Course Offerings - Design technology
IB DP Design Technology SL & HL
Design Technology is a multidisciplinary course that draws from many areas, including the Sciences, Individual and Societies, Mathematics, and Arts. Design Technology develops an understanding of the new technologies, and underlying scientific and art principles, which have given rise to great changes in society: transforming how we access and process information; how we adapt our environment; how we communicate with others; how we are able to solve problems; how we work and live. It is a user-centred design in nature. It can count as either a Group 4 or Group 6 subject for the IB Diploma.
Content
Core Content SL/HL
1. Human factors and ergonomics
2. Resource management and sustainable production
3. Modelling
4. Final production
5. Innovation and design
6. Classic design
Additional HL Content
1. User-centred design (UCD) 2. Sustainability
3. Innovation and markets
4. Commercial production
Assessment
Internal Assessment
• A design project of which: SL is 40 hours and HL is 60 hours required practical work.
External assessment
• SL: Paper 1 multiple choice and Paper 2 short
answer
• HL: Paper 1 multiple choice, Paper 2 short answer and Paper 3 on the additional HL content.
Grading
• Internal assessment 40%
• External Assessment 60%
IB MYP Design
MYP Design challenges all students to apply practical and creative thinking skills to solve design problems, encourages students to explore the role of design in both historical and contemporary contexts, and raises students’ awareness of their responsibilities when making design decisions and taking action. MYP Design requires the use of the design cycle as a tool, which provides the methodology used to structure the inquiry and analysis of problems, the development of feasible solutions, the creation of solutions, and the testing and evaluation of the solutions. MYP Design enables students to develop not only practical skills but also strategies for creative and critical thinking.
Grade 9
Content
Grade 9 students complete four units to develop a range of design skills, both product and digital. The first unit, Wild Thing, introduces students to the tools and resources used in High School Design. Other units include a stylized clock design where students draw inspiration from an artist or designer to create a clock for a client, a food design unit where students develop a healthy snack and design the packaging for their snack, and a unit where students use a prototyping platform (Arduino) to build and program a system with inputs and outputs.
Assessment
Students are assessed using the IBMYP Design assessment criteria, which relate specifically to the Design Cycle:
• Criterion A: Inquiring and analyzing
• Criterion B: Developing ideas
• Criterion C: Creating the solution
• Criterion D: Evaluating
Grade 10
Content
Grade 10 students build on the skills they have learned in previous years to creatively design solutions to a range of problems, using both product and digital design. Students focus on solving real world problems in grade 10 so specific units in this course vary from year to year depending on the needs of the WAB community. For the final unit in grade 10 students are given a framework within which they have to identify, analyze and solve a problem. This is a great opportunity for students to explore an area of Design they are interested in and to further develop their skills.
Assessment
Students are assessed using the IBMYP Design assessment criteria, which relate specifically to the Design Cycle:
• Criterion A: Inquiring and analyzing
• Criterion B: Developing ideas
• Criterion C: Creating the solution
• Criterion D: Evaluating
Grades 9 &10 Robotics and Software Development
Robotics and Software Development allows students with a passion for these areas to immerse themselves in a course that dives deeper than a traditional design unit.
The course is structured in a way that offers students the opportunity to direct their own learning. They can decide to spend an equal amount of time on robotics and coding or really specialize in one of the two disciplines. This is made possible by numerous mini-projects that permeate the course, providing students with opportunities for summative assessment at a pace that suits their needs.
The robotics section of the course will primarily use the VEX EXP platform, although students will also have the opportunity to use the more advanced VEX V5 platform, which is used in high school robotics tournaments throughout the world. Robotics is an engaging mix of robot design, hands-on building, and coding manual and autonomous controls.
The software development section of the course will see students assume the role of game developers. Students will use the GameMaker Studio integrated development environment to design, code and test their own games, using a combination of pre-existing assets and their own unique creations. Students will also be able to tap into skills from other subject areas, such as Mathematics, Art and Music, as they create realistic physics, sprites and tiles sets, and sound effects and backing scores.
Assessment
Students are assessed using the IBMYP Design assessment criteria, which relate specifically to the Design Cycle:
• Criterion A: Inquiring and analyzing
• Criterion B: Developing ideas
• Criterion C: Creating the solution
• Criterion D: Evaluating
Grade 11 and 12
IB DP Design – see Group 4
IB DP ITGS – see Group 3 (Humanities)