STEM

Learners will be learning about space and rocket design and engineering during their first topic in STEM this year. Specifically the want and need to colonise other worlds and explore space and how they might design a rocket to do so.  Working in teams they will build a rocket and launch it at a target at a specified distance aiming to land their rocket on the target as NASA would to land a rocket on Mars in the future.  Later in the year, they will be looking at and considering the problems and opportunities that humans will face in the future, as we attempt to reach and colonise Mars, in particular how robots and rovers can be used to aid humans. They will learn to program a robot that will emulate a rover vehicle and then use it to solve problems and tasks by writing computer code and programmes to control it.

Design technology

Learners will look at 3 separate projects this year. The first project will make use of smart materials with pupils designing and making a commemorative Mug. Pupils will have a range of commemorative occasions to choose from and then design a graphic to be incorporated into a mug that could be sold to the pupic at Starbucks coffee shops. Most pupils have now completed this task and taken their mugs home and we will be evaluating their designs and learning more about Smart materials before Christmas.  After Christmas pupils will begin a new project where they will learn about composite materials and design a piece of jewellery that makes use of various forms and methods of designing as well as composite materials in their final piece. . Finally students will undertake an architecture project where learners will design a series of products with the final product being a ‘Mars base regolith 3D printed habitat’ pupils will use 3D CAD and a 3D printer to create a model of this habitat, and finally a project that will make use of work they have created in CAD during their textiles project to make an accompanying product or item that links to the product that they have designed and made in Textiles lessons this year.

Digital Design

Learners will research Welsh tourist attractions and then create a leaflet to advertise 3 of these, ensuring they outline places to eat, stay and visit. They will then create a database to store customer bookings and a spreadsheet to calculate the total cost of the bookings.

Food

Learners will be further developing the skills they have previously learned and acquiring new cooking skills and knowledge, through practical lessons and theory based tasks.

The practical lessons will be focusing on cooking styles e.g. baking, grilling, proving, using pizza ovens e.t.c. Theory tasks will include looking at links between food and exercise, the catering and hospitality industry, the kitchen brigade structure, calories and nutrition e.t.c.

There are also links with the iDiscover theme ‘leaving planet earth’ by looking at the effects of zero gravity on the body, nutrition requirements in space, exercise and a possible sustainable protein source on Mars.

Textiles

Learners will continue to develop their knowledge of the textile industry and the environmental impact it is causing, pupils will use their knowledge and understanding from previous years to plan and make a sustainable product that can help improve the environmental situation. Pupils will make links to their Design and      Technology lessons and understand the relation between the areas.

Science

Learners begin the year with 'Earth 1’. This broad topic begins by combining elements of chemistry and geology in work on the rock cycle for pupils to discover what our planet is made from and the elements necessary for life.   The second half of the topic focuses on Earth as part of a solar system and provides an opportunity for learners to increase their physics knowledge around the suitability of other planets for human habitation. . The second topic of ‘Waves 2’ continues the physics theme, providing learners with an insight into the properties and applications of different types of wave, especially those used in communication. Finally this term the focus is on biology. During the Year 9 ‘Organisms 2’ topic, learners find out how the human body functions and factors that have an effect on it. 

 

Digital Design

During the Spring term Students will start to understand the skills needed to create and edit their own videos using the Adobe Suite. They will then use these skills to create a video relating to life on planet mars. Once they have completed this they will start to understand how to create their own animations by using a technique called rotoscoping. This will allow them to design an animation of a rocket leaving planet earth and landing on mars. 

Science

Learners begin the spring term completing the Organisms 2 topic. Here they will investigate the importance of good nutrition and the process of digestion. At the end of this topic learners will be asked to apply what they have learned about the processes of breathing and digestion to the challenges astronauts face when leaving the surface of our planet. We continue following the iDiscover theme of ‘Beyond planet Earth’ by studying Energy 2. This topic provides some of  the scientific theory required for the next exciting project. The ‘Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) ‘ project will have pupils designing, testing and refining a system to drop and  land objects in our Eco garden,  within certain limits This models the processes carried out by companies like NASA and Space X who are designing these systems to go beyond our planet right now.

