Design Technology

Design and Technology Curriculum Statement

Aiming High Together

Intent

At Lowton West, we believe that all children are designers and we aim to provide a Design and Technology curriculum that allows all children to become innovative and creative whilst working towards developing a high quality product.

Lowton West provides all children with the opportunity to design and make a variety of products in: textiles, mechanisms, electronics, structures and food. We believe that Design and Technology is an inspiring and practical subject which allows all children to be imaginative when working as individuals or as part of a team.

In order to nurture creativity, children at Lowton West complete three Design and Technology projects each year. One of the projects involves tasting, preparing and making food in Food Technology and the other two projects are practical units which focus on designing, making and evaluating a product based on the design criteria.

As well as evaluating their own final product and the products of others, we believe it is critical for children to evaluate existing products in order for children to fully understand its purpose and the wants of others in the wider world.

At Lowton West, it is vital that children have the opportunity to make decisions for themselves and through an iterative design process children can make important changes in order to improve their own design. This allows children to solve real and relevant problems and take into consideration their own needs and the needs of others to create a product that is fit for purpose.

As well as the three units of Design and Technology, the children at Lowton West will understand how key events and individuals in Design and Technology have helped shape the world. The children will look at the work of influential designers and study their work to gain further understanding of how Design and Technology is critical in every - day life.

At Lowton West, we also aim to provide all children with a broad range of subject knowledge in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 and draw on disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art.

 

Implementation

At Lowton West, Design and Technology lessons teach the knowledge and skills of designing, making and evaluating through creative and practical lessons that are fun and engaging.

Our approach to teaching Design and Technology is in line with the National Curriculum and when designing and making, the children are taught to:

Design

• Design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on the design criteria and in KS2 children will research and develop their own design criteria to make products which are fit for purpose.
• KS1 children will develop their ideas through talking and drawing and children in KS2 will generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross – sectional diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer – aided design.

Make

• All children at Lowton West will be able to select from and use a range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks. KS2 children will use a wider range of tools building on skills previously learned to enable them to use the equipment more accurately and consider their functional properties.

Evaluate

• Children at Lowton West are able to investigate and evaluate a range of existing products.

• In KS1, children will evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work. They may evaluate the work of others through a simple tick list.
• KS2 children may produce high quality written evaluations that encourages them to think more deeply about improvements for future products.
• Understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world.

Technical Knowledge

• KS1 children will build structures and explore how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable through a varied choice of materials and equipment.
• They will explore and use mechanisms.
• KS2 children will apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures.
• They will understand and use mechanical systems and electrical systems in their products
• Apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products.

 

Impact

In Key Stage 1, all children will begin to build a repertoire of knowledge that will further progress and be applied across Key Stage 2 when designing and making high- quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users.

During the design process, designers at Lowton West have the opportunity to critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products as well as the work of others to enable them to understand the most suitable materials to use and consider any further developments and improvements for future products.

As well as understanding and applying the principles of nutrition, children at Lowton West will learn how to cook; through designing and making a range of products and equipment that are age appropriate for both key stages.

At Lowton West, we aim to ensure that all children learn to take risks as designers that will enable them to become more resilient. Children are motivated to find solutions to problems with a desire to produce high quality designs that they are proud of.

We believe that all children at Lowton West enjoy Design and Technology lessons and are able to bring their ideas, designs and products to life through creating products they can see, taste and touch. For the Children of Lowton West, Design and Technology also brings learning to life through a cross-curricular approach – we are all innovators!

 

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