DT - Res Materials/Graphics

Welcome to the Design Technology (Resistant Materials and Graphics) Curriculum Area

The role of design and technology in the curriculum

In design and technology students combine practical and technological skills with creative thinking to design and make products and systems that meet human needs. They learn to use current technologies and consider the impact of future technological developments. They learn to think creatively and intervene to improve the quality of life, solving problems as individuals and members of a team.

Students will use contexts that provide a range of opportunities and draw on the local ethos, community and wider world, to identify needs and opportunities to innovate new products.

They will combine practical and intellectual skills with an understanding of aesthetic, technical, moral, cultural, health, social, emotional, economic, industrial and environmental issues.
They will respond with ideas, making products and systems, and challenging expectations where appropriate.

As they do so, they will evaluate present and past design and technology, and its uses and effects. Through design and technology students will develop confidence in using practical skills and become discriminating users of products. They will apply their creative thinking and learn how to innovate.

Tomorrow's designers and innovators

“A ‘design thinker’ must not only be intensely collaborative, but empathic, as well as have a craft to making things real in the world.”

Since design flavours virtually all of our experiences, from products to services to spaces, a design thinker must explore a ‘landscape of innovation’ that has to do with people, their needs, technology and business.” Tim Brown IDEO Europe

In years 7 to 8 students learn how to:

• respond creatively to design briefs, and develop their own proposals for the specifications of new products;

• generate, develop and communicate design ideas in a range of ways, using different media and techniques;

• recognise the moral, cultural, economic, environmental, and sustainability issues inherent in design and technology;

• apply understanding of other designers and products to inform their own practice;

• plan and organise the manufacturing of new products using materials, components, and ingredients by using shaping, forming, mixing, assembling, and finishing processes; and,

• select and use hand and machine tools, equipment and computer-aided design/manufacture (CAD/CAM) facilities to solve technical problems and make prototypes.

In years 9 to 11 students develop their design and technology capability, by combining skills with understanding of how to innovate and make high quality models, prototypes and artifacts.

They will learn how to:

• analyse and evaluate products and processes;
• engage in focused tasks to develop and demonstrate techniques;
• use a range of strategies to develop ideas, plan and produce products;
• considering how past and present design and technology, relevant to a designing and
making context, affects society; and,
• recognise the moral, cultural and environmental issues inherent in design and technology.

Students learn how to apply knowledge and understanding of:

• product design and market influence including the wider effects of design and technology on society;
• the classification and selection of materials and components;
• preparing, processing and finishing components and materials; and,
• manufacturing commercial products.

Their innovation and design thinking will demonstrate their skills in:

• communicating their ideas and design development;
• production planning;
• making prototypes and artifacts; and,
• evaluating products and ideas.

Opportunities for extra curricular study and enjoyment:

The department offers students opportunities to develop their interests in innovation and design through clubs and special support sessions for GCSE coursework.