With over 30 years leading D&T departments and 20 years moderation and examining experience, the author is the winner of the 2021 Design and Technology Excellence in D&T award for 'Innovation and Creativity'.
He has extensive experience as a curriculum consultant, resource producer, trainer and presenter, and as a commercial designer, visualiser and illustrator. He is also a prolific writer on the subject of D&T whose Subject Genius D&T blog was shortlisted in the 2016 TES awards.
With over 30 years leading D&T departments and 20 years moderation and examining experience, the author is the winner of the 2021 Design and Technology Excellence in D&T award for 'Innovation and Creativity'.
He has extensive experience as a curriculum consultant, resource producer, trainer and presenter, and as a commercial designer, visualiser and illustrator. He is also a prolific writer on the subject of D&T whose Subject Genius D&T blog was shortlisted in the 2016 TES awards.
An exemplar folder produced to accompany the new AQA GCSE to illustrate how students can approach the NEA. This is NOT endorsed by the AQA but is produced by an experienced designer, teacher, moderator and consultant to reflect expectations for a Level 9 NEA project. It is supported by a new GCSE student guide, a checklist (which should not be used as a writing frame) and a tracker and grade prediction spreadsheet which uses grade boundaries derived from the boundaries on the old spec. There will be no official boundaries for some time so this will help you to give some prediction in the meantime. This now includes a comprehensive assessment spreadsheet that generates comment banks to minimise requests for remarks. Updated August 2018 with a new exemplar folder, student guide and a tracker with 26 name slots.
This booklet is supplied in Powerpoint format and contains a range of generic sheets which can be used to produce unique design booklets for students rather than providing them with numerous blank paper or worksheet. The advantage of using booklets, aside from keeping the worksheets together, is that students take responsibility for their work and can personalise the projects. Use this with the Key Stage 3 tracking spreadsheet available separately as a way of planning and monitoring progress throughout Key Stage 3 and the booklets will form a record of learning at the end of the Key Stage.
This is a generic booklet but many of the text areas are editable so you can customise it to suit your needs. A range of more specific sheets will be made available in packs so you can have a ready made scheme of work or mix and match the sheets to make a scheme of work unique to your department.
PLEASE NOTE: this version is just the design booklet template and does not have the assessment tracking sheet bundled with it.
This resource is intended to help you in planning out your D&T curriculum over 3, 5 or 7+ years and allows for work from the end of KS2 up to KS5. The resource contains a blank project/task mapping spreadsheet and one filled in with examples to help you get started. These cover the main areas in the national curriculum and examination level along with additional columns for maths, science and technical skills. Also included is a skills assessment spreadsheet to visualise how you have covered all the skills across Key Stages 3 and 4, and a comprehensive list of D&T skills to cover in editable Word format. Using this resource with the other KS3 resources available, you will have a comprehensive set of resources to help you plan and deliver an effective D&T curriculum.
Also included is a breakdown of the AQA GCSE theory requirements with additional sections to be used with the skills/project mapping or curriculum planning.
This is my own take on what I believe an A* folder could look like for the new Cambridge IGCSE in Design and Technology. Supplied as both self-running Powerpoint Show and printable PDF file, there are around 40 slides in the folder each with a commentary, summary and checklist at the end of each component as well as extra slides at the end to support the process. In total there are now over 70 slides here but the extra slides are for the benefit of the teacher, or to explain and justify the marks awarded.
There is evidence in the folder of SketchUp, Solidworks, Photoshop and the use of CNC equipment and 3D printing. It is not endorsed by any examination board but can inspire you in your approach to teaching the IGCSE in your school to a very high standard.
I worked as an examiner and moderator for the AQA for 20 years with 27 years D&T teaching and leadership experience where many students achieved 100% for their coursework. This is based on that experience and a culmination of assessing thousands of folders coupled with industry design experience. Additionally, I have consulted for DATA, TES, V&A, Routledge, PGOnline, Doddle and the BBC.
This PDF is intended as a guide for students to help them through their major project in the IGCSE Design and Technology. It is a 36-page printable booklet which can be used digitally or is ideal for an A5 size pamplet . It has no worksheets or questions but describes each component with illustrations taken from the accompanying exemplar folder which is available separately or as part of a bundle at a reduced price. Because this is a generic guide linked to a sample context, it does not constitute a writing frame so can be given to students to support them in their IGCSE.
It is adapted from my own AQA exemplar to match and support the Cambridge International syllabus but could be used for other examination boards.
Important update November 2020: The two trackers have been updated to include a suggested time plan for delivering the theory content and mock exams over 51 lessons and assessing after each unit of work. The specialist material choice could be covered in as little as 23 lessons This replaces the Prep page of the previous version and is far more useful.
There is space for the teacher to choose a past paper question for each unit, add in the marks and keep an average of the students’ results. They can also take sample papers and compare these to the formal mock exam.
these additions make it a more comprehensive document and all cells that don’t need editing are locked.
