DESIGN TECHNOLOGY

Design Technology is part of everyday life and is constantly evolving. The new 9-1 qualification has imagination at its heart and allows students to explore, design, create and evaluate prototypes to solve real world problems. The course is linear, meaning that all students will submit their final coursework (Non-Examined Assessment) and sit their exams at the end of the course. GCSE students will have the opportunity to work creatively when designing and making and to apply technical and practical expertise. The new Design and Technology specification has no restrictions on materials for prototypes.

Course content

The GCSE course itself has been broken down into three main areas: Core Technical principles; Specialist Technical principles and Designing and Making principles. Students will, in Year 10, continue to develop their knowledge and understanding and the necessary skills for them to undertake the iterative process of design and make.

One advantage of the new specification, is that all students now have the ability to choose their own learning pathway. These Core Technical principles, studied throughout Year 10, cover the range of specialist strands within the subject and enable students to make much more effective choices in Year 11. A student who, for example, has a particular strength in one area may decide to begin with a more Resistant Materials-based project and then progress onto a Graphics, Textiles or even Engineering-based project. Once they have covered the core, students will then begin to develop their Specialist Technical principles and explore a chosen material area in greater depth. Another advantage of the new specification is that students have complete freedom with regards to their choice of materials, techniques and processes and can even opt for a more Product Design approach, producing products using multiple materials.

In Year 11, students will focus on Designing and Making principles. In their chosen specialist area, students will begin to produce an extended design and make project which will be assessed through a range of criteria; that is, investigating, designing, making and evaluating. Students will produce over the course of a year an electronic portfolio and a completed prototype based upon a range of contexts supplied by the examination board.

Assessment

NEA (non-examined assessment) n 50% of the GCSE

This is a substantial design and make task and is worth 100 marks.

It is the practical application of the Core, specialist and Designing and Making principles.

Students will choose a contextual challenge provided by the examination board and work to produce an electronic portfolio and final outcome in their chosen specialist area.

Exam paper 1 n 50% of the GCSE

The examination will be in 3 sections:

Section A: Core technical principles (20 marks) These will be short answer and multiple choice questions.

Section B: Specialist technical principles (30 marks)

These will be a mainly shorter answer questions but will include one extended response question.

Section C: Designing and making principles (50 marks) These will be a mix of short and extended response questions, including a 12 mark design question.