Chemistry Design and Technology - SD Online Home

about a variety of power transfer methods including gear
systems and linkages. The tasks include constructing a
vehicle which can cover one metre in the longest time
and climb the steepest incline. Oliver and Alex managed
to create a vehicle which originally was thought to be a
non-starter. We set the clock though and discovered that
in fact, it did work and our calculations predicted that if
we could stay awake long enough it would have eventually
covered the distance in around a staggering nine
and a half hours. The boys didn’t have it all their own
way though as the girls showed them who was boss
when it came to the hill climbing vehicle. Impressive
vehicles were constructed by Harriet, Clodagh, Imogen
and Tutku.
All in all the pupils thoroughly enjoyed the project,
judging by the expressions on their faces, and it was a
delight to see young people actively working together as
a team to ensure mutual success.
Year 9
Activities Week
Take a pop bottle, water, compressed air and someone
daft enough to combine them together and what do you
have? The answer is a barrel load of fun.
In the summer, we were asked as a department to
contribute towards the Activities Week events. This is a
great time for us as teachers as it allows us the opportunity
to let our hair down and remember what it was like
to be a child. This year’s D&T theme was water rockets.
The usual method is to one third fill a bottle with water,
pump some air into it via a car tyre foot pump then watch
it soar away. However, being the sensation seekers that
we are we thought it far more exciting to use compressed
air! It’s far more powerful and the launches are
certainly more spectacular as you can probably tell by
the accompanying photographs.
The Year 9 forms were split into groups of three,
given a variety of materials to work with and a limited
amount of time to manufacture a bottle rocket launcher.
Teams could purchase extra materials but this did affect
their final points and so careful consideration was
required.
Once the structures were completed, we relocated to
the launch site where someone with limited personal
safety, namely me, injected the bottles on the launchers
with compressed air. This was great fun for all, watching
the success of their work combined with Dear Old Sir
getting a jolly good soaking.
Of course, the pupils didn’t have all the fun. Our
department technician Mr Cameron created the rocket to
end all rockets out of no less than three water dispenser
butts and yes, once a gain I got soaked through. He was
ably assisted by Marc ‘Master brain’ Holmes and Jack
‘The Lad’ Allery to whom we are all very grateful.
As with all fun activities great learning experiences are
subliminally created. Team work came to the front, new
friendships were forged and I feel certain that the pupils
enjoyed the scientific principals as well as the inevitable
teacher soaking. This was most certainly a great end to
a great year for all concerned.
The Future
So what of the future? What’s in store over the next
twelve months?
The Department has recently acquired the right to
use the new and exciting three dimensional modelling
software Prodesktop. Imagine the ability to design and
manipulate your ideas in a true three dimensional atmosphere
where you can rotate you drawings and view them
from any direction. Imagine true life rendering with the
ability to manipulate light sources, where with the touch
of a button you can create working drawings to accompany
your design ideas. Then, transfer them to a
machine which can, with pin point accuracy, create your
component.
Some of the work we have accomplished so far
accompanies this section and we are certain that this is
only the tip of the iceberg. At present pupils in the Senior
School are acquiring these skills for the 21st century.
Design and Technology in the Junior School is also on
the verge of developing the use of the software as a
design aid.
We hope you have enjoyed a peek at just some of
the work from the D&T Department.
The future is bright, I’m glad it’s not just orange.
CMR