Resistant materials and textiles

Design and Technology

Secondary

An uncut D&amp;T lesson with comment from the teacher

A Year 8 D&amp;T class at Coulsdon High School, Surrey, is introduced to the tools and techniques needed to complete the next stage in making their acrylic CD rack. From the outset we hear the teacher give a brief overview of the class and her expectations and objectives for that lesson. After the lesson we have a reflection from the teacher on how she felt the session went. This programme shows a complete lesson, uninterrupted and unedited with the intention of developing classroom observation skills. Part of our uncut series of lessons, providing a fresh insight into teaching with a real time, real action classroom.

The final stage of the dress designed from e-textiles brief

The winning entry for a dress designed from e-textiles for Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 design and technology students is complete. Presenter Kate Bellingham set a challenge to KS5 and KS5 design and technology students to design her a dress made from e-textiles, to wear as she hosts the British Engineering Excellence Awards at the Globe Theatre, London. The winning design, by A-level product design student Abigail, has now been completed and Kate is wearing it at the awards show. The designers reveal how the electronics were integrated into the dress, how the electronic components are controlled and whether everything has gone to plan.

Engineering Elegance - Awards

Designing a dress from e-textiles in design and technology

TV presenter and teacher, Kate Bellingham, sets a design challenge to Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 design and technology students. The scope is to design Kate a dress made from e-textiles, to wear as she hosts the British Engineering Excellence Awards at London's Globe Theatre. Kate is joined by a panel of fashion, engineering and textiles experts to help choose a winning design. The judges will be looking for how well the designs have followed the brief, the incorporation of different e-textiles, such as LEDs and fibre optics, how easily the design can be made and of course whether Kate likes it.

Engineering Elegance - Design

An A-level D&T student wins an e-textiles dress design challenge

The winner of the dress designing challenge, set by Kate Bellingham to her Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 design and technology students, sets about making her designs a reality. Kate Bellingham set a challenge to the design and technology students , to design her a dress made from e-textiles, to wear as she hosts a prestigious awards ceremony at the Globe Theatre in London. Abigail, an A-level product and design student, wins the competition and meets with Kate and the fashion company who will be making to the dress to discuss the design further. The group looks at how this can be turned into a wearable and functional dress. They pay particular attention to the materials, the electronic components, such as LEDs, fibre optics and circuitry and of course, the cost.

Engineering Elegance - Manufacturing

Year 11 D&T students work with a fashion designer on a project

Secondary design and technology students with a passion for fashion, design and make their own prom dresses as part of a vocational project at Key Stage 4, in this inspirational teaching idea. Helped by award-winning fashion designer, Seema Izaiah, the Year 11 girls from Holywells High School in Ipswich are given a unique insight into the fashion industry. They start the D&T project with a shopping trip, and Seema then teaches them technical drawing and helps them develop designs that can be made. The dress designs are then sent to Seema's workshop in Hassan, India, and the girls get a chance to see how they are being made when they make a video call to the workshop. The day of the fitting is tense but all the girls love their dresses and can't wait to go to their prom.

Inspirations - Designing your own Prom Dress

Year 8 embark on an experimental cross-curricular rocket project

Eleanor Wilkinson is a maths teacher from Sussex with a big idea for a cross-curricular space and rocket week. Last year she spent 10 days at the Teachers' Space Camp in Alabama - and she came back inspired to enthuse the students and teachers. So she has planned that her Year 8 pupils spend four days looking at space and rockets in subjects as diverse as maths and art, and embark on a project to manage a &pound;1million rocket building budget. Divided into teams by the teachers, the students are encouraged to work independently and think for themselves. But will it be an excuse to mess about - and how do the teachers keep them on task without taking over?

KS3 Cross Curricular - Space and Rocket Week

Year 7 Students take part in a cross-curriculum fashion project

Year 7 students at St. Paul's Catholic College in West Sussex take part in a week long cross-curricular project on fashion, in this inspirational and colourful programme. The pupils learn about the different aspects of the fashion community by creating earrings in their maths lessons, and testing and burning fabrics to test their suitability in their science lessons. Later in RE, they learn about the ethics behind fashion with regard to child labour, the students discuss how this makes them feel, and how they can reflect this in their work. Finally it's time for the big day, and the students demonstrate their artistic flair with a fashion show of the catwalk pieces they have created.

KS3 Cross Curriculum - Fashion

The new KS3 D&T National Strategy pilot in action

The Key Stage 3 National Strategy has turned its spotlight on design and technology. The general thrust of the strategy is greater emphasis on design and on encouraging students to have confidence in their creativity. This programme follows resistant materials specialist Sharon Giraud, from Nower Hill High School in Harrow, as she teaches two lessons, three weeks apart, as part of a nine-week module on jewellery design. Harrow is one of ten LEAs piloting a range of materials and lesson plans which are intended to deliver the KS3 strategy. Key points: <ul> <li> Sharon delays the specific task of jewellery design to allow students more time to come up with original designs </li> <li> This is done through the use of Chingdogu images and I-Pac (inspirational product activity) cards </li> <li> These are intended to stimulate emotional responses that can be used as starting points for generating ideas </li> <li> These activities provide an antidote to the plagiarised ideas that pupils often produce </li> </ul>

KS3 Design & Technology - Improving Design Subskills

Portsmouth harbour inspires an interesting KS3 D&amp;T lesson

In a design and technology lesson inspired by freight ships and ferries at Portsmouth harbour, local pupils design, make and race model cargo boats. The lesson, led by team teachers Justin Baker and Christopher Smith, incorporates key concepts from the new secondary curriculum. Pupils are divided into groups, each representing a different country. The boats carry cargo typical of their country, helping pupils understand the cultural and economic reasons for their boats. By supplying the pupils with an environmentally-friendly elastic band-powered propeller, pupils are made aware of the environmental impact a design could have. The teams are judged on the distance their boat travels, team work, how the boats carry the cargo, and the boats' appearance. Justin reflects on how the new-style lessons are encouraging pupils to become creative problem-solvers of the future with an awareness of how designing and making has an aesthetic and economic impact on the world.

KS3 Design and Technology - The New Curriculum

Two different approaches to design coursework at GCSE

Design and technology GCSE coursework presents a major challenge and can easily lead to pupils simply jumping through exam board hoops rather than being encouraged to take a creative approach. In this programme, two teachers show the different ways they encourage pupils to take more independent control of their GCSE coursework. Lorraine John teaches textiles at Swanmore College of Technology in Hampshire and she believes that good preparation at Key Stage 3 plus giving pupils maximum freedom to choose design briefs is what works best for them. Stuart Barker teaches electronics at Coopers Technology College in Kent. His approach is to stress the importance of researching the product being made to fit a particular market. He also believes that pupils can learn a lot from examining the work of pupils from previous years, whereas Lorraine believes that this can limit creativity.

Professional Development for Quality Teaching

Subjects

> Secondary Design and Technology

> Resistant materials and textiles