Nightlights (Lower Key Stage 2)

Design Brief: Design and make a night light for a child who is afraid of the dark.
Strand of Learning: Materials, Structures, Electrical Systems
Overview: In this unit of work children design and make a night light product. This provides an opportunity to apply their knowledge and understanding of different structures and simple electrical circuits to create a product. Children learn about different lights in the home and that a product such as a night light is made up of three components – a stand, a shade and the electrical circuit. Children design and make a wooden frame, create a shade using papier mâché and then add a simple circuit with a switch to complete the product. They evaluate their product against the design brief and design specifications and use this information to create a marketing poster for the product.

Images from the Lesson Presentation Slides

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Medium Term Planning includes:

Children will know:

The difference between a design brief and design specifications.
Design specifications describe how a product should be made, how it works or what it should do.
How making models of their intended product can help in the design process.
There can be a range of people and places that can be clients for a product.
How computer-aided design software can help in the design process.
Rules and procedures for keeping themselves safe when making products.
The properties of materials that they are working with and how these determine the tools and techniques that they use.
What different components of a system do and how these can be incorporated into their product to make them work.
Design specifications are a list of success criteria for the product.
When evaluating products, it is important to use the design brief and the design specifications as a guide.
Stories about iconic designs and designers that have helped to shape the world in which we live.

Materials

That products are made of materials that are chosen because of their properties.

Structures

Electrical Systems

Components of an electric product such as a switch, battery, motors, and buzzer,
The importance of a complete circuit when using a series circuit.
Electrical circuits are used in products to make them work.

Children will know how to:

Generate ideas for a product, considering its purpose and who the client is.
Design a product that meets client’s needs and the design brief.
Use design specifications as a guide to the making process.
List the design features that will appeal to the client.
Communicate and draw out their designs using three-dimensional techniques such as ‘crating’ and isometric drawing.
Use computer software to show what their final product will look like.
Select suitable tools, equipment, materials, and components for the task.
Explain their choices of materials, techniques and tools when making a product.
Measure, mark out, cut and shape materials with increasing accuracy.
Identify the characteristics of a design which makes the product useful and successful.
List the ways in which a finished product meets the design specifications.

Materials

Structures

Choose suitable materials, techniques, and tools to construct or repair products.
Apply a range of techniques to create shell structures using paper.
Apply a range of practical skills and techniques to create stable and strong frame structures.

Electrical Systems