Year 8 3D Design

Unit Content

Unit 1

Pewter pendant

In this unit, students begin by studying the work of relevant designers including the American jewellery maker Julia Turner. They create a range of initial ideas, learning to present these effectively and attractively. Students create a final design and realise it in pewter, using a variety of techniques and tools. 

Key knowledge developed:

  • Understanding the principles of research, ideas generation and realisation
  • Knowing the work of American jewellery-maker Julia Turner and other relevant designers
  • Knowing the history and characteristics of the pewter-casting process

Key skills developed:

  • How to produce a detailed and attractive sketchbook page
  • How to render and draw with increasing accuracy
  • How to cast pewter
  • How to use a wide range of pewter-working tools and machines safely

Assessment: Formative and summative assessment of learning are both organised around project-specific criteria, which are presented as a series of student-friendly checklists. Students receive regular feedback based on these checklists and they are encouraged to self-assess against them at every stage of the design process.

Unit 2 

Bird clock

Students learn to follow a set of detailed visual and written instructions to make a working clock in the shape of a bird. They learn a range of subject-specific vocabulary and skills, focusing on woodworking tools such as the pillar drill, coping saw, rasp and block plane.

Key knowledge developed:

  • Understanding the principles of research, ideas generation and realisation
  • Knowing the work of relevant designers

Key skills developed:

  • How to use the pillar drill, coping saw, rasp and block plane with accuracy and care
  • How to find the centre of a square 
  • How to use appropriate vocabulary to describe key woodworking processes

Assessment: Formative and summative assessment of learning are both organised around project-specific criteria, which are presented as a series of student-friendly checklists. Students receive regular feedback based on these checklists and they are encouraged to self-assess against them at every stage of the design process.