Welcome to Resourceful Mind! Through my extensive experience in teaching design, engineering, graphics, food and textiles, I've developed resources that make topics easy to understand. My materials include clear visuals, simple explanations, and engaging tasks to reinforce learning and support learners.
Welcome to Resourceful Mind! Through my extensive experience in teaching design, engineering, graphics, food and textiles, I've developed resources that make topics easy to understand. My materials include clear visuals, simple explanations, and engaging tasks to reinforce learning and support learners.
A simple set of design and technology activities that could be used as emergency cover.
15 activities in total suitable for year 7 - year 10
I created these quickly as a teacher called in sick in the morning and needed some activities that students could work through independently without much instruction.
They are not perfect and done in a rush but they did they job!
Lesson Overview:
This Year 10 Hospitality and Catering lesson focuses on helping students understand the essential personal attributes, qualifications, and experiences needed for success in the hospitality industry. Students will explore key attributes such as teamwork, communication, adaptability, customer service, and punctuality, as well as how gaining relevant qualifications and hands-on experience through internships or part-time work can lead to better job prospects and career progression.
Lesson Objective:
Students will identify and explain the importance of personal attributes, qualifications, and experience in hospitality and catering, and understand how these elements contribute to employability and career advancement.
Learning Outcomes:
All students will be able to identify basic personal attributes and qualifications required for hospitality roles.
Most students will explain how personal attributes, qualifications, and experience affect employability and career progression.
Some students will evaluate the significance of these factors in different hospitality roles.
Lesson Resources Provided:
Introduction:
A matching activity where students pair personal attributes (e.g., teamwork, adaptability) with various hospitality roles (e.g., waiter, hotel manager).
Scaffolding Information:
Key points covering the importance of personal attributes, specific qualifications, and relevant industry experience.
Mini Review Task:
“Rank the Importance” task where students rank personal attributes, qualifications, and experience in order of importance for a chosen hospitality role.
Main Task:
Job advertisement creation, where students write job ads for different roles, including the required personal attributes, qualifications, and experience.
Plenary Discussion:
Class discussion on what makes them the “perfect candidate” for a hospitality role, summarizing the key attributes and qualifications discussed in the lesson.
Assessment Questions:
A set of 6 questions targeting different levels of understanding (easy, medium, hard) to assess student comprehension of the lesson material.
Visual Aids and Illustrations:
Images representing personal attributes like teamwork, punctuality, communication skills, adaptability, customer service, and industry-related qualifications.
Key Topics Covered:
The role of personal attributes (e.g., teamwork, punctuality, communication) in hospitality
Industry-specific qualifications and their impact on job prospects
The importance of gaining hands-on experience through internships, part-time jobs, and volunteering
How experience, skills, and qualifications together lead to employability and career advancement
Estimated Duration:
1 hour
This lesson includes engaging activities, visual aids, and differentiated tasks to ensure all students can grasp the concepts, making it suitable for a diverse range of learners in Year 10 Hospitality and Catering.
Introduction to smart materials when you just don’t have enough time or resources to give everyone a smart material to experiment with.
Good revision lesson too.
Includes:
Video link introduction
Key Vocubulary
Smart Material animations
Mini Review
Scaffolding Tasks
Example GCSE Questions
Exit Card.
to ferrous and non ferrous metals helping pupils understand the terms ferrous and non ferrous.
Lesson explains pure metals and alloys, the effect of moisture on ferrous and non ferrous metals and why different metals are used for similar products.
Lesson includes
Starter
Explination of ferrous and non ferrous
2 Mini reviews
Video
3 scaffolding tasks
Exit card
A selection of posters for your DT classroom.
Tools
Plastics
Metals
Wood
Jobs in DT
Famous designers/ engineers
DT vocabulary and Welsh words
All editable
Lesson Synopsis: Menu Planning
This lesson introduces students to the key factors involved in menu planning, with a focus on cost management, seasonal ingredient use, and adapting menus for different occasions and customer expectations.
Students will learn how ingredient costs, labor, and overheads influence the pricing of menu items, and why using seasonal ingredients can help keep costs low.
The lesson also explores how menus differ across various settings—such as fine dining, fast food, and catering services like hospitals or schools—based on budget and customer expectations.
