Year 9 D&T

Brief summary of specification:

The Lower School Key stage 3 Curriculum (Years 7 -9) is organised around the National Curriculum Attainment Targets in Technology, and is structured progressively, with differentiated targets, to enable the most able pupils to reach level 8 or above by the end of Year 9, with the majority of pupils reaching level 6 or 7. Levels are not allocated to pupils until the end of Year 9, as the content of the curriculum is cumulative, and it is not relevant to give an interim level beforehand.

Timetable breakdown:

The allocated timetable time for Design in Year 9 is as follows. All pupils study Technology for two periods per week for the whole year. They are taught on a five-stage 'circus' which rotates approximately every eight weeks. This equates to 5% of timetable time.

Lower School Syllabus - structured by projects:

Projects are heavily structured to enable the full range of National Curriculum Technology attainment targets to be taught. In addition, a substantial proportion of Information Technology National Curriculum requirements are covered. A brief description of the projects follows. Pupils will not necessarily study projects in this order, so within each year, the projects have to be self-contained, and not dependent on knowledge from other projects. There are however, a number of key skills, such as presentation, drawing skills, research etc. which pupils would be expected to build on and improve throughout the course. Areas listed as Knowledge will be those covered by departmental tests, and pupil's notes on these will be kept in their revision files. Projects should be collected by pupils within two weeks of their completion and marking - after this time they may be disposed of. The department cannot accept responsibility for any additional materials added to project work beyond those supplied by the School. A small number of projects may be retained by the department for display purposes, or to maintain benchmark records.

Year 9 Technology Projects:

All Year 9 projects build on the skills and knowledge acquired in previous years - testing may include reference back to these basics. These projects are also structured to give an indication of the skills required for the three main option areas for technology at GCSE.

Pop-Up Book Project: This project is designed to introduce pupils to working with a range of graphic materials and ICT; it is based on the structure of the GCSE Graphic Products Course and covers the design and construction of a pop-up book for a market of the pupil's choice.

• Knowledge - Disassembly and testing, cutting, shaping and folding graphic materials, use of Photoshop and 2D-Design, formal drawing methods and book production.
• Skills - Analysis, research, designing for specific markets, design development, graphic skills.

Storage Project: This is a project designed to introduce pupils to working with a range of resistant materials, and is based on the structure of the Resistant Materials GCSE. It involves the design & construction of a small storage system for media items, such as cassettes, CDs videos, books etc.

• Knowledge - hand tools for resistant materials, cutting, forming and joining methods. Properties of common resistant materials.
• Skills - Analysis, research, design development, working and presentation drawings, evaluation.

Foundation in Design drawing techniques: This is a drawing skills-based course which seeks to equip pupils with a set of drawing skills and techniques that will help them present and develop their designing in the following three years. The course covers methods to assist them draw and design in three dimensions, analyse their ideas through drawing and enhance their work.

• Knowledge - Creating, construction of 3-D objects, rendering, orthographic drawing and enhancement techniques
• Skills - Presentation, enhancement of designs, 2-D and 3-D drawing skills

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National Curriculum Levels:

National Curriculum Levels in Technology are determined by a single teacher-awarded level for designing and making. Pupil's levels are reported to parents at the end of Year 9. A guide to the required performance for levels 6 and above is given below:

Level 7 - Designing:

• Write a plan of research and collect information on products and production processes appropriate to your task. Indicate how this has informed your ideas.
• Describe the working characteristics of materials related to your design. Use appropriate materials and techniques to evaluate and test your ideas with models. Communicate the details of your design and how it will function.
• Investigate materials and production processes related to products, and suggest alternatives. Apply this to your design situation.

Making:

• Produce a time plan for the main stages of your production. Take into account the availability of materials and equipment.
• Make changes to your plan as necessary to meet your deadline, and explain the changes.
• Explain why you have chosen appropriate techniques, tools and materials.
• Work with tools and equipment accurately and use the appropriate techniques to produce a quality finish.
• Use the modelling experience to predict and organise an efficient plan for manufacture. Check the quality and accuracy of each element, test the final product, and note possible improvements.

Level 8 - Designing:

• Plan research to collect data appropriate to your design and investigate all avenues available to gather information on products, processes and people's preferences. Analyse the information and show how it is applied to the design process.
• Determine working and physical characteristics of materials and techniques, and apply them to your design. Use a range of appropriate modelling techniques and materials to help focus your design.
• Identify conflicting demands and use a process of analysis to resolve them. Investigate production processes and techniques, and apply them to your design.