Fill in the context page with details, use the sheets for Paper 1 and Paper 3 as well as the comments sheet and all will be copied to the Overall sheet for easy analysis and feedback.
Due to several requests, all the grade boundaries are now unlocked so the document is easier to edit. All relevant links have also been updated. Please re-download the new version.
These two trackers cover the A-E grade based iGCSE and the new 9-1 level based iGCSE in Design and Technology. Simply update the context page and the grade boundaries each year to keep this up-to-date and comprehensive.
A guide on how to use the trackers is now included.
Two products. One design.
UPDATE (August 2020):
The Solidworks tutorial has now been added to the resource in Powerpoint Show and PDF formats.
A pair of physical resources aimed at primary learners but also useful for teaching mechanisms at KS3 and KS4.
The resource contains a 96 page step-by-step Solidworks tutorial on how to model, render and animate the Automaton as well as how to make working drawings and process these to make laser cutting files.
The full 3D model for each product is supplied in Solidworks format with editable parts and they are already mated and animated.
Also provided are the laser cutting files to make your own if you dont wish to work through the tutorial. These are in Adobe Illustrator format and ready to cut. Alternatively they can be converted to .DXF to use in your program of choice.
This is a poster with simple diagrams derived from the A Level presentations available in the TES shop. It is designed to provide students and teachers with a ‘quick glance’ revision of the material groups, processes and finishes.
It is included in the A Level Theory bundle.
This resource consists of 29 lessons that cover the theory to support the Paper 1 written examination and the major project that is Component 1.
It can be used with the updated IGCSE tracker (grade and level versions) to check and consolidate learning after each lesson and to form an assessment of the project and the student’s theoretical knowledge.
The presentations are in Powerpoint Show format so they will run without having MS Office installed, but they can be opened in Power Point for editing.
Please consider these as a companion to the Collins textbook and adapt to support your own teaching style.
This resource consists of 20 lessons that cover the theory to support the written examination Paper 3: Resistant Materials.
It can be used with the updated IGCSE tracker (grades and level versions) to check and consolidate the learning after each lesson and to form an assessment of the student’s theoretical knowledge.
The presentations are in Powerpoint Show format so they will run without having MS Office installed, but they can be opened in Power Point for editing.
Please consider these as a companion to the Collins textbook and adapt to support your own teaching style. They provide a structured framework with assessments but we all have our own teaching styles so please personalise them to your needs.
A set of 49 individual lessons to delivery the theory content for Paper 1: Product Design and Paper 3: Resistant Materials for the Cambridge IGCSE.
Also bundled are grade and level versions of the tracker which you can use to assess the theoretical knowledge each week and to obtain an overall average. This can then be used for reporting purposes and to predict grades/levels until mock examinations.
These are ‘lockdown’ friendly as students can work through the presentations online and answer questions afterwards.
This bundle saves 33% on buying the individual resources.
Two PDF booklets with images, graphs and charts taken from over 1500 slides that make up the A Level theory presentations. These can be given to students as a quick reference guide to the relevant units and to help them when revising.
Please note that these are not comprehensive and only use graphics from units that have charts etc. It is not a replacement for the theory units themselves.
A companion resource to the examplar folder and student guide, this is a collection of slides from the theory presentation resources that can be used in support of the teaching of Component 1.
If you have that resource you already have all these slides but for those who just want to address the coursework, this is a selection of relevant presentations to help. At 105 slides long, it can be used throughout Component 1 to illustrate the various stages and help students to understand the design process.
This is a growing collection of additional ‘breakout’ style lessons in support of the AQA GCSE D&T theory resource. It allows teachers to take a particular topic and spend more time exploring it with their class.
Currently the resource comprises:
EX1: Ergonomics
EX2: :Lateral thinking
EX3: Prototyping
EX4: Development methodology
EX5: Mechanical devices
EX6: Design history
EX7: Design communication
EX8: Form, function and aesthetics
EX9: The environment
As new lessons are created they will be added to this resource at no additional cost.
This is a 52 page printable PDF booklet with a step by step guide to the SketchUp interface and tools with a tutorial for modelling an accurate full scale Modular Desk Organiser. It is intended to support the Design Booklet template and the additional pages for the Modular Desk Organiser but could also be used as a standalone guide to using the software effectively for staff and students.
The tutorial covers the basic model but also offers various alternate versions as well as some advanced modelling and rendering tools. Additional supporting files include SketchUp 3D CAD models, texture maps, images and files for 3D printing a component.
A resource aimed at Primary level teaching that encourages the use of Tinkercad to design components using CAD which can then be 3D printed.
The resource contains a 40 PDF cocument with guides for how to create all the components but also has the components ready to 3D print in a zipped file.
The resource also considers the use of mechanisms within the curriculum.
A DIY kit for making a rotational moulding machine. Unzip the parts, 3D print them, then follow the instructions supplied to build your own working Rotational Moulding kit.
All you need to provide, other than a 3D printer, is 10mm square wood, glue, screws and washers.