Design Technology - Timbers and Boards

This course provides opportunities for students to develop an awareness of the nature and significant importance of Design and Technology in a rapidly changing society. 

It enables students to apply theoretical knowledge of the subject in a practical context, while developing design and making skills.

Timbers and Boards

This course will help you to understand and appreciate the design and manufacture of products, making you a more discriminating purchaser.  You will also learn to solve problems practically, while making useful items for consumers.

• It will help you to be creative in your approach and you will use computers to help with your design ideas and in creating products.  You will learn to use CAD packages and the laser cutter to help produce professional products from your designs.
• You will learn about a range of materials including modern materials and how they respond to changes in temperature, light or pressure.
• You will gain practical skills which will be useful in a wide range of jobs, in further study of Design and Technology and in your personal life.

Papers and Boards

This course will help you to understand and appreciate the design and manufacture of products, making you a more discriminating purchaser.

• It will help you to be creative in your approach and you will use computers to help with your design ideas and in creating products.  You will solve problems by making and will use CAD programs, as well as industry standard software such as Photoshop and CAM machinery, and the laser cutter, to make professional Graphic Products
• You will learn about a range of materials, including modern materials and how they respond to changes in temperature, light or pressure.
• You will gain skills which will be useful in a wide range of jobs, in further study of Design and Technology and in your personal life
• You will focus on topics such as a point of sale display, CD, DVD and games packaging, as well as many other graphic products.
• An ability to draw is useful as well a problem solving demeanour.

Projects are used as a vehicle to teach both practical skills, but also associated theory and design skills. Each project is designed to reinforce existing knowledge and introduce new material areas and tools and CAD.  The projects are also designed to enable students to tackle different sections of the design folder in detail. 

Why we sequence the work this way: classrooms limit what can be taught so each module will need to rotate to match the available equipment.  The underlying goal is to teach all students the material areas that will be required to independently build for the NEA as well as teaching the theory knowledge that matches the project.  The idea is that practical work, associated with the theory, helps to reinforce the learning for the examination.  Practical projects are more complex and require greater precision and introduce a new range of tools to students in Year 9.

Project 1: Book jacket cover and bookmark (Autumn and Spring terms)

Book cover jacket, bookmark and associated theory: this project is designed to teach students the skills and tools required such as CAD, 2D design tools and Photoshop, processes and tools required to work with paper, MDF, metal and polymer which could be needed for their NEA project in Year 11.  This section of the course also looks at associated theory regarding processes such as lamination, line bending, properties of papers, composite boards, metal properties and casting and other associated material properties required for the examination.  It covers drawing and design skills, such as 3rd Angle Orthographic and Flexography printing process.  This reinforces previous learning of 2D design tools in Year 7 as well as introducing students to 3D CAD through ONShape and Photoshop.  The project is designed to introduce students to A3 coursework style pages and a taster of the design process including most stages but in a simplified format.  

Project 2: Top Trumps and Point of Sale (Spring and Summer terms)

This project is used to reinforce previous learning, through the use of CAD, designing and making nets as well as providing an introduction to a mechanism project which will involve correctly constructing a mechanism using both laser cutting, hand skills and applying decorative graphics for use on a point of sale.  The associated theory requires students to learn mechanical principles, levers and Cams.  This project builds on the CAD skills both 2D Design tools and Photoshop skills (by developing far more advanced 2D drawing to enable the use nets) while introducing students to more complex Photoshop skills.  Drawing methods such as 2 point perspective are also practiced.  These skills will also be required for the NEA and it provides a practical solution to teaching the mechanism unit required for the examination. 

Projects are used as a vehicle to teach both practical skills but also associated theory and design skills. Each project is designed to reinforce existing skills and introduce new material areas and tools.  The projects are also designed to enable students to tackle different sections of the design folder in detail. 

Why we sequence the work this way: classrooms limit what can be taught so each module will need to rotate to match the available equipment.   The underlying goal is to teach students aspects of the NEA and the design process in general, but also the individual areas of the iterative process in greater depth than in Year 9.  Students will revisit CAD in both 2D and 3D with the aim of ensuring they are more independent so they can design and build with far less intervention.  During the year we will also revisit and introduce some new theory knowledge as well as reinforcing previous learning.

Project 1: CAD & CAM pop-up promotional leaflet

This project builds on the CAD and CAM work students completed in Years 7 and 9.  It introduces students to more advanced skills, it introduces a pop-up mechanism and includes theory content to be presented.  This project will build on the initial learning of nets, 2D Design tools and Photoshop in Year 9 so that students have more skill in developing artefacts in CAD.  This project is designed to concentrate on the development aspect of the NEA encouraging plenty of model building, to test pop-up mechanisms, to trial solutions to problems and refine design thinking, but also to encourage students to become better designers, by iterative development and modelling to problem solve.

Project 2: Metal and wood hook tidy

This project is used as a vehicle to develop theory knowledge from the core specification.  Using resistant materials enables Paper and Boards students to experience more challenging processes such as using plastic coating with a view to making theory more engaging.  Metals and timbers core theory will be covered as making takes place. It will also require design skills and 3D drawing methods such as exploded diagrams.  The design process will be followed, interleaved with theory tasks.  Designing and making in resistant materials widens the practical experience of paper and boards students which they could use in their NEA but will need to know for the core theory.

Project 3: Environmental trophy

This project is assigned to enable students to become more independent.  It is less prescriptive and requires students to create original ideas and become more autonomous.  Students are required to design and make an environmental trophy with a logo to promote sustainability.  It uses recycled materials which links with sustainability and SMSC core theory.  Theory tasks are set in line with designing and making tasks.  Students will have gained more knowledge and experience with a range of CAD, CAM, materials, tools and processes.  This term requires students to use that knowledge to select appropriate materials and processes to be creative and problem solve. It is a quick project which forces students to plan their time and meet deadlines.  This enables students to realise their strengths and weaknesses and therefore prepares students for their NEA briefs released at the beginning of June.