Scale drawings!

Today was the day where it all came together! Me and Denise got together with the UltraSound and Mammography Techs and went through floor plans with them. (We do have plans that architects did but unfortunately there are things the techs would like to have such as dressing rooms in the mammography room)

Going through all of what is needed involves a lot more than one would think! We went over what they all need in their exam room, how many they need, bathrooms, changing rooms, tech rooms, waiting rooms, etc.

 To start we had made some cardboard cut-outs of their equipment and had them lay it out on the floor.

After doing this they got a pretty good idea of different ways they could lay out their furniture (and that it would unfortunately be pretty hard with the design the architects came up with)




















After that we took them down to a meeting room where we had the area of the whole department on a paper and little pieces of equipment, furniture, and walls all cut out to 1/4" = 1'.
 They did a really good job and really got into it and came up with a lot of good drawings! When they saw the space that they were allowed it really made them decide between what was most important to them.

It was difficult for them to get everything in the area they had originally designated for ultrasound and mammography. We had the head of the radiology department with us also, so she gave the techs a little more room to play around with then to see what they would come up with. Even then it was a little difficult for them to find exactly where they would like everything to be.

Then eventually it got to be late (they're usually done with work at 4:30 and we planned on working until 6:30 and they stayed until 7:00! Long day!!) So we will pick it up another time.

It was great to see how good they all were with converting (1/4 inch to a foot). We had architecture rulers and also grid paper for them to use depending on what they like, just like students not all adults complete tasks the same way!

While they were doing this I thought "definitely a good reason for my students to know how to use scales!" Even if they aren't going into engineering or architecture or something where it's used everyday I bet these techs didn't think they would ever use ratios that much at their job!