Character Virtues in Design Technology

Aston Fields Middle School has always strived to achieve high standards of personal development in all aspects of school life. The character virtues we have adopted are a means of enabling pupils to have optimal success in life. Through their acquisition they will achieve higher standards of academic attainment, witness positive cognitive development, make a positive contribution to society and have a clear sense of right and wrong.

Within DT we are able of offer pupils opportunities to develop their character virtues particularly the following:

Year 5

Expressive arts rotation – all year 5 pupils complete a carousel of expressive art projects designed to give them a taster of all of the design technology disciplines, alongside other expressive and creative subjects. Some examples of projects pupils may be offered are detailed below: 

Food	Bread Sensory Analysis and Making
Art Fundamentals	Drawing Painting
Computing	Design a waterpark
Alfresco Art	Outdoor art activities linked to artists such as Antony Gormley
Textiles	Wall hangings
Drama	Script writing  and performance
Resistant Materials	Moving Toy  Wind spinners Key rings
Exploring Colour	Exploring colour and its use in artwork
Clay Work	Inspired by artists such as Georgia O'Keefe

 

Year 6

Food Technology - Pupils complete a Pizza and Scones project.

Year 6 ingredients shopping list

Within this project pupils will:

- learn the fundamentals of hygiene and safety in the food room
- complete a session of sensory analysis
- use a variety of resources to inform a design
- assess and evaluate their products, looking for ways of developing their product further
- learn key cooking skills through the completion of 4 practical sessions:    bread based cheese and tomato pizza  scone based pizza with toppings  own design 'showcase' pizza sweet or savory scones

Resistant Materials  - Pupils will design and create a product using resistant materials. Within this project pupils will:

Textiles – Pupils complete a Cushion project. Within this project pupils will:

- learn about the types and varieties of textiles
- develop and learn new hand sewing stitches
- will evaluate existing products
- experience using a sewing machine safely and effectively
- will use felt or create felt using their own unique designs to be applied as an image on their cushion cover
- will practice embellishment
- complete a usable, attractive and decorative cushion cover

Art – Pupils study an artist or art culture in detail and produce artwork in that style.

Artists used within this project include: Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Georgia O’ Keefe and Henri Matisse. Cultures used within this project have included: Islamic, Aboriginal and African.

Year 7

Food Technology: Pupils begin the Licence to Cook project, where they are taken through a series of theory and practical lessons that will introduce them to all of the key appliances and principles of basic cookery.

Year 7 ingredients shopping list

The Year 7 section of the project includes:

	Safety in the food room
	Hygiene and Food Safety
	Healthy Lifestyles and the Eatwell plate
	Basic Knife Skills (Dips and Dippers)
	Using the grill (Pizza Toast)
	Sensory Analysis and Product Description
	Hob work (savoury rice and own design curry)

Resistant Materials: Pupils are introduced to a variety of resistant materials and basic mechanisms via a clock project.

The project includes:
- Safety in the work shop
- ACCESSFM (a tool used to analyse existing products)
- Generating ideas
- 4 x 4 designing
- Graphic drawing
- Making and decorating
- Testing and evaluating

Textiles: In this project pupils are introduced to a variety of textile materials, techniques and skills. The main outcome is for pupils to research, design and produce a usable, lined bag with embellishments.

STEAM project: Within this project pupils get to explore the elements of STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics.

Pupils explore existing products, understand electronics and circuits along with designing and making their own Jitter Toy using a Jitterbug kit as their basis. Skills covered include using bench mounted tools with precision, along with completing a circuit using a soldering iron, as well as applying art and craft materials to complete their own unique Jitter Toy.

Year 8

Food Technology: Pupils complete the Licence to Cook Project.

Year 8 ingredients shopping list

In this section pupils will:

Product : Pupils complete a project using resistant materials that covers the following areas:

Here are some examples of products made by Year 8 in Product Design. 

Textiles and Sustainability: Progressing from existing skills pupils will be offered the opportunity to design and make a practical product that incorporates embellishments and fastenings. Whilist upcycling an item destined to bedisposed of.

Here are some examples of products made by Year 8 in their Textiles and Sustainability project.

Systems and Control: Pupils will complete a project designing and making audio amplifiers where possible incorporating up-cycled materials.