Design and Technology

Design and Technology prepares children to take part in the development of tomorrow’s rapidly changing world. Creative thinking encourages children to make positive changes to their quality of life. The subject encourages children to become autonomous and creative problem-solvers, both as individuals and as part of a team. It enables them to identify needs and opportunities and to respond by developing ideas and eventually making products and systems.

Through the study of Design and Technology they combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetic, social and environmental issues, as well as functions and industrial practises. This allows them to reflect on and evaluate present and past design and technology, its uses and its impacts. Design and Technology helps all children to be discriminating and informed consumers and potential innovators.

Design and Technology Aims

The aims of design and Technology are:

To develop imaginative thinking in children and to enable them to talk about what they like and dislike when designing and making.
To enable children to talk about how things work, and to draw and model their ideas.
To develop their capability to create high quality products through combining their designing and making skills with knowledge and understanding.
To encourage children to select appropriate tools and techniques for making a product, whilst following safe procedures.
To use and explore a range of materials, resources and equipment.
To explore attitudes towards the made world and how we live and work within it.
To develop an understanding of technological processes, products, and their manufacture, and their contribution to our society.
To use the internet to explore ideas and already made products.
To foster an enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose in designing and making.

National Curriculum Programme of Study Design and technology Key Stage One and Two