Art & Design – Graphic Communication

Design & Technology

Pre-requisites:

Pupils must have studied Design & Technology in Year 9.

Examination Board OCR GCSE Type GCSE Specification No. J310

What is Design and Technology?

This course encourages pupils to develop design and thinking skills that give them the tools needed to create the future. We will introduce pupils to the real-life design strategies used by the engineering and creative industries, enabling pupils to design and make functional products using a range of materials. Material choices include timbers, metals, polymers, electronics and graphic materials.

Following an Iterative Design Process pupils produce initial models that they develop into a working prototype of their chosen design solution.

What skills are involved/developed through the course

Pupils develop their creativity and use critical thinking techniques in order to invent and innovate. Pupils make functional prototypes that solve real life problems that consider their own and others’ needs, wants and values.

This subject offers pupils the opportunity to engage with engineering and practically apply knowledge from other curriculum disciplines such as mathematics, science, computing and humanities.

Pupils will develop their presentation skills through free hand sketch work and ICT competence in the use of Computer Aided Design (CAD) packages such as Solidworks to produce and test products.

In the practical work, the pupils will use a variety of hand tools and workshop machinery in addition to computer aided manufacturing techniques such as 3D Printing, laser cutting and CNC Router work.

GCSE Specification

Unit 01 Principles of Design and Technology Written paper – 2hrs – 120 marks - 50% of total GCSE

Unit 02 Iterative Design Challenge Coursework Unit – 40hrs - 50% of total GCSE

What sort of pupil does it suit and what will they get out of the course?

This course would suit a wide range of pupils as the focus of the engineering challenges involved can be tailored to pupil’s particular interests. Programmable electronics, mechatronics and mechanical engineering are the most common fields of interest though the subject also supports students in exploring more traditional manufacturing in woods or graphic based products such as packaging

The aim of the course is to inspire pupils in the study of engineering, to develop pupil’s problem-solving skills and creativity. Half of the course focusing on the design, development and manufacture of a prototype intended to solve an identified problem while the other looks at how objects are made and other relevant theory.