Page 15 - The Badger - Issue 8

THE BADGER Celebrating 125 Years of The Downs
Design Technology
Life in the DT department has been full of energy, enthusiasm and creativity this year. The curriculum is broad and varied, with the children engaged in individual, paired and group projects throughout the year.
Some are traditional in scope: using resistant materials and practical skills (to make a clock, a moving wooden toy and a dragster car); some
focus on the design process and prototype modelling, and some are technical and focus on IT and coding.
The year started with a very impressive range of entries for the inaugural DT Summer Holiday Marble Run Competition. With constructions from Y2-Y8 adorning the Memo Hall in September, it was another collaborative opportunity for Mr Stokes, Head of DT from Malvern College to see the pupils’ creativity and initiative in judging the entries. Special mention goes to Will P, whose Marvellous Mystery Marble Run was the outstanding entry.
Year 5 started the year designing and making clocks out of MDF and acrylic. They had an introduction to Lego robotics, using iPads to send code instructions, with the focus being on accuracy and improvement. In the Summer Term, they had a brief to design a 100m2 playground in pairs with set parameters; they then had to build a 3D scale model.
Year 6’s major project was making an automata (a moving wooden toy) using cams and traditional skills
of measuring, sawing and gluing. They also developed their robotics skills; focused on an everyday classroom object (pencil case, water bottle, rucksack...) and came up with a creative new design; had a series of cooking lessons learning different methods and techniques (bread, a ragu sauce, scones, flapjacks) and finished the year with some speed design lessons, having one hour to come up with a design for a range of briefs, including a discreet walking stick for James Bond, full of gadgets.
Year 7 had fun making and testing their wooden gravity- powered dragster cars in the first term. They then undertook a very interesting team challenge: to design a survival box which could be delivered to a community which has suffered a natural disaster, such as a
tsunami or earthquake. Teamwork was essential here in researching necessary contents as well as a practical design: how could this box be delivered if road access is impossible? What would this community need above all to stay alive? What second use for the box could they come up with? Their ideas, together with a scale 3D prototype were presented to the class with some truly impressive responses being recognised.
Finally, Year 8 had an in-depth focus on robotics, culminating in a series of Robot Wars competitions. The focus then turned to engineering utilising an impressive kit from Dyson to learn about the many different types of engineering roles needed in today’s society, followed by a product design project to come up with a new product which serves a specific purpose in society. Their final project was terrifically popular and successful: to design and make a new chocolate bar, including brand, wrapper, recipe and shape. The children made moulds from MDF, which were vacuum-formed ready to pour in the melted chocolate and other ingredients.
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