Design & Technology - Key Stage 3

Unit

Knowledge and Skills 

Communication

Pupils will be introduced to a range of communication skills throughout this unit of work. Pupils will be taught how to communicate their ideas through drawing techniques such as oblique drawing, one point perspective drawing, two- point perspective drawing and crating. Alongside this, pupils will learn how to annotate their ideas effectively to best communicate their thoughts surrounding their ideas. Finally, pupils will learn how to use the CAD program ‘Sketch Up’ so they can produce realistic renders of their ideas. 

Key Assessment: portfolio of drawing work, annotations, CAD drawings and end of unit knowledge test on drawing techniques. 

Food Preparation and Nutrition

Pupils will be introduced to the kitchen environment and cooking techniques including learning how to use knives, stoves and the oven safely and hygienically. They will build up skills through demonstrations and practical making activities which focus on the key skills of chopping, frying, baking and tidying up. Pupils will learn about healthy eating relating to the ‘eat well’ plate and different ways of analysing dishes through sensory analysis. Pupils will utilise their skills to design and make their own healthy dish.

Please be aware that pupils will need to bring their own ingredients to cook with and will require a large watertight container to transport their dishes home- they will be given recipe sheets in the lesson prior to their practical.

Key assessment: Assessed practical outcome

Metals 

The ‘Metals’ project provides pupils with a toolkit of further strategies for creative idea generation that they can use throughout and beyond the course. They will spend quality time developing their ideas into realistic design solutions, which they will plan and make following experimentation with different material options. This year, pupils will work with Pewter and learn how to cast. Pupils will need to plan effectively, taking into account constraints such as time and materials. As they make their designs, they will become familiar with the workshop environment, tools, equipment and processes such as cutting, joining and forming. They will gain understanding of how to safely use hand-held tools and machines such as the hegna saws and pillar drill. They will test and evaluate their product to consolidate their learning.

Key assessment: Final idea milestone, final practical outcome and end of unit knowledge test on metals

Unit

Knowledge and Skills

Polymers

This unit of work aims to provide students with a toolkit of further strategies for creative idea generation which they can use throughout and beyond the course. They will spend quality time developing their ideas into realistic design solutions, which they will plan and make following experimentation with polypropylene. This year, students will work mainly with sheet polypropylene to make a creative piece of lighting design. Students will need to plan effectively, taking into account constraints such as time and materials. As they make their designs, they will develop their skills in a workshop environment using tools, equipment and construction processes such as cutting and joining. They will also gain familiarity with heat processes such as bending and forming using a plastics oven and line bender. They will test and evaluate their product to consolidate their learning.

Key assessment: Final idea milestone, final practical outcome and end of unit knowledge test on polymers

DOT - Dexterity & Vision

In this unit of work, students will explore the topic of inclusive design and work through the cyclical process of iterative design. Pupils will look at how to design for all rather than just designing for one part of a diverse population. Using their research and task analysis’s, pupils will respond to a design brief and produce a series of conceptual models working through an iterative design process leading to a final practical outcome. All resources have been provided via the DOT project in collaboration with the University of Cambridge. 
Key assessment: Final idea milestone and final practical outcome and end of unit knowledge test on anthropometrics and ergonomics

Food

Building on skills learnt in the year 7 cooking module, students will develop their skills within the kitchen environment. Working in parallel with their food unit in Spanish, students will be asked to design and make their very own tapas dish. In order to build the foundation for this final practical outcome, students will conduct some focused practical cooking tasks following recipes, which will introduce several cooking skills. As this project is conducted after the food unit in Spanish lessons, students will be encouraged to converse about their tapas dish through the language of its origin!

Key assessment: Final recipe milestone and final practical outcome

 Unit

Knowledge and Skills

Material Exploration

In this unit of work, students will explore the topic of designing an inclusive product. Whilst designing, students will explore the properties and qualities of different materials when testing their ideas. Students will take the project in the direction of their choosing designing for a primary user and other stakeholders. 

Key assessment: Final idea milestone, final practical outcome, and a manufacturing diary.

Asthma Project

Pupils will be given a real life design problem and they will need to respond to the design brief in a creative and unique manor. The challenge is to re-brand the packaging for asthma inhalers and asthma equipment for users under the age of 5 to improve the experience for all stakeholders. Pupils will research into why this problem exists, explore different ideas that aim to solve the problem and then through development work and feedback they will arrive at a final idea. The final prototype will need to meet all of the design specification criteria.

Key assessment: Final idea milestone and final practical outcome

Food

Pupils will be learning about a range of different food and hygiene topics such as food safety and hygiene, healthy eating, reference intakes, fair trade and food miles and functional properties of ingredients. Alongside this pupils will cook a range of dishes that build on their skillset learnt in previous years

Key assessment: Final practical outcomes and end of unit knowledge test