Design Technology

Purpose

Technology refers to the materials, equipment and processes people use to enhance, improve and modify their environment and enrich human life.

The aims of this course are to: 

• Provide opportunities for students to be involved in the purposeful application of knowledge, skills, equipment, materials and information to create useful products

• Help students to understand the design process and to use it to generate real solutions to real problems and needs

• Promote an awareness and understanding of the social contexts (home, school, leisure, business) that require design solutions

• Enable students to use and develop a range of ‘craft’ skills.

Structure and Content

Students are introduced to the design process (involving investigating, designing, producing, and evaluating) through a range of small practical tasks, culminating in a more extensive design project. They examine the design process in detail, identifying needs and problems which require a design response, analysing the problem, developing a design brief, generating possible solutions, constructing, and testing models, planning and documentation for construction, producing a final product, evaluation and appraisal.

The first part of the course requires students to become aware of the need for technological responses for various social contexts (e.g. a tool for a particular work process, a toy for a specific age group, an instrument for a certain experiment). Students will be expected to generate innovative design solutions to limited, well defined problems. 

This will lead to a major design project of the student’s own choice where students will be expected to produce a design solution to an observed need using a range of materials. The solution will involve working through all the stages of the design process and presenting a final product for assessment. 

Examples of possible projects are: 

• Designing a toy for a child with a specific disability 

• Designing a piece of furniture for specified ergonomic needs 

• Designing an electronic device 

• Designing an art piece for a specified setting.