Lesson Plans

The Design & Technology Association lesson plans have been designed to help teachers with their short term planning for design and technology. They should be used in conjunction with the DfEE/SEU/QCA Exemplar Scheme of Work for design and technology in primary schools and with the Design & Technology Association Helpsheets.

It should be noted that these lesson plans are suggestions and that, if used, they should be adapted to fit a particular class or group of children as appropriate. Not all schools allocate time for design and technology in the same way and suggestions for altering times and sessions are included in supplementary notes for each unit.

All 25 lesson plans have a common format and are designed to help non-specialists in their planning and delivery of the Scheme of Work. Each unit of work is divided up into a number of sessions with one A4 sheet covering a complete lesson.

Each lesson has the following:

• up to four specific learning objectives/outcomes that the children should learn during that lesson -  these are taken from the QCA Schemes of Work
• timed teaching and learning activities together with suggested questions that might be asked in order to support children's learning
• IDEAs (investigative, disassembly, evaluative activities), FPTs (focused, practical tasks) and DMAs (designing and making assignments) relating to those suggested in both the QCA Scheme of Work and the Design & Technology Association Helpsheets
• time allocated for clearing away towards the end of each session
• plenary sessions with strategies for demonstrating and reinforcing learning which refer back to the learning objectives
• formative assessment opportunities to help inform the next skill or area of knowledge needed
• key vocabulary and resources for that session
• key skills as appropriate and suggestions as to how these may be covered in the work being done
• notes to support health and safety, organisation and links with other subjects where applicable

Supplementary notes are written for each unit and cover suggestions about planning, alternative methods of working, ideas and tips from teachers. Exemplar planning and design, product analysis or evaluation sheets are also included. Many of these are generic and could be adapted for use in the different units.

An example lesson plan is available to download below.

Unit 1D: Homes Lesson Plan pt1 and pt2

The entire lesson plan 2C is available for download in the Resource Vault (Members only)

Available from the ONLINE SHOP