Key Stage 3 · ages 11 to 14
Key Stage 3 design and technology: what your child learns
In Years 7 to 9 students move from researching users to writing a specification, then make, test and refine a product against it. They use specialist tools and computer-aided manufacture, study materials and structures, and learn how mechanical systems change movement and force and how sensors, actuators and microcontrollers add intelligence. They also cook savoury dishes, study nutrition, and weigh up new technologies and designers’ responsibilities.
Guides for parents
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Gears, levers and mechanisms
How KS3 pupils learn gear ratios, pulleys, cams, linkages and levers, and how mechanisms change the type, direction, speed and force of a movement.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Communicating design ideas
How Years 7 to 9 pupils show design ideas with annotated sketches, plans, models and presentations, and write a specification, with a worked example and home ideas.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Computer-aided manufacture
How Years 7 to 9 use laser cutters, 3-D printers and other computer-controlled machines in design and technology, with a worked example of preparing a laser-cut part.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Biomimicry and user-centred design
How Key Stage 3 design and technology teaches creative idea generation, including biomimicry and user-centred design, with a worked example and ideas for parents.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Identifying design problems
How Key Stage 3 design and technology teaches pupils to find their own design problems and reformulate given briefs, with a worked example and tips for parents.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Writing a design specification
What a design specification is in Key Stage 3 design and technology, how pupils make it measurable and testable, with a worked phone-stand example for parents.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Electronic circuits and systems
What KS3 pupils learn about powering circuits, inputs such as light and heat sensors, outputs such as LEDs, buzzers and motors, and how to calculate a resistor.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Sensors, actuators and microcontrollers
How KS3 pupils program a microcontroller to read sensors and control motors, lights and buzzers, with a worked night-light example and common mistakes.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Understanding user needs
How Key Stage 3 design and technology teaches research into user needs: interviews, observation, surveys and other cultures, with a worked example for parents.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Impact and responsibility of designers
How Years 7 to 9 study the effects of design on people, society and the environment, and what designers are responsible for, with a worked example and home ideas.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
New and emerging technologies
What Years 7 to 9 learn about smart materials, automation, 3-D printing and other emerging technologies in design and technology, and how to weigh benefits and risks.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Nutrition and healthy eating
What KS3 food lessons teach about nutrients, balanced diets, food labels and different people’s needs, with a worked example and ideas for talking about food at home.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Studying designers and engineers
How Years 7 to 9 analyse the work of past and present designers and engineers in design and technology, with a worked example and ideas for talking about design at home.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Kitchen skills and techniques
How KS3 pupils learn knife skills, equipment, methods of applying heat, seasoning and recipe adaptation, with a worked tomato sauce example and tips for home.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Properties of materials
How KS3 pupils compare timbers, metals, polymers and textiles by hardness, toughness and other properties, then choose the right material for a product.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Cooking savoury dishes
What KS3 pupils learn about building a repertoire of savoury dishes, planning, scaling and costing meals, and cooking safely so they can feed themselves and others.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Seasoning and adapting recipes
How KS3 pupils learn to use taste, smell and texture to season food, and to change recipes on purpose, with a worked example, common mistakes and ideas for home.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Choosing materials by properties
How Years 7 to 9 choose materials, components and ingredients by their properties, and how structures cope with forces, with a worked shelf bracket example.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Source, season and ingredient properties
What KS3 pupils learn about where ingredients come from, when they are in season and how they behave in cooking, with a worked example and ideas for home.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Workshop tools and machines
What Years 7 to 9 learn about choosing and using specialist tools and machinery precisely and safely in design and technology, with a worked example and home ideas.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Beams, frames and forces
How KS3 pupils learn why beams, frames and trusses hold up, how tension and compression work, and how to test and refine a structure against a specification.
Key Stage 3 design and technology
Testing and refining a product
How Years 7 to 9 test, evaluate and refine a product against a specification using user feedback, with a worked lunch box example and home ideas.
Everything in the Key Stage 3 design and technology curriculum
The National Curriculum topics for Key Stage 3, in the order the National Curriculum lists them.
Design
- Using research and exploration to identify and understand user needs
- Identifying, solving and reformulating design problems
- Developing specifications for innovative, functional, appealing products
- Approaches to generating creative ideas: biomimicry and user-centred design
- Communicating design ideas: annotated sketches, detailed plans, 3-D and mathematical modelling, presentations
Make
Evaluate
Technical knowledge
Cooking and nutrition
- Understanding and applying the principles of nutrition and health
- Cooking a repertoire of predominantly savoury dishes
- Cooking techniques: preparing ingredients, utensils and equipment, applying heat
- Cooking techniques: using taste, texture and smell to season; adapting own recipes
- The source, seasonality and characteristics of a broad range of ingredients