Key Stage 2 design and technology · Evaluate

KS2 inventors and designers who shaped the world: a guide

In Key Stage 2 design and technology, children learn how key events and individuals have helped shape the world. They look at real problems that people solved by designing and making, such as printing, railways or clean water, and ask how the world changed as a result. It sits beside the study of existing products, because every everyday object has a history of ideas, people and decisions behind it.

Inventors and designers who shaped the world, explained

The national curriculum asks pupils to understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world, but it does not name anyone. Schools choose the inventors, engineers, designers and events, and the choices vary a lot. A class making bridges might look at an engineer who built them, a class making a moving toy might look at the history of automata or clockwork, and a class working on packaging might look at how a particular material changed what we can store and carry.

Teachers usually approach this through short case studies. Each one follows a similar path: what problem did people have, who had an idea for solving it, how was it made, and what changed afterwards? Children then place the person or event on a timeline, compare it with what came before, and think about what we use today that grew from it. Done well, this is not a list of names and dates to memorise but a way of seeing that products are designed by people responding to a need.

Schools often choose examples such as these. Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press with movable metal type, developed around 1450, made books faster and cheaper to produce. George and Robert Stephenson’s locomotive Rocket won a competition in 1829, and the Stephensons helped to launch the age of railways. Joseph Paxton designed the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851 from iron and glass parts made in factories. Joseph Bazalgette designed London’s main sewer system after the Great Stink of 1858. Louis Braille, who was blind, developed a reading system of raised dots as a teenager in the 1820s. Margaret Knight patented a machine for making paper bags in 1871, and Josephine Cochrane patented a dishwasher in 1886. None of these is required: they are typical choices, not a checklist.

Good teaching also shows that design rarely belongs to one person. The Rocket was not the first steam locomotive: earlier engineers had already built engines that ran on rails, and the Stephensons improved on those ideas. Many inventions came from teams, from earlier designs and from changes in materials or manufacturing. Children learn to ask who else was involved, what existing ideas were built on, and which people are often left out of the story. Modern designers count too, so children may also hear about people whose work they can still see around them.

Finally, children are encouraged to weigh up impact. Some inventions solved urgent problems, such as disease from dirty water. Others brought new problems as well as benefits, for example the factories of the Industrial Revolution gave people jobs and goods but also caused pollution and hard working conditions. At this age, children are not expected to write long essays on cause and effect. They are expected to give a reasoned answer to “how did this change the world?”, using facts they have learned, and to connect that history with the products they analyse and design themselves.

Words your child will hear

Invention: A new device, material or method that has been created for the first time.
Innovation: An improvement to an existing idea, or a new way of using it.
Engineer: Someone who designs and builds structures, machines or systems, such as bridges, engines or sewers.
Timeline: A line that puts events in order of date so you can see what came before and after.
Impact: The effect something has on people, places or the environment, good or bad.
Industrial Revolution: The period, beginning in Britain in the 1700s, when factories, steam power and machines changed how goods were made.
Patent: A legal protection that, for a set number of years, stops other people making or selling an invention without the inventor’s permission.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 2 says:

When designing and making, pupils should be taught to understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world
When designing and making, pupils should be taught to investigate and analyse a range of existing products

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: an enquiry about an engineer

Using the facts below, write a short answer to the question: How did Joseph Bazalgette’s work change London?

The problem. In the 1800s London was growing fast and much of its sewage ran into the River Thames, the same river that supplied drinking water. Diseases such as cholera spread through dirty water. In the hot summer of 1858, known as the Great Stink, the smell from the river became so bad that it disrupted Parliament, which finally pushed for action.
The idea. Bazalgette, an engineer in charge of London’s main drainage, designed a network of large brick-lined sewers that caught waste before it reached the river and carried it eastwards, away from the centre of the city. Steam-powered pumping stations lifted the sewage to where it could flow on. He built the pipes larger than London needed at the time, allowing for the city to grow.
The evidence of impact. Building began in 1859. Together with improvements to how the water supply was cleaned, the sewers helped to make serious outbreaks of cholera much rarer in London. Many of the main sewers are still in use today, and the pumping stations and embankments he built are still part of the city.
Weigh it up. Ask three questions: Who was helped? What came before? What changed afterwards? People who lived in London were healthier, the river was cleaner near the centre, and later cities copied the idea of a planned sewer network. At first the waste was still released into the river downstream, so the problem moved rather than disappeared. Treatment came later.

Model answer: Joseph Bazalgette’s sewers changed London by taking waste away from the centre of the city instead of letting it flow into the Thames, which was also the water supply. This made diseases like cholera much less common, and the system was built large enough that parts of it are still used today. It did not solve every problem, because sewage was still released further down the river, but it was a major step towards cleaner, healthier cities.

Common mistakes and how to help

Thinking that one person invented something entirely on their own

Stories are easier to tell about a single hero, and picture books and quizzes often name only one person.

What helps: Ask “what existed before?” and “who helped?” For example, Rocket was not the first steam locomotive: the Stephensons improved earlier engines. A timeline of earlier ideas makes the point.

Believing that inventors are all people from long ago, or all of one kind

Textbook examples tend to be historical, and the people who get remembered are often the ones who had the most chance to publish and sell their work.

What helps: Look for people close to home as well, including modern designers, and include people from many backgrounds, such as the inventors Margaret Knight and Josephine Cochrane, or Louis Braille, who designed a system for blind readers while blind himself.

Assuming that every invention only had good effects

Children are told that inventions “changed the world” and not always what else changed with them.

What helps: Ask “who benefited and who did not?” and “did it cause any new problems?” Factories, cars and plastic packaging all give good examples to discuss.

Mixing up the order of events or the time between them

Dates such as 1450, 1829 and 1858 are just numbers until they are placed on a line, and “a long time ago” covers everything from last century to the Stone Age.

What helps: Draw a timeline together and add a few events from your own family’s life. Asking “was that before or after the Great Fire of London?” gives children something to measure against.

How to help at home

Ask who made it. Pick an everyday object, such as a zip, a bicycle or a paper bag, and wonder together who first thought of it and what problem they were solving. Looking it up in a library book afterwards turns curiosity into research.
Build a family timeline of objects. Ask grandparents or older relatives what they used when they were young, such as telephones, cameras or record players, and put them on a timeline with what you use today. It shows how design changes in a way children can picture.
Spot designs on a walk. Look at old bridges, railway stations, Victorian drain covers on the pavement or stone buildings. Stay on the footpath and keep away from roads and railway lines. Ask what problem the structure solved and what it is made from.
Make a quick model. After reading about an invention, build a simple model from recycled card, tubes and tape. Explaining to you how it works and what problem it solves shows how much your child has understood.
Talk about both sides. When you discuss a modern invention, such as the car or the smartphone, say what has been better and what has been harder. Children who can see both sides are better prepared for the questions they will meet at secondary school.

Builds on

Key Stage 1: Exploring existing products
Key Stage 1: Evaluating against criteria

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: Studying designers and engineers
Key Stage 3: New and emerging technologies
Key Stage 3: Testing and refining a product
Key Stage 3: Impact and responsibility of designers