This term, Year 5 have been doing their Construction unit in Design Technology. They have been busy going through the design process and making a moving, space themed toy. At the start of the design process, they considered the purpose of the product and the intended consumer. This was a construction unit that was inspired by Nicolaus Copernicus, who theorised that planets revolved around the Sun and built a model to show his ideas:
The next part of the design stage was consider a design criteria - a criteria that the design had to meet in order to be successful:
When doing a design process, we believe that an important part is to go through a prototype stage, testing and refining the design before the final design is produced:
The final design was drawn in 3D, using squared paper and labels were added to give the design more detail:
Before making commences, all DT projects involve a stage where safety is considered:
The children also design and construct their own list or tools and materials, encouraging better knowledge of the correct tools for a task and the properties of materials that they would need to making stage successful:
Time was also spent evaluating existing space toys:
The main focus of the making stage involved ensuring that the children were working carefully and accurately - this included measuring, cutting and joining:
Linked to our emphasis on CARES, the children were able to develop their knowledge and skills, but also managed to enhance their resilience by persisting in the face of challenges, for example, when parts of the product did not stick properly. In the face of these challenges, they were able to lean on their peers, who were encouraged to hold things in place while small adjustments were made, creating a strong sense of community in the class.
This unit of work in particular matched well with the DT progression for Year 5, incorporating many of the knowledge and skills outlined for Construction in that year group.
Pupil Voice:
During a discussion session with the children, most children knew that the subject was DT and 'S' was able to say that this stood for Design & Technology.
'Ra' could talk about the prototype stage and 'A' was able to give reasons for why the prototype stage was important: "It was important so that we could ensure that our cams worked."
'L' could reflect back on the DT booklets, confirming that it is something they do regularly when they do DT projects: "Every time we design something, we think about what the health and hygiene is for the project."
'Re' said that, during the design process, they had to "draw a box with the cams in it and our our designs had to match the criteria given to us."
'E' could explain that the prototype stage was important to ensure that the measurements were correct.
We then had some discussion about how our products reinforce accurate scientific information that links back to their learning on Space.The children were able to use their products to make several accurate statements about Science, using correct Scientific vocabulary:
'A' - "The sun does not move."
'L' - "The moon orbits Earth."
'H' - "The moon is smaller than Earth."
'C' - "The Sun is the biggest."
'Ha' - "Earth rotates on its axis."
Finished Products:
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