Design Technology

In Design & Technology we have the ambition to develop students thinking skills. The great advantage we have is that we make stuff. Each student has to make a real and tangible product that needs to be designed through problem solving. Real customers will want good functioning products. Real difficulties will be experienced on the design and making process. To have a product that works and a customer will like enough to buy means that the students need to solve a multitude of problems. We teach them the thinking skills to solve those problems. And those problem solving skills are the same as those that they will need to resolve all kinds of problems throughout their lives.

To meet a need that customers might have students will interview them to find their requirements. They then use research methods to find out how other designers have made similar products; discover information concerning materials and joining methods; they experiment; they make trials to compare ideas. They then explore ideas in a myriad of ways to expand and free their imagination. They then make decisions and develop their thinking into practical solutions. In the making process of the product that they’ve designed they will come across many practical problems that they will need to explore and resolve. Their explanations of the ways they’ve unravelled these problems is held in the highest regard. In completion of the product they will present it to the customer, test it against their original requirements’ evaluate it and make improvements as required.

Amongst this thinking environment we get to learn though making stuff such as:

• Large outdoor product such as the decking over the school pond; the Fairford Market Square Christmas display; the outdoor classroom and pallet furniture.
• Technical products of the “Mindstorms Robots” need to be built and taught to carry out missions. Computer Aided mechanisms are used to enhance projects.
• Competitions to build fan powered boats to cross the swimming pool
• Designing models, decorations and household items such as clocks, carvings or trophies.

At GCSE students need to bring their thinking and making skills to their highest level, then reach for greater learning to show the examiner how well they can design and manufacture.

Designing

Marking Out

Cutting Out

Shaping

Joining

Preparing for a Finish

Applying a Finish