Design and Technology

For the Design and Technology (D&T) unit, our aim is to develop a cohesive team of D&T staff and bring out the best in all learners by igniting their passion for learning.

To build up the interest of our lower secondary students in D&T, they will learn about research work on existing products, pencil holder and hand phone holder. They will also learn and work on sketching, ideation (Shape Borrowing and SCAMPER) and developing their own designs. To realise their designs, the students will make mock-ups using cardboards/perforated boards. Finally, the students will make their own artefacts with acrylic or wood using the various machines and hand tools in the D&T workshop.

For the upper secondary, our school offers to the students D&T elective which is a coursework and theory based (structures, mechanisms and electronics) subject to prepare them for the GCE N and ‘O’ level examination.

Even during the COVID-19 situation, our students were still able to work on their ideation and practical hands-on in the school D&T workshops. With safe distancing in place, our D&T students learned to be socially responsible and took ownership of their own learning.

Lower Sec students working on their ideas individually and in groups as part of Differentiated Instructions.

Sec 2 D&T students working on their mock-up design and using the scroll saw machines to cut the acrylic material:

MAKER PROGRAMME

For this year, the D&T unit has continued in-house Maker Programme to allow students tinkering their area of interest through hands-on activity outside classroom learning. There is a Makerspace where students have an opportunity to explore their own interests, learn to use hand tools and machines and work with materials to develop creative projects.

The students gottento design and make Bird House using wood. In the process, the students were guided by D&T teachers and the activity took place in February. 20 students from Secondary 1 to 4 signed up for this one day 2 hours session activity. Teachers and workshop instructors were there to act as facilitators and ensured safety when students used the machines in the workshop.

Students work collaboratively to brainstorm, design and make the prototype in the short duration of time. Through this activity, these students discussed, make decision and solve any challenges arose in the process. Not only they built confidence in the process, the students really enjoyed themselves and took pride in their work upon completion. Do keep a look out for next year Maker activities.

DESIGN SKILLS & INNOVATION BOOT CAMP 2020

During the September holidays in 2020, 12 of our Secondary 2 and 3 D&T students participated the annual Design Skills and Innovation Boot Camp organised by Nanyang Polytechnic (School of Design).

For that year, the 2 days’ workshop cum competition was held online via ZOOM. Their challenge was to ideate and propose a plan to reduce the use of plastic bags in everyday life. The 2 days day workshop enabled the students to learn the different stages of design thinking and come out with innovative solution.

The students collaborated to brainstorm, ideate and make a prototype based on the theme “Redesigning a Greener Future”. They also make videos on how the prototype is used. At the end, the students had to upload their final videos into the NYP website.

The students enjoyed themselves and learned beyond classroom learning.

We hope that this NYP annual event will be back in 2022.