Our focus this term is Design Technology. Our DT projects consist of four steps – explore, design, make and evaluate.
Year 6 are designing chairs (Action man sized) for John Lewis this term. To begin, the pupils explored strong shapes within structures. We looked at the work of architects and identified shapes that they commonly use within buildings. We also conducted some experiments and had a small competition between 6NA and 6JP to test structures to their limit! The first experiment was to test paper columns – they could be described as cylinders, cuboids, and triangular based prisms. The columns were made of A4 computer paper and tested by stacking books on top until the structure failed!
We then tested the square against the triangle – 3D structures using only squares verses structures using triangles (a variation of the truss system) were made with fruit pastels and cocktail sticks. We selected the best built from each class and tested them with weights as a year group. Mr Perfect’s class claims to have won!
Our conclusion was that triangles and cylinders (column with a round base) are very strong shapes – useful information when designing a chair!
This week, we have looked at the American designers Ray and Charles Eames and their work during and after WW2. We discussed the role of women in the 1940s and 50’s and how Ray Eames was seen by the outside world as Charles’ assistant and not as an equal partner. We have also looked at the work of other designers: Sir David Adjaye (award winning Ghanaian-British architect); Ini Archibong (a young designer of Nigerian descent and born in the United States) and Norman Foster (well-known British architect and designer). The pupils also considered what is really important when designing a chair (being strong, its function and appearance) and have begun to sketch preliminary designs.
Please see our gallery below:
