DESIGN ACADEMY
Ensuring outstanding teaching in Art & Design and Design Technology
Structures
Model Playground
In the Early Years children will have explored making different structures using a range of materials. In Key Stage 1 children build upon these experiences by making frame structures and begin to explore how structures can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable. they do this by designing and making a model for a new piece of equipment for a playground or by designing and making a new enclosure for the Orang Utangs at the zoo.
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Desk Tidy
In Lower Key Stage 2 children are introduced to shell structures. They learn that the properties of shell structures depend upon their shape and the materials that they are made from. Children design and make a desk tidy by combining several different shell structures on to a base and using a range of techniques to strengthen and decorate their product. This unit of work is used to introduce children to computer-aided designing using TinkerCAD.
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Marble Maze
This Lower Key Stage 2 unit of work teaches the children the techniques of cardboard engineering. Children learn how to use tabs, slots, hinges, flange joints and other techniques to join and combine flat cardboard to make a three-dimensional marble maze game. This unit of work is used to introduce children to computer-aided designing using TinkerCAD.
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Photograph Frames
When children design and make a photograph frame they are learning how to combine and join different materials to make a structure that can stand upright and display a photograph. They also learn about how products can be designed and decorated to match a particular theme or for a special occasion. This unit also provides opportunities for children to apply different decorative and finishing techniques.
Garden Escapes
In this Lower Key Stage 2 unit of work children apply the cardboard engineering techniques that they have learnt to design and make an animal shelter for the school garden or the local park. Working with cardboard allows children to understand how models and prototypes are used to try out ideas in design technology.
This unit of work is used to introduce children to computer-aided designing using TinkerCAD.
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Marble Run
In Upper Key Stage 2 children have the opportunity to bring together their knowledge, skills and understanding about structures and cardboard engineering to create a marble run toy product. The product is themed around adventure heroes such as Indiana Jones or Lara Croft. This can be linked to cross-curricular learning about Ancient Egypt or Ancient Greece.
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