Skip to content
The CREATE Education Project would like to thank Vera Caspary, Design Technology Teacher at Wallington High School for Girls for sharing this project idea.
The project was developed for the AQA 8552 Design Technology 2017 GCSE Specification, but it would be suitable for any of the KS4 GCSE or Scottish Higher Design Technology qualifications. This project could also be used for relevant FE courses.
The aim of the project is for students to learn about energy generation and storage, mechanical devices then to design and manufacture a wind powered toy using 3D printing alongside traditional workshop materials and techniques.
Download the Project Guide which includes a complete overview of the project, individual lesson outlines and AQA 8552 Specification links/references.
Project Links
This Project Idea was developed by Vera Caspary, Design Technology Teacher at Wallington High School for Girls.
The Project was developed for the AQA 8552 GCSE Design Technology qualification.
Incorporating 3D Printing
Due to material costs and time restraints, pupil teams will be asked to make only the connectors using CAD modelling and the 3D printer. This should focus the use of 3D printing technology on components that cannot be created easier using other processes, therefor teaching students to choose appropriate materials and processes.
As pupils are working in teams, 3D printing time will be shorter and will become manageable during lesson time which will result in all pupils experiencing the printer at work. Brainstorming, designing and modelling in teams will encourage iterative design and the 3D printer will allow for students to amend and improve their designs.
In this project the use of CAD and a 3D printer would also allow for students to experiment with the design of the windmill blades to make them more efficient.
About Project Ideas
“Project Ideas” are a series of ideas shared by the CREATE Education Project to provide inspiration and a starting point for students to develop their own projects that utilise 3D printing for prototyping and/or to enhance the final solution.
Many of the ideas shared would provide suitable starting points for students in Further or Higher Education who are undertaking their own personal projects, allowing them to adapt and extend the projects to develop new outcomes. Some of these projects could also be tackled in a similar way by high school students undertaking individual project work.
Alternatively suitable projects could be selected by teachers and assigned to teams of students in a project based learning approach. A series of editable templates and resources have been developed to support the project based learning approach. These include:
- Project Planning Templates – A series of editable templates for course leaders or teachers to use when planning student projects.
- Presentation Templates – A series of editable PowerPoint slides for course leaders or teachers to use for presenting project stages to groups of students.
- Student Project Worksheets – A series of editable worksheets for individuals or groups of students to use for planning and documenting their projects.
These resources can be downloaded by clicking the links in the right column.