook

Employment of designers can be affected by fluctuations in the economy. Many design jobs have been performed in other countries, which has made competition for available jobs keen. It is still expected that job growth will match that of other jobs in the next 10 years.

Additional information

For career and academic information on commercial and industrial design, see:

North Carolina curriculum alignment

Mathematics (2004)

Grade 8

  • Goal 2: Measurement - The learner will understand and use measurement concepts.
    • Objective 2.01: Determine the effect on perimeter, area or volume when one or more dimensions of two- and three-dimensional figures are changed.
  • Goal 3: Geometry - The learner will understand and use properties and relationships in geometry.
    • Objective 3.01: Represent problem situations with geometric models.
    • Objective 3.03: Identify, predict, and describe dilations in the coordinate plane.