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Design Technology

Design technology is an inspiring and practical subject which encourages children to use their imagination and creativity to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts. Children acquire broad subject knowledge and make links to other subjects such as maths, science, engineering, computing and art. Children are taught to design and evaluate projects being encouraged to take risks and become resourceful, innovative and enterprising.

The national curriculum for DT aims to ensure all pupils:

Develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.
Build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users.
Critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others.
Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.

Foundation Stage

In the Foundation Stage curriculum Design and Technology is covered in a variety of different curriculum areas. Children are taught to;

“…safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function. “

“…use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes.”

“…handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing.”

Key Stage 1

When designing and making children are taught to:

Design

Purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria.
Generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through talking, drawing, templates, mock-ups and, where appropriate, information and communication technology

Make

Select from and use a range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks.
Select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristics.

Evaluate

Explore and evaluate a range of existing products
Evaluate their ideas and products against design criteria.

Technical knowledge

Build structures, exploring how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable
Explore and use mechanisms.

Cooking and Nutrition

As part of the work with food, pupils should be taught how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. Learning to cook is a vital life skill that enables pupils to feed themselves and others affordably and well.

Key Stage 1

Use the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet to prepare dishes.
Understand where food comes from

Design and Technology skills. Spring term.

D&T in our Nursery

Making houses for the 3 bears

The Children have been learning about The Three Billy Goats Gruff. They have used their building and imagination skills to make bridges that are strong and beautiful to look at.

The Nursery children have been using their skills of cutting and sticking to make models. Aren't they amazing!

Year 2 children have used the skills of cutting, joining and assembling to help them make a puppet for story telling. They evaluated their puppets, asking questions like - Is it strong enough?

Year 2 have been learning about The Great Fire of London. They have learnt that strong winds caused the fire to spread quickly. They evaluated a variety of windsocks that could measure wind direction.

Each group presented what they had discovered, to the rest of the class.

Year 2 designed and made their own windsocks after evaluating others. They looked at different designs and evaluated their fitness for purpose. They used some of the good ideas they had found out to help them design their own.

Now we need a windy day so that the designs can be tested and modified.