(Graphics and other material areas)

Design & Technology is a subject that encourages students to apply knowledge that they have gained from many other areas of the curriculum to the solving of practical problems. It gives students the opportunity to work in all of the material areas. All students have the opportunity to design and make practical solutions to real design problems.

Syllabus Title: Design & Technology: Product Design

Exam Board: OCR

Exam Details: Four mandatory units, two of which are controlled assessment and two units are externally assessed.

The four mandatory units are:

• Developing and Applying Design Skills
• Designing and Making Innovation Challenge
• Making, Testing and Marketing Products
• Designing Influences

Students will have the opportunity to select from the four material areas for each unit.

Aims of the Course

The aims of this specification are to:

Provide the opportunity to develop candidates’ design and technology capabilities and, in particular, to encourage imagination, innovation and flair

Encourage candidates to combine their designing and modeling skills with knowledge and understanding, in order to produce outcomes capable of being rigorously tested

Promote design and technology capability in candidates through activities which     involve a range of contexts, materials and processes and lead to tangible outcomes

Give candidates the confidence to design, make and modify products for identified purposes, selecting and using resources effectively

Promote the use of graphic techniques and ICT, including computer-aided design (CAD), in order to generate, develop, model and communicate design proposals

Promote the use of computer-aided manufacture (CAM) in single-item production and in batch or volume production.

Encourage the development of candidates’ critical and aesthetic abilities, enabling them to evaluate design and technology activity, including their own, in the context of an identified need.

Encourage the development of candidates’ consideration of function and ergonomics.

Encourage the development of candidates’ understanding of the needs and values of a range of users, including spiritual, moral, social, and cultural considerations.

Promote the Keys Skills of Communication, Application of Number, IT, Working with Others, Improving Learning and Performance, and Problem Solving.

Encourage the development of candidates’ thinking skills, financial capabilities,        enterprise and entrepreneurial skills

Encourage the development of candidates’ understanding of work-related learning and the principles of sustainable design and production systems.

Encourage candidates to consider how present and past design and technology,       relevant to a designing and making process, affect society.

Encourage candidates to recognise that the work of past designers can influence the development of design thinking.

Encourage candidates to consider the uses and effects of new technologies and   modern materials on product design and manufacture.

Provide for activities that give candidates opportunities to work both individually and as a member of a team.

PROGRESSION AT POST-16

There are several progression routes that successful students on this course could take at post-16 – some of which will be available at our Sixth Form: A-Level in Design & Technology:  Product Design, BTEC Level 3 courses in Art and Design (with a range of    Technology based specialisms), BTEC  Level 3 courses in Production Arts.

STAFF TO CONTACT:

Mrs Tamang / Ms Febbrari