China 高一 General Technology
Chapters: 8
1. Design 1 Ch.1 Technology and its nature
Modern technology; history · Properties of technology · Technology, nature and society
- Modern Technology and Its History – Technology is everything people make and the know-how to use it, to solve problems. Every technology has four parts: a purpose, knowledge, materials and tools, and people. Technology grew in stages: simple hand tools, then machines and power, then digital tools. Each new invention is built on older ones.
- Properties of Technology – Technology has four key properties. It has a purpose (a goal it serves). It is innovative (it keeps becoming new or better). It must be practical (affordable, safe, easy to use and repair). It has a dual nature: it follows the laws of nature and lives in society, and it can bring both benefit and harm.
- Science, Technology and Society – Science is a way of finding out how the natural world works by asking questions and testing ideas. Technology is the use of that knowledge to make tools, machines and systems that solve problems. Together they change society: food, health, transport and communication. Each technology has benefits and costs for people and the environment, so we weigh them before we decide. Science and technology can solve local problems through the design cycle, and ideas have come from many communities across history, not from one place or one kind of person.
2. Design 1 Ch.2 Design and expression
General design process · Principles, analysis, optimisation · Sketches, three views, CAD
- The Design Process: From Problem to Product – The design process is a loop of steps designers use to solve a real problem for real people: investigate the need, define it in a brief and a measurable specification, generate many ideas, build a prototype, then test and evaluate it against the specification. Whatever fails sends you back round the loop. This repeating is called iteration, and it is how almost every product, app, building and artwork is improved.
- Technical Drawing: Communicating Design Ideas – Technical drawing is a shared visual language for showing the exact shape and size of an object. Designers start with freehand sketches, then use pictorial views (isometric, oblique) to show the object in 3D, and orthographic projection (front, top and side views) with standard lines, dimensions in millimetres and a scale so that anyone can make it. Today most drawings are made with CAD software.
3. Design 1 Ch.3 Processes and making
Materials and joining · Metal, wood, electronics, digital fabrication · Assembly and testing
- Materials and Their Properties – Everything we make is built from materials: wood, metals, plastics, glass, ceramics, fabrics and composites. Each has properties such as strength, stiffness, hardness, flexibility, density, heat and electrical conduction, transparency, water resistance and cost. Designers choose a material whose properties fit the job, think about how it will be shaped and joined (screws, nails, glue, welding, soldering, stitching), and consider safety, cost and the environment. Clothes are made from natural fibres (cotton, wool, silk) and synthetic fibres (polyester, nylon), each with its own feel and use.
- Making Things: Metal, Wood, Electronics and Digital Fabrication – A design becomes a real object through a making process. Metalwork shapes metal by marking, cutting, filing and drilling. Woodwork follows the grain of the wood. Electronics joins parts on a board with solder. Laser cutting takes material away along a computer drawing, and 3D printing adds material layer by layer.
- Assembly and Testing: Putting Parts Together and Debugging – Assembly joins finished parts into one product, in a planned order, with the fit checked before anything is fixed for good. After assembly the whole product is tested. If it does not work, debugging finds and fixes the fault. A fast way is the half-split method: test in the middle, then keep halving the part that has the fault.
4. Design 1 Ch.4 Communication and evaluation
Technical communication · Standards and testing · Evaluation; intellectual property
- Technical Drawing: Communicating Design Ideas – Technical drawing is a shared visual language for showing the exact shape and size of an object. Designers start with freehand sketches, then use pictorial views (isometric, oblique) to show the object in 3D, and orthographic projection (front, top and side views) with standard lines, dimensions in millimetres and a scale so that anyone can make it. Today most drawings are made with CAD software.
- Standards, Technical Tests and Test Reports – A standard is an agreed rule that can be measured. A technical test checks a product against that rule: strength, durability, safety or performance. A fair test changes only one thing. A test report records the aim, method, results (with units) and a pass or fail conclusion.
- Data Protection and Intellectual Property Rights – Intellectual property (IP) is a creation of the mind, such as a story, song, program, invention or logo. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) give the creator control over its use. Copyright protects creative works (text, music, art, software code) automatically once created; a patent protects a new, useful invention for about 20 years and must be applied for; a trademark protects brand names, logos and slogans. Plagiarism is presenting someone else's work as your own without credit. Infringement is using protected IP without permission (copyright, patent or trademark infringement). Public licences let creators share on their own terms: Creative Commons (BY, SA, NC, ND) for creative works, and software licences such as GPL (copyleft: modified versions must stay open) and Apache (permissive: can be used in closed products with notices).
5. Design 2 Ch.1 Structures
Structures and forces; stability; strength · Structural design; appreciation
- Structures and Forces – A structure is anything that holds a shape and carries a load: a bridge, a chair, a bone, an egg. There are three main types: solid (one heavy mass), frame (bars joined together) and shell (a thin curved skin). Loads cause forces inside the parts: compression squeezes, tension stretches, bending does both, shear slides, torsion twists. Triangles keep frames rigid. A structure is stable when the line down from its centre of gravity stays inside its base; it is strong when its material, shape and joints can carry the load without breaking.
- Structural Design: Factors, Steps and Appreciation of Structures – A designer balances six factors: function, strength, stability, cost, looks and environment. The steps are need, sketch, model, test, improve. Nature gives good examples (honeycomb, egg, tree), and builders use arches, domes and trusses. To appreciate a structure, ask what job it does, how it stands, what it is made of and whether it suits its place.
6. Design 2 Ch.2 Processes (flow)
Flow charts; design and optimisation
- Flow Charts: Process Flow, Timing and Optimisation – A process is a set of steps in a fixed order, and each step takes time. A flow chart draws the process with standard shapes: oval for start and end, box for an action, diamond for a yes/no decision and arrows for the direction. Timing bars show how long the whole job takes. Optimising means doing steps that do not depend on each other at the same time, which shortens the total time. The longest chain of dependent steps is the critical path.
7. Design 2 Ch.3 Systems
System concepts; analysis; optimisation
- Systems Thinking: Seeing the Whole, Not Just the Parts – A system is a set of parts that are linked and work together for a purpose. It has a boundary, takes inputs from its environment and gives outputs. A system can do things none of its parts can do alone. Changing one part changes others, often through feedback loops. Life is organised as systems inside systems, from cells to the biosphere. Systems thinking helps us analyse, design and optimise systems, and plan sustainable development.
8. Design 2 Ch.4 Control
Open- and closed-loop control; feedback; design
- Control Systems and Feedback – A control system makes a machine or process behave the way we want. Every system has input → process (controller) → output. In an open-loop system the controller does not check the result (a toaster on a timer). In a closed-loop system a sensor measures the output and feeds it back; the controller compares it with the set point and corrects the error (a thermostat, cruise control). Real systems are built from sensors, a controller (electronic circuit, microcontroller or PLC) and actuators (motors, heaters, valves, pneumatic cylinders). Many are now networked (IoT, SCADA) so they can be watched and controlled from far away.