Design and Technology
DT and Dyson Technology
The Engineering Box from Dyson technology, harnesses young people’s curiosity for how things work and we have been fortunate enough for our year 12 students to take part in the James Dyson Foundation Scheme. Year 12 have thoroughly enjoyed the challenges and the chance to problem solve.
The students were investigating how joining methods used could influence their own designs; they took the components apart and applied the successful solutions they had found to their design proposals. Students then drew the parts using different drawing techniques such as isometric and orthographic projections to peer assess how appropriate the drawing styles they chose were, in terms of showing the most amount of information, for an assembled part with multiple components. We discovered an exploded isometric drawing would give us a better representation of how the parts fit together. All these techniques were then applied to answer an exam question. The students picked up some excellent knowledge of materials, how products are assembled and manufacturing processes to enhance their responses.
Miss Keeley Cliftlands - Teacher of Design and Technology
RAF Decoding STEM Event
On Thursday 24th March, forty-eight Year eight students attended a coding workshop run by the RAF and DT. Specifically targeted at encouraging students to take up STEM subjects, the majority of which were females, the students were immersed in a range of team work activities that involved programming using various commands and sensors.
It was an eventful day, where the students were able to engage in a positive environment to develop their knowledge of the potential of digital technology and its use in a variety of roles and subjects.
The students gradually built up their skills building Lego robot constructions and learnt how to manipulate the programming to make them move and operate pulleys. Once they had practised, the students took their robots to activity mats and programmed them to carry out various rescue missions.
At the end of the day, the teams had a robot race and Anthony and Rob from the RAF awarded certificates and medals to the teams with the highest amount of resilience, teamwork and effective campaigns. A great day!
