Primary D&T

The presentations from each of this year’s conference workshops can be dowloaded by clicking on the links:

Healthy eating through food technology – Claire Theobald, British Nutrition Foundation - this may take a few minutes to download

The keynotes at this year’s conference were given by David Barlex (above centre) and Sue Hope (below). David, who is Director of Nuffield Design and Technology and Senior Lecturer at Brunel University gave a talk entitled ‘Take the risk - putting teachers first!’ which you can download here.

Sue, from Hope Studios in Wolverhampton, gave a talk entitled ‘Susan Hope - Ace Designer’ which you can download here - this may take a few minutes.

Over the last couple of terms I’ve been working with Dave Boyle from Staffordshire on developing a self-evaluation framework for primary D&T. Schools in Shropshire and Staffordshire have trialled the framework and the final version is available here. We have structured the framework around the type of evidence you need to gather if you are wanting to make judgements about teaching, learning and standards in the subject, including discussions with children and adults, looking at children’s work and teachers’ planning, and evaluating the range of resources you have in school. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to Primary D&T. This weblog is for all those involved in design and technology education in primary schools. To comment on a post, please click on its title.

Following on the success of last year’s ‘My Ideal Healthy School Lunch’ competition at the West Midlands Show and with healthy eating still very much on the menu, we would like to invite schools in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin to take part in a competition where pupils design their ‘Ideal Healthy Shropshire Dinner’. This competition is organised in partnership with Heart of England Fine Foods (HEFF) who support the West Midlands Show. Read the rest of this entry »

Following on from their successful adaptation of the QCA unit on slippers to designer bags, Sharon Jones and Karen Morris from Meole Brace Junior School have produced excellent guidance materials for D&T Association members who log on to the website here. The guidance includes a new helpsheet, worksheets, re-written unit of work and presentations on exploring bags and using a sewing machine. With kind permission of the D&T Association, the new helpsheet is available to members and non-members here. To obtain all the downloadable materials for this unit and other adapted units of work, together with a host of other resources, why not join the D&T Association?

Food Partnership Week, 25th – 29th June, coincides with D&T Week to raise awareness and promote the work of this essential link between primary teachers and food education professionals. The Food Partnership is a DfES accredited scheme created specifically to support schools working towards achieving the Healthy School Standard. Through the scheme, accredited specialist food teachers train primary colleagues to teach healthy eating, practical food skills and hygiene at key stages 1 and 2. Read the rest of this entry »

Having been thoroughly inspired by Sir Ken Robinson’s fabulous talk given at the 2006 TED conference, I returned to the TED website for further insights into the world of creativity and innovation. In this casual but brilliant talk, Charles Leadbeater argues that design innovation doesn’t only come about through the work of professionals and companies but is increasingly due to the enthusiastic collaboration of amateurs. He paints a picture of a future where users increasingly become producers and consumers become designers. Read the rest of this entry »

Imagination Cubed is a superb online collaborative whiteboard developed by General Electric (GE). It really does seem to have enormous potential for joint work in D&T between children in different primary schools. No registration or login is required to use the site and, most importantly, it is completely free! The terms of use for the site state that it ‘is not intended for users under the age of 18′ so we advise that all use by children should be under adult supervision. Basically, one pupil would invite another via email to join them in producing a drawing on the screen - each controls his/her own pen. In fact, up to three children can draw simultaneously. Read the rest of this entry »

If you trawl the depths of Microsoft Word you will find all the tools necessary to carry out simple computer-aided design (CAD). It enables you to produce accurate 2-D drawings, such as a net for packaging or the body shell for a toy vehicle. By using the ‘Draw’ toolbar, Word can be used to:

• set up a grid for drawing;
• draw accurate shapes, straight lines and curves;
• cut, copy and paste drawings;
• create graphics;
• print your design.

If specialist CAD software is not available in your school, but Word is, it can provide a user friendly way to do simple computer-aided design, at no additional expense. Paul Clewes and I have written an article for the latest issue of D&T Practice magazine on how to use Word for this purpose, which you can download here. Thanks to the D&T Association for permission to publish the article and to Dave Boyle and Tim Brotherhood for unlocking the D&T potential of Word and providing tutorial notes that form the basis of this article.