Design, Creativity and Technology Assessment Map - Sample at 4.75
CD/DVD Storage
Context
Students were asked to design, make and evaluate a small storage unit or rack that suits their own or their family’s needs. They were required to:
- analyse and investigate their need for a storage unit or rack and develop an individual design brief
- research existing storage solutions and production processes
- develop design options
- plan for production by developing a materials cutting list and step-by-step production plan
- make the product safely according to their plan, recording progress in a journal
- evaluate their finished product and their production process.
The elements of the Investigating and designing Level 5 standard addressed by the task are:
(Students) use various strategies and sources of information to investigate and research a range of factors relevant to more sophisticated design briefs to which they have contributed.
(Students) clarify their understanding of design brief requirements and their design ideas ...
(Students) develop evaluation criteria from the design brief to inform their judgements during the design process.
(Students) use a variety of drawing ... techniques to visualise design ideas and concepts.
(Students) demonstrate an understanding of design elements and principles and use appropriate technical language.
Students understand and logically sequence major stages of production, and calculate and list materials ... and quantities needed for production.
(Students) record and communicate their ideas using a variety of media ... techniques and procedures.
The elements of the Producing Level 5 standard addressed by the task are:
(Students) work safely ... with a range of tools and equipment ... and manage materials ... and processes to produce products ... taking full account of the appropriateness of their properties, characteristics ...
(Students) make modifications during production, providing a sound explanation for changes that demonstrates reflection, research, responsiveness to feedback, and use of evaluation criteria.
The elements of the Analysing and evaluating Level 5 standard addressed by the task are:
(Students) ... safely test and evaluate the performance of their products ...
(Students) suggest modifications to improve their products ... in light of evaluation of their ... function and appearance.
Stimulus
Students were shown a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation that briefly outlined the design task and listed the teacher-set constraints (size, time, materials and some basic stylistic requirements and limitations). The teacher showed students examples of commercially available and student made storage units.
The students were given a Design task information sheet (Doc - 37KB) that summarised the design task details and explained all of the design stages they were expected to complete to successfully design their individual product.
Students were then asked to complete a CD/DVD storage rack mind map to identify and explore the broad possibilities related to their individual situation, and to identify their interests and tastes.
Sample
These work samples, and the related Design, Creativity and Technology 4.75 progression point examples, illustrate the kinds of responses that students produce as they progress towards the Level 5 standard.
Sample 1
Mindmap
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Annotation
Investigating and designing – 4.75
- Identifies a wide range of possible areas that might affect the designing of the CD/DVD rack.
- Shows appropriate use of a graphic organiser to present information.
Sample 2
Research questions, design web and design brief, evaluation criteria.
Research Questions – As part of the Design task information sheet, students were asked to answer some basic questions to help identify what the storage rack will contain, where it will go, potential styles, and gather some basic information about the object’s size.
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Annotation
Investigating and designing – 4.75
- Briefly answers research questions.
- Records size of a DVD case.
- Provides information about the preferred styles and possibilities for how the DVDs could be held.
- Uses text and sketches to respond to research questions including items to be held, their sizes, intended location for holder, possible style and storage methods.
Sample 3
Design web and brief - Students were asked to complete a Storage rack design web and brief worksheet (Doc - 30KB) to identify and define in more detail what they need.
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Annotation
Investigating and designing – 4.75
- Develops an individual design brief using information identified in the design web.
- Clearly identifies the function of the product and why it is needed, but could include more specific and personal information related to the number of DVDs to be held, and details of the room and style that it needs to match.
Sample 4
Evaluation Criteria - Following a class discussion about developing and using evaluation criteria and developing some examples that cover aspects such as function, construction, finish, and appearance, students developed four of their own evaluation criteria.
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Annotation
Investigating and designing – 4.75
- Identifies the main requirements of the design brief in an evaluation criteria statement and questions.
- Includes criteria about strength and quality of construction and finish, however, questions and criteria statements are not very clearly stated.
Sample 5
Research into existing designs
A homework task Research for CD racks (Doc - 37KB) required students to collect a range of images (from the Internet, books, magazines, catalogues) related to their design focus. They were asked to comment on the designs, explaining the features that they liked and could use in their design work.
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Annotation
Investigating and designing – 4.75
- Collectes a wide range of relevant images using the Internet.
- Chooses products which vary in style, shape, colour, function and use of materials.
- Provides a brief analysis of each product.
