Product Design
“Envisaging what might exist in the future and using tools and materials to create and critique that future is a unique human ability, which has led to the development of successive civilisations across history. It embodies some of the best of what it means to be human.” Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man (1973)
Through teaching young people the subject Technology, we are able to introduce pupils to this field of human endeavour and empower them to become people who see the world as a place of opportunity where they and others can, through their own thoughts and actions, improve their situation.
Our Key Stage 5 Technology curriculum at Harris Academy Rainham is taught through the qualification A Level Design and Technology: Product Design.
Design is one of those words that can mean all things to all people. Every manufactured thing, from the most lyrical of ladies’ hats to the greasiest of gearboxes, qualifies, in some sense or other as a design. This course is about the role of materials in engineering design. The components that make up a product have shape, they have mass, they carry loads, they conduct heat and electricity, they are exposed to wear and to corrosive environments, they are made of one or more materials, and they must be manufactured.
Our design challenges are almost always open-ended. They do not have a unique correct solution, though some solutions will clearly be better than others. The first tool our student design engineers will need is an open mind and the willingness to consider all possibilities. Our aim is to develop a methodology for selecting materials and processes that is design led.
Student design engineers will learn from a range of modules that the selection of material cannot be separated from those of process and shape. To make a shape, that material is subjected to processes that collectively, we shall call manufacture. They include primary forming processes (like casting and forging), material removal processes (machining, drilling), joining processes (welding for example) and finishing processes (such as painting). Function, material, shape and process will interact.
Through a range of design challenges students will learn that function influences material choice. Material choice influences that of processes though its ability to be cast or moulded or welded or heat treated. Process determines the shape, size, precision and of course, cost. The interactions are two-way; specification of shape restricts the choice of material and process, but equally the specification of process limits the material choice and accessible shapes when designing a product.