The Design and Technology students at Cornerstone Christian College will now have access to industry standard designing software.

Mr Peter Taylor, the College’s secondary D & T teacher, has managed to acquire the very latest professional software in the Autodesk Inventor suite.  This 3D drawing program will allow students to design 3D engineering quality drawings (Orthogonal Drawings) which they can utilise as part of subjects such as woodwork, metal work and plastics.

The aim is to introduce students in Years 9 & 10 to this option from the commencement of Semester 2.

Mr Taylor believes that the benefits to his students will be enormous.

‘This is industry standard software, utilised by architects, engineers and designers.  Having our students mastering such a resource, sets them up well, should they decide to pursue a profession in any of these fields.’

As part of the new program, a large A2 size printer has been assigned to the D & T building, for students to print out their drawings when they come to the manufacturing stage.

Initially, a student will design an item, and the software can then take this information and generate working drawings.  Additionally, it will show the design in superb quality 3 dimensional form, which allows the student to rotate the view in any direction.  Within the designing industry, this software can be assigned to computer driven machinery, which in turn will manufacture the product.  It is the cutting edge form of design work, and Mr Taylor is understandably excited.

‘It is going to be fantastic’, he said – and his enthusiasm is contagious!

Mrs Ali’s Year 2 students have had to plan how to span!

Some early introductions into design and construction have been made recently, and whilst learning is still in progress, some of the students are showing some engineering know-how.

The Year 2s were split into teams, and required to create a blue-print for a bridge, made of paper, that will be able to support a toy car crossing a span of water.  The plans were completed earlier, and today, construction began on their bridges.

Some were solid and chunky.  Others were more fine, but showed some quite precise engineering.   Several teams were making use of bracing to ensure stability was achieved, whilst others were quite happy to focus on appearance.  Some teams are beginning to realise they may need to adjust their blue-prints to meet the objectives and were literally back to the drawing board.

For several of the more successful attempts, painting was being undertaken by the end of school today, with testing due to occur in the coming days. 

Well done Year ’2s.  We may well see your skills utilised on real bridges in the future.

In an effort to break away from the traditional controlled design work that Year 8 students usually experience, Mr Taylor has set the bar much higher for his Design and Technology class.

Students have been responsible for not only creatively verbalising a novel way of displaying business cards, but having to draw, design, plan and execute these products in plastics and wood.

The ideas have been varied, from a pair of plastic glasses for an optometrist, to a tree for a farm-stay business.  A toaster, a house and various scrolled and folded mechanisms have been successfully taken from imagination to creation – and the result is that they have produced some very useful and practical card holders.

Mr Taylor is understandably impressed.  In what was an experiment of the student’s abilities, he is clearly thrilled with the outcome.  These students are off to a great start with the full design process that inevitably comes as they pass through the more senior years at the College.

Sensational work from both Mr Taylor, and his budding designers.  We will begin to look for your business card holders around town!

Mr Taylor’s Year 11 & 12 students are nearing the completion of a project in their Materials Design and Technology Class.

The MDT students were required to design and manufacture a dining chair which had them testing both their creativity and skill.

Several chairs are just short of being ready to place under the dining table, with one student determined to have his home in time for Mother’s Day this coming Sunday.

Mr Taylor is pleased with how the students have performed, and even the creators themselves seem pretty pleased with the results.   Many parents may be requesting the completion of an entire dining suite given the quality of the student’s work.

A sensational result.