Now that you have finished building your side tables we are going to write something called an evaluation.

Think of evaluation like being a detective for your work. After you've designed and made something, like your table, evaluation is the process of taking a closer look at it and asking yourself some important questions. It's about figuring out what went well, what could have been better, and what you learned along the way...

Why is evaluation so important? Imagine you built a tower with building blocks. You'd want to see if it's strong, right? Does it wobble? Does it stand up straight? Evaluation is like checking the strength of your table. It helps you see if it's doing the job it's supposed to do – you wrote points for success in your Design Specification so you will want to check your design against that.

Here is why evaluation is super useful:

• It helps you get better: Just like practicing a sport helps you improve, evaluation helps you become a better designer and maker. By looking at what you did, you can learn from any mistakes and make your next project even better. Maybe there are some gaps in your pattern pieces or you design was too complex and you found it difficult to cut so many pieces. Now you know that next time, you need to make sure you design more carefully! This shows reflection – thinking carefully about what happened.

• It builds resilience: Sometimes, when you evaluate your work, you might find things that didn't go exactly as planned. Maybe you cut a shape wrong, or the wood split a little. That's okay! Evaluation helps you see these as chances to learn and fix things. Instead of getting discouraged, you can think, "Okay, how can I make this better next time?" This is being resilient – bouncing back from challenges and not giving up.

• It helps you think globally: When you evaluate your table, you can also think about how it might be used by other people. Is it a good height for everyone? Is it strong enough for different kinds of things? Thinking about how your design might affect others, even people in different parts of the world, shows you're being globally minded. Maybe you realize a round table would be better for sharing than a square one, and that's something people all over the world might find useful!

So, evaluation isn't about finding fault; it's about being curious, learning, and growing. It's a really important step in any design project because it helps you make things better, become more resilient when things don't go perfectly, and think about how your creations fit into the wider world. Now, let's start evaluating your amazing tables!