Spain 1º Bachillerato Technology and Engineering I
Chapters: 7
1. Research and development projects
Project management and Design Thinking · Product life cycle and quality control · Technical drawing and CAD-CAE-CAM · Entrepreneurship, resilience and creativity · Self-confidence and managing emotions
- 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.
- Product Life Cycle: Stages, Extension Strategies and the Boston Matrix – The product life cycle shows how a product's sales change over time, through five stages: development, introduction, growth, maturity and decline. Cash flow is negative during development and introduction, turns positive in growth and is highest in maturity. Firms use extension strategies (new features, new markets, new packaging, lower price, more promotion) to delay decline. A business manages many products together as a portfolio; the Boston Matrix sorts them into stars, cash cows, question marks and dogs. Good product design balances function, look (aesthetics) and cost (the design mix), and keeps improving as technology and culture change.
- 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.
- From Ideas to Startups: Entrepreneurship – An entrepreneur turns an idea into a business by bringing together land, labour and capital and taking the risk. New ideas replace old ways, which economists call creative destruction. Startups grow with help from investors, banks, incubators, government schemes such as Startup India and Make in India, and small firms called MSMEs. A business plan maps the idea, costs and customers. The profit and loss statement shows Sales − Costs, and the balance sheet shows Assets = Liabilities + Capital.
- Entrepreneurship Development – Entrepreneurship is starting a new business by spotting a need, putting resources together and taking the risk. India needs entrepreneurs for jobs, new ideas and balanced growth. The process runs from knowing yourself to launching and growing. Start-up India (2016) supports new firms, funding comes from savings, angels, venture capital, banks and crowdfunding, and intellectual property rights protect new ideas, brands and creative work.
- Self-Management: Taking Charge of Your Feelings, Goals and Time – Self-management is the skill of guiding your own feelings, thoughts and actions so you can reach your goals. It starts with self-awareness: noticing what you feel and how strong it is. Then you pause before reacting (Stop, Think, Act) and use calming tools such as slow breathing. Your beliefs and thoughts shape your feelings and actions, so changing an unhelpful thought ('I'm useless') into a helpful one ('I can't do it yet') changes what you do. Good self-managers set SMART goals, plan their time by importance, build healthy habits and bounce back from setbacks (resilience). These skills help in school, friendships and future careers.
2. Materials and manufacturing
Technical and new materials · Rapid prototyping and digital fabrication · Workplace health and safety
- Materials Science: Why Materials Behave the Way They Do – Materials science links what a material is made of inside (atoms, bonds, crystals, grains) to how it behaves (strong, bendy, brittle, light). The four families are metals, polymers, ceramics and composites. We measure properties with tests: tensile test (stress = force ÷ area, strain = extension ÷ length, Young's modulus = stress ÷ strain), hardness tests and impact tests. Heat treatment and alloying change the inside and so the properties. New materials include composites, nanomaterials, smart materials and biomaterials. Chemistry also explains art materials: pigments, binders, ceramics, glass and metals.
3. Mechanical systems
Motion transmission mechanisms
- Work, Energy and Power – Work is done when a force moves an object: W = F × s, measured in joules (J). Energy is the ability to do work. A moving body has kinetic energy ½mv²; a raised body has potential energy mgh. Energy is never made or destroyed, only changed from one form to another. Power is how fast work is done: P = W ÷ t, in watts. Simple machines like levers and pulleys let a small effort move a big load.
4. Electrical and electronic systems
DC circuits and machines
- Electric Current, Potential Difference and Electric Circuits – Electric current is the rate of flow of charge, I = Q/t, measured in amperes with an ammeter joined in series. Potential difference is the work done to move a unit charge between two points, V = W/Q, measured in volts with a voltmeter joined in parallel. Charge flows only in a closed circuit.
5. Computer systems and programming
Fundamentals of text-based programming · Software development process · Emerging technologies: Internet of Things · Network communication protocols
- Programming Basics: Sequence, Selection, Loops and Functions – A program is a set of exact instructions a computer follows. Every program is built from three structures: sequence (steps in order), selection (if/else choices) and iteration (loops). Variables store values. Functions group code into reusable, named blocks, which makes programs modular and easier to test, debug and maintain.
- Software Development: From Idea to Working App – Good software is built in stages: analyse the problem and write requirements, design the solution, code it in small parts, test it with normal, boundary and erroneous data, deploy it to users and maintain it. Waterfall does each stage once in order; agile repeats short cycles. Robust programs validate input, and teams use version control, clear roles and feedback from users.
- Internet of Things (IoT) – The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of everyday objects that have sensors, a small computer and a network connection, so they can collect data, share it over the internet and act on it. A sensor turns a physical change into data, a microcontroller processes it, the network (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, 4G/5G, LoRa) carries it to a cloud server or app, and an actuator turns commands into action. IoT is described in three layers: perception, network and application. It brings convenience and saves energy, but needs strong privacy and security.
- Computer Networks and How the Internet Works – A network is a group of devices linked to share data. Each device has an IP address. Data is cut into numbered packets. Routers pass each packet hop by hop towards its address, and TCP puts the packets back in order. DNS turns a website name into an IP address. Clients ask, servers answer. Firewalls, passwords, updates and encryption keep a network safe.
- How Networks Grew and How Data Travels – A computer network is a group of connected devices that share data. Networking began with ARPANET (1969), grew into NSFNET (1980s) for universities, and joined with other networks to become the Internet, a network of networks. Every data communication has five parts: sender, receiver, message, communication media and protocol. Bandwidth is the range of frequencies a channel can carry (in Hz); data rate is how many bits travel per second (bps). Every device on a network has an IP address. Data can move by circuit switching (a fixed path is booked first) or packet switching (data is cut into packets that travel on their own).
6. Automatic systems
Control systems · Programmed process automation · SCADA systems and telemetry · Emerging technologies in control systems · Robotics
- 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.
- Robotics: How Robots Sense, Think and Act – A robot is a machine that senses the world, decides what to do with a program, and acts with motors. It has a body (structure), sensors, a controller, actuators, a transmission such as gears, and a power supply. Robots help in factories, hospitals, farms, homes and space.
7. Sustainable technology
Energy systems and saving energy · Household installations
- Minerals and Energy Resources – Minerals are natural substances found in rocks. They are metallic (ferrous or non-ferrous), non-metallic, or energy minerals. Energy comes from conventional sources like coal, petroleum, natural gas and electricity, and from non-conventional sources like sun, wind, nuclear, biogas, tides and heat from the Earth. Both minerals and energy must be conserved.
- Domestic Electric Circuits – A house gets 220 V, 50 Hz AC through a live and a neutral wire; appliances are joined in parallel on separate 5 A and 15 A circuits, and a fuse or MCB in the live wire plus an earth wire keep the house safe.