Enterprise Lesson Plans / KS4 - Innovation Throughout History - 6 enterprise lessons / Innovation Throughout History Lesson Plan 5 - Keeping Cool

Connect the Learning

Recap on the previous lesson which explored design principles.

The Big Picture

This lesson looks at how products and concepts develop.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this session, students will appreciate that development is continuous and does not end.

Introduction

Whole class activity: Display presentation. Discuss the development of the chair, asking such questions as ‘Why has the chair developed when the very first ones had the same basic function and form?’ The learning from this activity is that the third ‘F’, fashion, has an important influence on design and continuous development.

Move on to display selected advertisements from the website http://www.designmuseum.org/digital/index.php?id=6&pt=1 where there is a detailed history of the development of a chair and explanations about the influence of fashion, technology and materials.

Activity

Students look at the list of websites that have links to a range of designers who influence products and services today. They select one of the designers and look at what the designers have to say about their work and the influences upon them and their ideas. Students consider and sketch out ideas as to whether they think the designers influenced fashion, or whether fashion influenced their design.