Design and Technology Department

 

 

 

 

“Product design…….making things better for people”

Seymour Powell (link to their website), a British company which has worked itself into one of the most powerful ‘change engines’ in the design industry.

 

Aims

 

The Department, through the delivery of a Design & Technology curriculum, seeks to support the general aims and mission statement of the Doha College.

 

It is the Department’s aims to:

 

1.  Promote the ability to make reasoned decisions and adapt to change.

2.  Promote the understanding that through the ages man’s quality of life has been largely determined by his ability to design and make systems, artefacts and environments.

3.  Provide situations that encourage students to use their intellectual and practical skills to identify and analyse problems and design and make solutions to those problems that can be tested and evaluated.

4.  Increase student awareness of the needs and wants of others when designing.

5.  Establish a safe understanding of working with materials, tools, components and machines.

6.  Develop the ability to communicate ideas and information through a variety of different mediums.

7.  Provide an equal opportunity for all students to express themselves creatively.

8.  Provide the opportunity for the development and integration of skills and knowledge learnt in other subjects.

9.  Develop and encourage healthy and enquiring minds, capable of critical assessment of products we use and see in everyday life.

10.Develop key personal attributes through courses that demand initiative, ingenuity, resourcefulness, motivation, involvement, co-operation, patience, sensitivity and commitment.

11.Encourage the understanding of industry and the world of commerce.

12.Encourage a discerning attitude towards personal standards of work.

13.Initiate an appreciation of the value and role of aesthetics in the designing, making and using of products.

14.Create in the students an awareness of the impact of the rapid technological changes happening in modern society.

 

 

 

 

Key Stage 3 Outline

 

In each year group from 7 – 9 the objective is to give the students the opportunity the chance to learn a variety of knowledge and skills through a series of 9 projects. These are not only linked to the programmes of study put forward by the Dfess but have been designed to augment the student’s ability to think laterally.

 

YEAR 7

YEAR 8

YEAR 9

An introductory graphics course based on designing and modelling a container to hold confectionary. (DMA/FPT)

A development of graphics skills through a design and model task based on the theme of a workstation. (DMA)

A continuation of graphic skills through an interior design project leading to presentation drawings and a model of a shop front and interior. (DMA/FPT)

A project based around the designing of a child’s wooden jigsaw, followed by its manufacture in a resistant material. (DMA)

An introduction to electronics and plastics through the design and manufacture of an electronic ornament. (DMA/FPT)

A design and make project based around the theme of time which utilizes resistant materials and introduces industrial practices/thoughts. (DMA)

An introduction to mechanisms, such as gears, utilising the Economatics: Project 2000 kit as well as modelling materials. (FPT)

A continuation of the theme of mechanisms using the same kit but focusing on different areas such as mechanical advantage. (FPT)

An introduction to structures using the Economatics: Project 2000 kit as well as designing and making a structure to solve a problem. (FPT/DMA)

 

Assessment at Key Stage 3

Every project will be accompanied by a booklet. This will include a project outline which covers the aims, experiences and key vocabulary that will be covered over the 10 week period. Within the booklets level descriptors are included which will allow the students, and parents, to see the level to which they are working whilst acting as a visual feedback to allow each student to progress at their own pace. At the end of the unit students will undertake a test, the result of which will be given, along with a written summary of the student’s progress, overall attainment level, effort and behaviour.

 

 

 

 

Key Stage 4 Outline

 

All projects in KS4 are designed to prepare the students for the coursework requirements as well as the 2 hour theory exam. Each of the projects covered is outlined below.

 

TERM 1

TERM 2

TERM 3

A design and make project based on plastics and their processes in an industrial environment. It also augments existing graphic and practical skills as well as focusing on material wastage the environment and accuracy and quality of finish.

A design and model project introducing corporate identity and branding. It also introduces students to the key elements of graphic products and the industrial materials and manufacturing techniques used in them as well as the environmental concerns linked with packaging.

A design and make project based purely on the use and manipulation of resistant materials, their properties and their uses. It also introduces an awareness of the restraints caused by cultural and social issues in product design.

 

 

 

 

Key Stage 5 Outline

 

Year 12

Each student undertakes a design and make project, the theme of which is set by the department. The reason for this is to make the transition from GCSE to A Level less arduous by allowing the students to interact and share information. During this period a series of theory lessons are integrated into the coursework structure enabling the students to cover the specifications set by the board at the time that is relevant to their projects.

The end of the course is assessed through the coursework and two 1½ hrs examines testing the students on materials, components and their design skills.

 

Year 13

This follows a similar pattern, although this time, each student, with guidance from a teacher, will choose a project of their own interest. This is designed to stretch the students to their individual levels, whilst designing and making a project that is marketable and/or suitable for production industrially.

A further unit is undertaken in which the students will undertake an in depth study of a product of their choice. This focuses on design and technological developments that have led the product to its position in the retail market, as well as the direction it will/could move in.

A final 3 hour exam structured around materials and components, design and market influences and industrial processes and manufacture is undertaken.