Design & Technology - KS4
Intent of KS4 Curriculum:
Design and Technology is a perfect example of head and hands working together. For pupils, having to think about specific purposes and users for their products is much more demanding than simply following instructions to make something. Pupils have to think, decide and plan, as well as go and create.
Through studying Design and Technology through a wide variety of activities and processes, pupils use of a broad range of knowledge, skills and understanding which helps prompt engagement and nurtures creativity and innovation. They design and make functional products that solve real and relevant problems through a range of contexts via an array of different materials. It encourages pupil’s to think about important issues and explore the designed and made world in which we all live and work.
Some of the benefits of studying Design and Technology
- How to be creative
- How to solve real problems
- Learn skills that to can be used in a future job
- Learn about materials, processes and tools
- Learn about the effect of products on the environment & people
- Make and manipulate things with different materials
- Learn practical skills that can help yourself
- Apply knowledge from other subjects
- Make a finished product to take home and be proud of
Through the curriculum pupils go through the design process in order to acquire and apply knowledge and understanding of materials and components, design skills, existing products, practical skills, quality and health and safety.
The skills learned in D&T also help with learning across the curriculum. Knowledge about the properties of materials helps in science and the practice of measuring accurately helps in maths. These skills help in IT through the pupils use of computers and naturally, in art and design.
Design and Technology provides opportunities for pupils to develop their capability. By combining their design and making skills with knowledge and understanding they learn to create quality products.
D&T brings learning to life. It is a motivating context for discovering literacy, mathematics, science, art, PSHE and ICT.
Pupils are exposed to the design process to develop their practical, designing and creative ability to solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts.
This is achieved through three Design & Technology subject areas:
- Resistant Materials/Product Design
- Textiles
- Graphics
Through evaluation of past and present Design and Technology, pupils will develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world around them.