DTE at Felsted Prep (Autumn 2020)
Felsted's Year 5 have been introduced to the world of mechanisms, more specifically, linkages. By learning how to make a series of moving pages they are becoming aware of how motion can be redirected with simple linkages. They will be making use of these in the coming weeks when they start making a pop up book.
Year 6 have each been given an IsoSketch tool to help improve their understanding of designing in 3D. This tool is a work of genius, allowing pupils to construct accurate isometric cubes which can then be used to construct design ideas as well as existing products. The first series of lessons involves using tutorial videos and step by step instructions to draw real life objects such as dice, a bird house, a mug of coffee & a toaster, with some pupils even using their initiative to draw the objects in context, e.g. adding a coffee table under their mug. The next series of lessons will hopefully give these students the confidence to start creating their own ideas within a series of mini design tasks. A few examples below from Florence H, Henrietta D & George N.
Meanwhile in Courtauld house the focus has been very much on the research & design stages of project work. Year 7 pupils have been tasked with designing a pendant which they will then cast with pewter. Learning more about how iconic design from periods in history can inspire new generations of designers, the focus was placed on Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the famous Scottish architect & designer. Year 7 were asked to think about the inspiration behind Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s work and use this to produce design ideas for jewellery. Please take a look at the photographs which are examples of design sketches.
In year 8 pupils have been faced with similarly structured lessons with a little more scope to research their own design icons, historical periods or even styles they wish to create with their work. In the photograph below pupils from Year 8 can be seen modelling parts of their ideas to help them work out how they might construct their usb powered lamp. This example shows Ben M & Anais P’s interpretation of the design brief.
In activity sessions pupils have been excited to be back in the workshop. Both Year 7 & 8 are making bird feeders using birch plywood for the main construction. Whilst Year 5 & 6 have been getting to grips with a Computer Aided Design package called Techsoft 2D design.