Through discussions and scenario-based activities, students will explore how menus are planned for balance, cost efficiency, quality and consider how different occasions, such as weddings or large events, require specific planning to ensure smooth service. By the end, students will be able to outline key menu planning strategies for a variety of settings and occasions.
By the end of this lesson, students will understand the concept of sustainability, recognise the impact of human actions on the environment, be familiar with fossil fuels, and apply the principles of the 6R’s in designing a sustainable product.
Introduction (10 minutes)
Start with a discussion on how human activities harm the planet (e.g., pollution, deforestation, overconsumption).
Show images and video depicting environmental damage caused by human actions.
Defining Sustainability (15 minutes)
Define sustainability as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Discuss the importance of sustainable practices in preserving natural resources and maintaining ecological balance.
Understanding Fossil Fuels (10 minutes)
Explain what fossil fuels are (coal, oil, natural gas) and how they are formed over millions of years.
Discuss the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels, such as air pollution and climate change.
The 6R’s of Sustainability (15 minutes)
Introduce the 6R’s: Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Repair.
Discuss examples of each R and how they contribute to sustainable living (e.g., using reusable bags, repairing instead of replacing items).
Activity: Designing a Sustainable Product (30 minutes)
Task each group or student with designing a product (e.g., water bottle, backpack) with sustainability in mind.
Encourage them to consider materials, energy use, recyclability, and end-of-life disposal.
Have groups present their designs and explain how they incorporated sustainable principles.
Conclusion and Reflection (10 minutes)
Wrap up the lesson by revisiting key points on sustainability, human impact, fossil fuels, and the 6R’s.
Ask students to reflect on how they can apply sustainable practices in their daily lives.
Understanding the Importance of Portion Control in Food Service
Objective:
Students will explore the concept of portion control, why it is critical in food service and catering, and how it impacts cost.
Learning Outcomes:
Define portion control and explain its significance in food service.
Identify key reasons for maintaining portion control (cost management)
Activities:
Calculating food costs based on ingredient weight , ingredient costs and dish weight. Calculating Gross and net profit considering verhead costs
Brief discussion on the definition of portion control and its role in food and beverage services.
Supporting Information Review: Explore key reasons for portion control (cost management, consistency, health, and waste reduction) with examples.
Stretch It Challenge Task:
Students research, reflect, and write about why portion control is important in a business.
Create a visual guide comparing portion control for two dishes, with tips on using portioning tools.
Role-play or discuss handling a scenario where a customer complains about portion size.
Reflection and Discussion
Class discussion on how portion control influences both the business and customer satisfaction, and the impact on profit margins and sustainability.
Revision lesson to cover the surface finishes and treatments that are available to enhance functional and aesthetic qualities in materials.
Mini reviews
Video resources
Past paper questions and knowledge check tasks
Handouts
Introduction to plastics
What are they why we use them
What are their properties
Design a reuseable plastic product
kept it simple for year 7’s being taught by a non specialist. Avoided all the plastic term names like polyethylene etc and tried to make it engaging.
You could add plastic names to stretch higher ability pupils
Useful for that quick lesson you just don’t have the time to create
Quick resource I created for a cover lesson for my year 8 food class. We are currently learning about staple food ingredients. Could be useful for someone.
An assembly focusing on digital dependency and how to develop a ‘Healthy Mind’ through the healthy mind platter.
Assembly lasts about 15 - 20 minutes including a link to optional video that outlines students being overwhelmed because of technology.
I needed a cover Design and Technology lesson that was going to be taught by a Maths teacher so I created this. Hope its useful to someone else as well.
Lesson Overview: This lesson focuses on how various technologies are transforming the efficiency and customer experience in the hospitality and catering industries. Pupils will explore the roles of key technologies such as Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS), contactless payments, iPads/tablets, apps, WiFi, QR codes, drones, robots, Near Field Communication (NFC), and LCD displays in improving operations. Through real-life examples and interactive tasks, pupils will gain an understanding of how these technologies contribute to the smooth functioning of hospitality establishments. They will also analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each technology and how these innovations impact both the business and the customer experience.
4 Christmas activities for ks3 DT.
Not the greatest stretching activities but I had to provide some quick cover work for a teacher for a non specialist. Might be useful to someone else too
A smoothie design lesson I made for year 7.
Especially useful in helping pupils use specifications to evaluate their designs.
Includes;
Stater
Video Links
Support sheets
Example
Exit Card
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