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(see Ref.). Pupils Are Asked To Use Observational Skills To Describe The ...

(see ref.).
Pupils are asked to use observational skills to describe the properties of slippers made from different materials. This includes taking apart a slipper in to its component pieces.
Following this, they are guided through some simple design work: making a template using their own feet, choosing a colour, material and decorative pattern for their own slippers. Finally, using plans provided by teaching staff, pupils are helped to make simple slippers from fabric according to their original ideas.
Typical Key Stage 3 activity for work in the subject area Textiles
Taken and abridged from DFES literature Scheme of work for KS3 DT (see ref.).
Pupils are asked to design and make an accessory item for a teenage fashion show. They are given procedural guidance (e.g. told that they must write a design brief and make prototype models during the project) but otherwise are free to develop the project as they wish. During preliminary discussions, the teacher introduces discussion of the importance of marketing, fashion markets and so on, which pupils are encouraged to incorporate in to their finished reports. There is no requirement for being taught new practical skills in this unit: if the teacher feels that such teaching will be necessary owing to a pupils' design, this is discussed during the planning stage. Supervision during practical work is provided for health and safety reasons, and so that the teacher can guide pupils through practical techniques as and when necessary. Evaluation is carried out and recorded throughout the project, in choosing which prototype to use as a basis for the main design, and at the end of the project as a whole.
The differences between the two projects are clear, but it must be emphasised that the key stage 3 work is still highly guided compared to, say, an A-Level design brief. Pupils are asked to make decisions within a framework, rather than to create the framework itself. Thus the work at key stage 2 (which introduces the pupil to the process of making simple decisions about a product they are creating) leads directly to key stage three, where wider pupil influence is incorporated in to the project.
Here, the aforementioned importance of the use of the levels system for defining attainment is apparent. It is quite possible for a key stage 2 pupil to show considerable independence when faced with the first project, and equally possible for a key stage 3 pupil to produce unimaginative work with little input when faced with the second. The levels system allows for this, and hence the overlap between the middle three levels (3, 4 and 5) at both key stages (Sammons, 1995).


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