Making:

• Produce a plan for production that identifies particular stages and where key decisions have to be made. Suggest alternative methods of manufacture.
• Select materials, tools and techniques to suit the products' specified requirements and work to standard sizes.
• Make component parts accurately and consistently as specified in plans. Test tools for accuracy, size and the quality of finish they will give.
• Adjust your plan of manufacture as you proceed and explain changes. Check the final product against its specification, test with users and comment on all aspects in order to improve the design.

Exceptional performance beyond level 8 - Design:

• Systematically seek information to aid the design. Show an understanding of client profiles and use existing products to inform design decisions.
• Evaluate your design against possible production methods and material requirements. Identify materials and components required using industry standards. Arrive at an optimum design solution through experimenting and modelling. Communicate the key features of the design.
• Show how each step of the process has been analysed against the design intentions and tested on users. Show how models have identified key features.

Making:

• Produce a plan that specifies each stage of making, relating to time and resources. Detail alternative means of manufacture.
• Show reasons for material, tool and process selection. Resolve any conflicting demands.
• Select tools and processes appropriate for working within defined tolerances. Work with skill and precision to produce a quality-finished product.
• Analyse the product and test against the specification. Test against users' requirements and technical parameters. Examine the manufacturing process; suggest improvements and alterations and how they could be carried out.

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Homework:

One Homework is set each week, which should take 30-45 minutes to complete. Homework will not necessarily be set on the day it is to be done; generally pupils will have a week to complete the work set. Homeworks involving research information gathering may be given some time in advance. It is important that pupils devote a full allocation of time to homeworks which involve creative thinking, and show a range of ideas and concepts.

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Testing and project marks:

A total of five test marks are given each year. Testing is based around projects and is arranged as follows. Pupils are given project-based marks at the mid point and the completion of the product design and storage system projects, and a single final mark at the completion of the control project.

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Setting:

Setting is carried out at the start of the year, based on the total mark from Year 8. Year 9 is blocked in two units of two sets, and two of three sets. The arrangement of these blocks is determined by musical ability, as Technology, Art and Music are blocked together on the timetable. This reduces the available movement between sets, but all pupils are set in at least higher and middle-ability sets.

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Structure of project reports & theory notes:

When projects are complete, the practical work is presented for marking, with a report, which is generally made up as follows:

• Front cover
• Contents
• Introduction/brief
• Planning & reviews of progress
• Analysis & research
• Specification
• Initial design ideas
• Development of selected design
• Working drawings
• Evaluation
• Appendix containing theory notes

This should only be seen as a guide to the structure and it may vary from project to project. The computer control project for example is a simulation, and does not involve any practical construction, so no working drawings are required. The list is not exclusive, or necessarily chronological - additional research may be needed during projects, and evaluation should take place throughout. It does however provide a basic structure for all project work. During the project, all pupils keep their work in a wallet file. All work is on A4 or A3 paper, and projects should be presented either strip-bound, or in a soft cover, not in a hard-backed ring binder. After assessment, all elements of the product and storage projects are returned to students, with the exception of one or two examples per group, retained centrally for any audit of assessment standards. . Any theory notes retained will be copied so that pupils maintain a complete set of theory notes. All the computer control projects will be retained for examination purposes.

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Design Project Sheets:

Project sheets may be issued to pupils at the start of each project; sometimes as a separate sheet, sometimes as part of a project handbook. They provide a breakdown of the topics covered by that project, the assessment criteria which will be applied and guidance on planning, evaluating and target-setting.

Pupils will be expected to use the information on this sheet to help them produce the introduction/brief at the start of the project, to produce a GANTT planning chart, with reviews of progress during the project, and to make a full evaluation, setting targets for future work at the end of the project.

The project sheet also gives a breakdown of how the marks are awarded for the project, and details on which pieces of theory work should be transferred to the revision file.

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Target-setting and evaluation:

Evaluation is an integral part of all projects, with an interim review linked to planning the completion of work to a deadline, and a final evaluation which incorporates target-setting for future work in design. These targets should be transferred to pupil's diaries, and form part of their overall target-setting with their tutors.

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Preparing for tests:

During each project, pupils are required to produce a range of theory notes, covering the new areas of knowledge contained in that project. These notes are kept with the project, and may be used to prepare for all tests and examinations in the subject. Testing will be based on those topics listed as Knowledge under each project. Pupils should retain all theory notes as an appendix to each project. When returned, projects should be kept together in a suitable ring binder, and used for revision.

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