STEM/Digital Technology/Textiles

Students will be completing a blended learning activity looking at ergonomic design of seating.  The project will bring together a range of skills and activities connected with DT, Textiles and STEM lessons and be delivered via Loom pre-recorded sessions that students can view /review.  Lessons will bring together investigating, designing, problem solving, design skills, practical skills and extended project based blended learning.  Students will begin by learning some basic principles of good and bad ergonomic design of seating as well as the impact that ergonomics has on design and engineering.  They will then look at a series of design eras, before designing and writing a specification that can be applied to a range of seating in the style of that era.   Students will then make use of their new found knowledge of ergonomic design and make an ‘ergonome’ to aid them in developing their seating proposal.  After that we will look at and practice modeling a scale version of a seat again making use of the ergonome that students have made in previous activities.

As students develop their seating concept they will problem solve their way through card prototypes and then make use of these new card modeling skills to create a scale card prototype of their final idea.

Once they have a final model they will need to consider a range of finishing applications including upholstery choice, sort furnishing design and materials selection based on knowledge gained from a range of research activities.  Finally, students will need to explain a number of planning considerations that they took account of while making their prototype and evaluate the models final outcome both as a designer as well as seeking ‘client feedback’ on their work considering what they will ask the potential client and then interviewing them. 

STEM

Learners will be completing testing their rocket design and engineering in STEM this half term before completing their Bronze CREST Award. In the next project later in the term they will be looking at and considering the problems and opportunities that humans will face in the future, as we attempt to reach and colonise Mars, in particular how robots and rovers can be used to aid humans. They will learn to program a robot that will emulate a rover vehicle and then use it to solve problems and tasks by writing computer code and programmes to control it.

TEXTILES

Learners will continue to develop their knowledge of the textile industry and the environmental impact it is causing, pupils will use their knowledge and understanding from previous years to plan and make a sustainable product that can help improve the environmental situation. Learners will make links to their Design and Technology lessons and understand the relation between the areas.

DT

This term learners will undertake an automotive project. They will design a series of products with the final product being a ‘Mars base race vehicle’.  Learners will use 3D CAD and a 3D printer to create a model of this vehicle which will then be able to be raced on our custom made Scalextric track analyzing results and lap times of their vehicle. The project will cover may issues around the environment, sustainability and the need for Fossil Fuels in particular oil in our current transportation system as well as many engineering, problem solving and numeracy skills needed in the modern workplace. 

SCIENCE

Learners will use the skills and knowledge gathered so far this year on organisms and energy  to complete the ‘Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) ‘ project. Here learners will design, test and refine a system to drop and  land objects in our Eco garden, investigating the best design to allow them to do so  within certain limits. This project models the processes carried out by scientists in companies like NASA and SpaceX who are designing these systems to go beyond our planet right now.

FOOD

Learners will be further developing the skills they have previously learned and acquiring new cooking skills and knowledge, through practical lessons and theory based tasks.

The practical lessons will be focusing on cooking styles e.g. baking, grilling, proving, using pizza ovens e.t.c. Theory tasks will include looking at links between food and exercise, the catering and hospitality industry, the kitchen brigade structure, calories and nutrition e.t.c.

There are also links with the iDiscover theme ‘leaving planet earth’ by looking at the effects of zero gravity on the body, nutrition requirements in space, exercise and a possible sustainable protein source on Mars.

DIGITAL DESIGN

During the summer term students will start to understand the skills needed to create and edit their own videos using the Adobe Suite. They will then use these skills to create a video relating to life on planet mars. Students will then further their understanding of the Adobe Suite by learning how to create websites using Dreamweaver. They will apply this understanding and knowledge into creating a website on leaving planet earth.