CONTENTS
Draft curriculum content
This page is based on the draft Year 7 content for Technology, which is currently open for feedback. Schools are not required to implement changes until the consultation process is confirmed.
Have your say:
In Year 7, your child develops confidence and creativity as a problem-solver, learning to tackle real-world challenges.
They explore how design choices affect people, communities, and the environment as they design, plan, make, and evaluate products that meet specific needs. They begin to learn more specialised technology knowledge, including foods, textiles, electronics, spatial and product design, biotechnology, technological systems, computer science, and digital citizenship.
Design and innovation#
With your child, you could:
- notice problems around the home or in your local communities that they could solve
- discuss the problems they have identified:
- How do they affect people in your communities?
- How do cultures shape the decisions that should be made?
- How do these problems affect the world around us?
- What could make their lives easier?
- How have solutions to these problems changed over time because of technology?
- choose repurposed materials for upcycled clothing
- visit a museum or library, or research together to find historical and cultural solutions to the problems you have identified
- encourage them to plan, design, and create for a purpose, considering what they need, what the environment needs, function, safety, and style, for example, designing a fidget spinner or creating recipes for friends or family.
What the teacher will focus on#
Teachers help students think like designers by exploring how design choices meet people's needs and their own criteria, and by considering what they look like and how they work. Students are guided to test and refine ideas, evaluate outcomes, make critical decisions, and think about how materials and design choices impact people and the environment.
For example, by the end of Year 7, your child may be able to:
- develop creative, human-focused designs that balance function, appearance, and sustainability; for example, designing packaging that reduces waste
- start to discuss the relationship between culture and design
- understand the need to look at history to guide us with future designs
- design, plan, test, and improve design ideas, models and outcomes using feedback and design frameworks
- think critically about their decisions, including the wider cost of their ideas, What materials are they using? What will happen to their idea when it’s no longer useful?
- use a range of communication techniques, like freehand sketching, 3D drawings, diagrams, models, to develop and improve design ideas based on peer and teacher feedback.
Materials and ingredients#
With your child, you could:
- explore how everyday items and our design ideas can be made more comfortable, safe, or accessible; for example, take a chair, and analyse it. What is it made of? How was it put together? Is it comfortable and easy to use? Why
- experiment with sustainable materials and techniques, for example, dye an item of clothing using natural colouring (onion skins, beetroot) or by using whole, minimally processed ingredients in cooking
- compare how materials behave, for example, which fabric is most durable for a vest, or how we can control the way ingredients ferment in kombucha
- encourage them to combine materials creatively for a new product; for example, like using leftover clothing to make a bag or creating new cupcake flavours and colours
- use free digital tools like TinkerCAD to design and create 3D models for products that serve a purpose, such as a new cookie cutter or a fidget toy.
What the teacher will focus on#
Teachers support students in understanding and selecting materials and ingredients for specific purposes based on their characteristics, composition, and structure. Students learn to combine, test, and refine materials to improve durability, function, and appeal. They continue to explore responsible material and method choices, thinking about sustainability and their impact.
For example, by the end of Year 7, your child may be able to:
- use physical and digital models to test and explore how their design ideas will work (including Computer-Aided-Design and Manufacture CAD/CAM)
- understand how materials behave and interact, and select them responsibly, for example, they could test bioplastics like compostable cups and takeaway containers or recycled/reusable materials for durability and their ability to break down in soil
- select appropriate techniques and methods to achieve outcomes after reviewing aspects like consistency, quality, and safety
- make products that are safe, functional, and suitable for purpose, for example, creating a snack bar using sustainable ingredients that consider dietary, nutritional and cultural requirements.
Systems and control#
With your child, you could:
- explore how parts of a system work together, for example, the moving parts of a fidget spinner that need to happen for it to work
- discuss systems in your home like a light switch, where your finger inputs by closing the circuit and turns the light on
- discuss ‘black box’ systems (what you can’t see), like cellphones, what do you think is happening inside? What are the jobs of the different parts of the system?
- investigate simple machines and explain how they work, for example, how does a door wedge hold a door open? How do scissors (levers) work? How does a screw go into wood (inclined plane)?
- play with paper beams to make a strong bridge, set a quick challenge: set up 2 chairs with a gap, test and experiment ways to make an A4 piece of paper strong enough to hold a toy on the ‘road’ between the 2 chairs.
What the teacher will focus on#
Teachers help students to explore different types of technological systems (mechanical, electronic, electrical, structural and digital). Students will understand how different parts of a system interact and how changes to the system affect the output.
For example, by the end of Year 7, your child may be able to:
- understand how mechanical, electrical, electronic, structural and digital systems work, for example, building a light-activated circuit or a pulley display for classroom artwork
- use standard symbols to represent components and connections when drawing and explaining technological systems
- assemble simple electrical and electronic circuits, such as using a copper tape paper circuit with a glowing LED light for a greeting card design
- design simple machines and devices, and use feedback to improve them, for example, design a simple gear system to move a toy or an easy-grip can opener
- experiment with adding simple controls, like a timer for baking or adjusting the tightness of a spinning wheel.
Digital technologies#
With your child, you could:
- use digital tools to design and create, such as TinkerCAD or Delightex Edu to create 3D models
- use free online programming software, like Scratch, follow the tutorials to design and create useful digital content, then test, trial and improve the programs
- observe and explore technologies in everyday life, like smartphones, AI software, VR entertainment hubs, and discuss what they are and their purpose, do they help us?
- explain and discuss the importance of safe and secure digital passwords and pin codes for devices and apps
- create ‘conditional’ routines and rules at home, for example, “If you help cook dinner, then you do not need to wash up afterwards, or if you put your clothes in the laundry basket (and not on the floor) then the clothes will get washed or else if you don’t, your clothes smell!"
What the teacher will focus on#
Teachers will encourage students to apply the concepts they have learned about digital devices, tools, and programming in purposeful activities. They will deepen their understanding of how digital systems work, for example how data is saved, stored and used, considering security, ethics and citizenship.
They break tasks into efficient steps when planning, building or making.
For example, by the end of Year 7, your child may be able to:
- use data, algorithms (step-by-step instructions for computer programs that make a game or robot work correctly) and digital tools to create and test solutions, for example, programming a microcontroller to monitor soil moisture, or an automated light system in a storage box)
- identify and troubleshoot errors in algorithms and programs and develop solutions to those problems
- use visual tools such as drawings, images, and movement to explain binary code
- evaluate how digital solutions affect people and communities, and consider ethical and sustainable practices, for example, developing a website or animation that benefits the environment or a local community group
- critically consider the selection and use of digital tools based on security, usability, reliability, accuracy and potential bias (digital literacy and digital citizenship).
