At Middle Park, through Design and Technology, our children become problem solvers, designers, pioneers, engineers and creators. In adopting these roles and being taught key Design and Technology skills, the children are exposed to the idea of a variety of exciting future career choices such as: architecture, engineering, designing, teaching, tailoring, construction, to name a few.
Design and Technology is taught through termly topics. Children are presented with a ‘problem’ that they will come to solve. They follow a design brief and are taught to demonstrate and develop their ideas, whilst learning new skills through the teaching of design, structures, mechanisms, electrical control and a range of materials, including food and its nutritional value. They learn how to complete practical tasks, use tools safely, design and build a range of functional products and evaluate them by explaining and justifying any changes they would like to make to the finished product.
Design and Technology plays a huge role in the teaching of STEM; it also lends itself to the teaching of Art here at Middle Park. In addition, Design andTechnology is taught in our Lego Innovation Studio and through cross-curricular activities.
Design and Technology enables the children to draw on their knowledge of designs and experiences from the world in which we live and work. It is a subject which allows children to think creatively and work on problem-solving, whether individually or collaboratively as a team. The children are also presented with opportunities to reflect and evaluate upon past and present design technology, critiquing their uses and effectiveness, whilst also being encouraged to design and make products using their own new and innovative ideas, with a view to preparing them for an ever-changing world.