- Discusses design elements and principles (colour and shape) in a very basic way.
- Comments on functional aspects, style and materials used in the selected products.
Sample 6
Joining, shaping and decorative skills exploration
Students viewed a teacher demonstration of a variety of joining, shaping and decorating techniques. The teacher led a discussion about uses, advantages and disadvantages of the techniques. In small groups (2-3 students), they then made samples using those techniques, noting their observations. Students then recorded on the Student group observation sheet – Joining and shaping (Doc - 38KB) what they had learnt from the activity.
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Annotation
Investigating and designing – 4.75
- Uses some technical language to discuss materials, processes and equipment.
- Uses a range of strategies (including experiential learning) to explore possible techniques for their product design.
- Makes connections to the product design.
Sample 7
Orthogonal drawing practice
Using an existing storage unit students were shown how to draw three views of the product, using the orthogonal drawing technique. Drawing conventions were discussed such as borders and title blocks, and the convention for showing measurements, joins and annotations. Students then selected a photo of a storage unit and were asked to use the orthogonal drawing technique to represent the product.
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Annotation
Investigating and designing – 4.75
- Uses appropriate technical conventions when completing their orthogonal drawing, for example, 10mm border, title block. Views are correctly positioned, and almost line up, however, could be more accurately drawn.
- Indicates materials and correct measurements but joins are not clearly indicated either in the drawing or annotations.
Sample 8
Design sketching and option drawing
Throughout the early stages of the design process and research, students kept a record of sketches of ideas.
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Annotation
Investigating and designing – 4.75
- Draws a small range of ideas including a diamond shape that was earlier discussed as being a favourite shape.
- Presents some different arrangements of the top, side and base.
- Illustrates ideas using a flat drawing style, rather than three-dimensional.
Sample 9
Design option drawing - Students were given an example of a student design option drawing that correctly used an orthogonal style and included details of measurements and joins using annotations. They were then asked to develop three design options for their product.
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Annotation
Investigating and designing – 4.75
- Develops two quite different design options that show a connection to the sketches of ideas previously drawn, but shows limited use of design elements and principles.
- Provides no explanation of the connection between the design problem and its solutions.
- Uses appropriate drawing conventions and technical language in most cases, drawings could be more accurate and more carefully done.
- Correctly annotates the measurements, materials and some joins.
- Includes a variety of materials, and indicates colour and form.
Sample 10
Materials cutting list and production plan
Students chose the best design option solution and were asked to develop a Materials cutting list (Doc - 21KB) (after discussing the Materials cutting list – Example (Doc - 27KB)). As a class, students discussed the main stages to make their products allowing for some variations depending on materials selected. Students added details to these steps in their production plan to complete the table, listing materials, tools/equipment and safety guidelines they would need to follow.
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Annotation
Investigating and designing – 4.75
- Lists and accurately calculates most of the materials needed to make the product. (The pieces of mild steel for the scrollwork were calculated later by the student applying information from a scroll chart.)
- Correctly identifies the materials needed and uses the standard sizes specified.
Sample 11
Production Steps
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Annotation
Investigating and designing – 4.75
- Completes details of the production steps that need to be followed to make the DVD rack.
- Logically orders most steps although painting occurs too early in the production process.
Producing – 4.75
- Indicates that nail holes need to be pre-drilled using earlier skills research.
- Considers some tools, but leaves out some essential tools such as a hammer.
- Misnames the acrylic sheet as PVC.
- Considers appropriate safety measures at each stage (with a focus on irresponsible behaviour).
Sample 12
The teacher observed students making the CD/DVD storage rack and filled in the Student production skills marking grid (Doc - 58KB).
Annotation
Producing – 4.75
- Follows production plan to produce rack.
- Works safely with tools and equipment.
- Uses tools and equipment to carry out some processes with a reasonable degree of accuracy.
Sample 13
Evaluation
Students were given a CD/DVD Rack evaluation (Doc - 26KB) worksheet that asked them to use their evaluation criteria to evaluate their product, and also asked specific questions about the production work.
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Annotation
Analysing and evaluating – 4.75
- Identifies some information/feedback/tests that would help make judgements about the finished product.
- Makes valid judgements about the product using evaluation criteria.
- Analyses the product’s performance/function and appearance.
- Discusses how the production plan was changed.
- Suggests ways to improve aspects of the product such as taking more care with painting and lining up scrolls.
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