MYP 4-5 |Grade 9-10
Ethical Design
Statement
of inquiry:
"Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace." - Oscar Wilde
More ethical design choices can be influenced by more informed choices by target markets
In this Design unit we examine existing products in a more detailed way and look at the bigger picture of the design world.
As responsible designers, we must design products that are sustainable, produced ethically, and add value throughout their lifecycle
2024-25 Project theme: Electronics | Điện tử| 전자 | 电子 | Leictreonaic
2025-26 theme: TBC | Suggestions welcome
In this unit, you are asked to disassemble a product. Your goal is to break down the product into it's most basic parts so they can be analysed.
Once disassembled we will use sections D and A of the Design Cycle to evaluate and analyse the product. Our lens for this analysis is sustainability.
We will then create a display piece of each product to help others understand how their everyday products are made.
Success criteria:
Your product will be successful if;
Your product display and report inform others about the sustainability, ethics, and repairability aspects of product design.
Initial inquiry:
What is ethical design?
What are unethical practices?
What is modern slavery?
What is the true price of our consumer goods?
DP Extension:
Many of the themes in this unit relate to Topics 2,4,5,8,&10 of the DP Design Tech syllabus
D/M
Milestones are significant markers or checkpoints that signify an important achievement or stage completion.
Reaching a milestone allows you to progress with your design project.
Deliverables are related to assessment strands and sections of the MYP Design cycle.
These strands and the language used in them (command terms) determine your achievement grade.
NB: Because this unit does not follow the 'traditional' ABCD workflow, some of the assessment criteria will be done in different ways. Others will be exluded like D2 and A4.
D: Evaluating
D1: Testing
Product testing is a crucial step in the design process. It acts as a bridge between the designer's vision and users' real-world experiences. It can highlight successes and shortcomings, allowing for opportunities for improvement.
Testing your product in multiple ways and gathering different data is important. You can do this by performing user tests, expert appraisals, and practical experiments like destructive* and non-destructive testing.
Like in manufacturing make sure to document your testing and results.
*In this unit destructive and semi-destructive testing is encouraged as the product will be disassembled during the process anyway.
D3: Improvements
Based on your testing and observations, you know the shortcomings of the product and areas for improvement. In this section, you state the improvements you would make and explain how you would make them.
You can also comment on improving complex issues such as how the manufacture and the surrounding processes can be improved to make sure products are designed and manufactured more sustainably and ethically.
This information can be written as an annotation alongside your analysis but can also be shown through annotated images, sketches, or CAD models.
Annotations of images should be brief
(not more than 10 words each)
D4: Impact
What is the impact of this product on the people who use it, the people who manufactured it and others involved with it's manufacture?
What is the impact of this product on society and the environment?
You might find that you are repeating points from D3 or A1, if so, you can combine these sections.
A: Inquiry & Analysis
A1: Problem Statement
Products like this are not inherently bad but some elements need to be examined and improved.
Can you identify a Design issue with this product that if it were solved would lead to it being a more ethically sound and sustainable product?
To back up your claims, gather evidence that validates the existence and importance of this opportunity or problem.
You might find that you are repeating points from D3 or D4, if so, you can combine these sections.
A3: Analysing existing products
It is likely that this product is just another iteration of a previous product and is one of many similar products. We will try to find some of the products that inspired this product.
In this unit, our existing products should be products that are more ethically sound or alternatives that do not have the same flaws.
Analyse 2-3 products and focus on the ways in which they are better or worse than our chosen product.
Resources for Drawings:
You may want to use drawings for some elements of this unit.
For that, you can use these paper templates.
They can be printed on A3 or used as a background in digital drawings on iPad
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A3 Orthographic template
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A3 Isometric template
Assessment
Check Toddle for your assessment deadline and submission guidelines for this unit.
Unlike other Design units, there is a single document and one submission date.
Feedback and Criteria grades will be given by your class teacher for this EOL.