"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like, design is how it works"
Steve Jobs
At Coleshill Heath we aim for our children to have planned opportunities to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts. The DT Curriculum includes links to designs and designers throughout history, enabling children to critically reflect upon and evaluate their own designs. This will help develop technical knowledge, vocabulary, build and apply knowledge and understanding of skills in order to design and make products for a range of users. Critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others. Also, understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.
DT is taught in the form of focused days, where children can really delve into their DT work.
Each project begins by looking at the focused designer or inventor, they will learn about their inventions and key life events.
They will then evaluate current products, when the product was invented and how they work.
This will then move forward to designing their product, thinking about the purpose, what materials they will need and the steps they will need to take to create their chosen product.
Once they have completed the designing stage, the children can then begin to make their product following the steps they previously thought, talked and wrote about. Children will ensure they are using the correct tools accurately and safely, also materials that are most suitable in order of their qualities. Evaluating and critiquing as they are creating, learning to adapt when necessary in order for it to function accordingly.
Children will then test their product on a wide range of people to ensure suitability.
Children will then finally evaluate their product based on the previous stages, thinking about what went well and what they might change next time. Ensuring they evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work.
By the end of the curriculum all pupils will have a technological knowledge and range of skills and will see the potential and believe in the opportunities available for them to become the designers of the future. This will be assessed by presentations within class and to an audience, questioning ensuring correct use of vocabulary is used where specific. Evidence of this learning will be seen in the designs, completed products and evaluations from the children.