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New
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Year 10

Testing and modifications: papers and boards

I can test and evaluate the manufactured prototype.

icon-background-square
New
New
Year 10

Testing and modifications: papers and boards

I can test and evaluate the manufactured prototype.

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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Designers test and evaluate final prototypes against the brief and specification.
  2. Different aspects of the final prototype should be tested.
  3. It is important to justify proposed modifications.

Keywords

  • Evaluation - checking how good something is and how to make it better

  • Design specification - describes what a product has to do

  • Destructive testing - testing that destroys the material or product

  • Non-destructive testing - testing without destroying the material or product

  • Modifications - making changes or adjustments to improve or alter a design

Common misconception

Once a final product is complete, no further iterations or improvements are needed.

Designers constantly seek to improve and develop their designs and products, no product is ever perfect.


To help you plan your year 10 design and technology lesson on: Testing and modifications: papers and boards, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Encourage students to think of their own tests that are personal and specific to their prototype, rather than generic tests.
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Teacher tip
equipment-required

Equipment

Original design brief and specification. Final prototype.

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
What does ‘iterate’ mean?
start a design from scratch
finalise a design without changes
Correct answer: refine and improve a design
Q2.
What is the name of someone who is asked questions as part of an interview?
Correct Answer: interviewee
Q3.
What type of question in an interview prompts a short, specific response?
Correct answer: closed
open-ended
behavioural
Q4.
What type of feedback can you usually expect to get from your user on your final prototype?
Correct answer: ergonomics
materials
Correct answer: aesthetics
Correct answer: function
technical testing
Q5.
Put the success criteria for gathering, analysing, evaluating and iterating into the correct order.
1 - Consider what information you want to learn from your user.
2 - Decide on a method of gathering feedback based on your decision.
3 - Record your findings and analyse the information.
4 - Evaluate your findings by organising them into www and ebi.
5 - Use the ebi to plan and carry out future improvements and iterations.
Q6.
Why must feedback be analysed?
Correct answer: to make it useful for the designer
to replace the designer’s original ideas
to increase the amount of feedback received

4 Questions

Q1.
What can we evaluate a final prototype against?
initial design ideas
Correct answer: design specification
existing product
Q2.
Why do designers evaluate their prototype against the design specification?
to ignore any flaws found in the product
to change the original design completely
Correct answer: to ensure that the final product meets the required standards
Q3.
What type of testing does NOT destroy the material or product?
Correct Answer: non-destructive testing, non-destructive
Q4.
How can future modification be presented?
Correct answer: sketching
Correct answer: modelling
writing another specification
Correct answer: using CAD
writing a letter