What is our Learning Intent in D.T.?

The intent of the DT Curriculum at Springfield Juniors is to provide plenty of opportunities for the children to learn, apply and strengthen essential skills required in the designing, making and evaluating of an effective product for a given purpose. They will learn and develop skills with real-life applications.

It is also the intent of the DT Curriculum to ensure that the children are well-equipped with useful technical knowledge to support them in the design and making of their product. For example, learning how to strengthen a structure to make it more stable, learning how to use mechanisms or electrical systems in their designs and learning how to choose appropriate tools and equipment for a given task.

In addition, the school aims to develop the children’s use and understanding of technical vocabulary associated with this subject. This is so that the children can articulate the skills that they have applied, the equipment that they have used and describe the materials and features of the product that they have made.
 

What does DT look like in the classroom?

All children will engage in three DT units a year, each of which has a strong cross-curricular link. Projects are introduced through an exciting ‘hook’ which also gives a ‘real -life purpose’ to the process. Each project follows a structured approach: design throughout history; investigating, disassembling and evaluating existing products and carrying out product research; focused practical skills; designing and making and evaluating their products.

Design Throughout History
The children will spend time exploring designers throughout history who have played an important role in the invention, design and evolution of real-life products. They will do this through whole class discussion, cross-curricular reading and their own research. The aim being to inspire, motivate and inform their own projects.

Investigating, Disassembling and Evaluating Existing Products
All children explore existing products linked to their project in order to gain an understanding of the materials used, how they are made and ways in which improvements can be made to inform their own design. They will do this by:

• Taking the product apart and looking at the material/s used to make it.
• Looking at the different features of the product.
• Establishing how the product is constructed.
• Questioning how effective it is in its purpose.
• Discussing what could be done to improve this product.
• Producing a list of key vocabulary linked to this product.
• Considering the environmental impact the production of such products may have, based on their materials, for example, and how easily they may be re-used or recycled.

Researching
For some projects, more often in upper KS2, children will carry out research regarding the product that they are going to make so that they can use this research to support the design of their own product.

Focused Practical Skills
The children engage in practical activities where they practise technical skills that they will be required to use when making their product. This may be a new skill which has been modelled to them or a skill previously learnt that requires more practise. This will also involve an element of drawing on prior knowledge in order to build on skills previously learnt.

Designing
Drawing on their learning from the previous sessions and prior knowledge, the children will draw/sketch their design and annotate this with information about their design, such as features they have included in their design and key measurements.
During this lesson, the children will also answer questions such as:

• What materials will I need?
• What tools will I need?
• What measurements will I use and why?
• Does my product meet the design criteria that have been set?

Making
The children use the skills have they learned, alongside their own design, to make their product. Children are encouraged to overcome issues themselves in the making process through problem-solving and collaborative learning. Perseverance is key and children are encouraged to veer away from their design if the need arises, making changes to their product along the way if necessary.

Evaluating
Once made, the children will test and evaluate their own, and often others, products. They not only evaluate the effectiveness of their product but also the skills that they applied.
The entire learning journey is recorded collectively in the Class DT Workbook.

Within DT sessions we aim to support pupils by:
*Promoting pupil voice 
*Displaying learning, skills and vocabulary, in the classroom
*Using an enquiry led approach; key questions and ancillary questions
*Providing a diverse and creative curriculum
*Building aspiration by creating opportunities for children to connect their learning to real-life examples

Impact

​The intended impact of the DT Curriculum is that children will feel inspired and motivated by their learning and given opportunities to develop a range of skills that can be taken forward with them into High School and beyond. Children will learn about important designers throughout history and will discover that such career opportunities are achievable. It is intended that the majority of children in each year group are working at or above the expected level for their age. (At the end of each unit, the teacher will carry out an assessment linked to the skills and knowledge learnt)
In addition, it is the intention that the children:

1. · are inspired by the DT Curriculum and are keen to learn.
2. ·show progression in their skills, knowledge and understanding through the work in their class workbooks.
3. ·can discuss their learning and remember what they have learnt.
4. ·can identify some key designers and talk about the impact that their work has had on the world.