Design a Coronation throne

Design a throne for use by the new King which includes modern technologies

During the coronation King Charles will sit on the throne. This is a ceremonial chair that is used by a monarch or ruler. Historically thrones have been very ornate, to emphasize the power of the person sitting in them. However, most thrones were produced before a lot of modern technologies were invented.

This is one of a series of resources designed to allow learners to use the theme of the coronation of King Charles III to develop their knowledge and skills in Design & Technology. This resource focusses on the design of a coronation throne for the new King which incorporates modern technologies.

The teacher will first explain that learners are going to design a coronation throne for the new King that incorporates modern technologies. Discuss the design brief and design criteria with the learners to make sure that students understand.

This activity can be simplified (particularly for less able students) by specifying the technologies to be included into the throne, or by providing a feint template of a throne or chair that learners can draw over to create their design.

Use the handout for learners to sketch their ideas for their new throne and make sure they annotate their design to ensure it meets the design criteria.

As an extension students could incorporate multiple technologies into the design or consider other potential uses of the throne that they have designed.

This activity is designed to fill one whole lesson and should take between 40-70 minutes to complete.

Tools/resources required

Projector/whiteboard
Sketching equipment
A4/A3 paper

The engineering context
As new technologies emerge engineers investigate how the technologies can be adapted and incorporated into existing products. This can allow products to function in a different way or to achieve different uses.

Suggested learning outcomes
By the end of this free resource students will be able to communicate design ideas using sketches, notes and annotations in order to design a coronation throne that incorporates modern technologies.

All activity sheets and supporting resources are free to download, and all the documents are fully editable, so you can tailor them to your students’ and your schools’ needs.

The activity sheet includes teacher notes, guidance, useful web links, and links (where appropriate) to the national curriculum in each of the four devolved UK nations; England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

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