Anyone else having an awful time with Product Design NEA?

Hey I actually signed up today just to get help on this exact topic but I'd be happy to help, depending on how far you've gotten on the NEA. My DT teacher picked this topic for us too and apparently our school is really far behind compared to other schools but idk we're just starting to draw up our initial design ideas. My teacher has this example NEA provided by AQA to give an overview of what we should be doing but I've been trawling their website for ages now and I still can't find it, sorry. I can, however give you a brief outline of my first 5 slides if you need to know exactly what needs doing, anyway if anyone knows where I can get sample NEA I'd be really grateful

Reply 2

Hey sorry you aren't enjoying DT , it's a shame cos DT can be a really fun subject (although I guess I'm biased as an undergraduate product design student :tongue:

)
If you want help with anything feel free to quote me, am happy to help :smile:

In terms of healthy living I understand your frustration at how vaugue that can be but try to choose it to your advantage to choose something more unique and stand out, consider how it is hard for people with specific physical or mental disabilities to live a healthy lifestyle etc as most people will choose vague categories such as 'children' or 'the elderly'. If you pick a tight problem and market it's easier to design for

Reply 3

aight so update on the sample coursework

Original post by quichemoon

ok so update on this sample coursework uhhh my teacher said they’re not allowed to distribute it to pupils so your teacher may be able to see it from aqa or whatever but they’ll have to show you themselves, if that helps idk, seeing sample nea could help you get some direction with your work

Reply 4

forkbomber

Are you doing the new AQA course? I completed the old A*-C course last year and it was great! The coursework was to make a working iPhone docking station (I got full marks :biggrin:

) so its a bit of shame if they’ve scrapped that now. How does the new NEA work then?

Reply 5

randomperson231

I hate this NEA we were given the three topics to choose from and I chose helping developing countries and the teachers at my school expect you to know what you are doing but my whole class has no clue and then they say we are behind but we wouldn't be if we knew what we are supposed to be doing

Reply 6

DOOODARS

I wouldn’t say awful but it sure as hell is stressful. I still haven’t finished section D or started E and F. Though apparently the whole country is behind. Besides I’ve currently got full marks for A B and C

Reply 7

idk what each section letter is but i’m still on the design development process and i’ve got a ton of art coursework to be getting on with too ahah

Reply 8

randomperson231

Wtf from what people have been saying you r not having as bad of a time than at my school. Our teachers haven’t told us jack **** about how we r doing I think I’m doing well but how I’m meant to know what I’m doing is prob worth 3 marks. They don’t even mark our stuff they look at how much we have done not what we have actually written and I’ve been getting **** reports cos I had my stuff in late but at least I’m trying hard to make the quality the best I can

Reply 9

yeah lol i was so behind at the beginning of y11 that i got a 3 for dt on my report in the first half term but just keep working at it and ask to see the mark scheme for it so you can try and attain marks in higher brackets

Reply 10

NicNac98

Hi there just seen this thread my son is doing his GCSE prdocut design and is struggling with the course work side which is so vague. His teacher is only now telling me he is falling behind and from this point on he creates a product that meets with the specifications set with his client and fulfilling the portfolio requirements of the exam board. The contextual challenges set for his year are ‘Encouraging a healthy lifestyle’, ‘Supporting developing countries’ and ‘Addressing the needs of people with disabilities’. Don't know what that means or how to help him does he need to cover all 3 or choose 1 of those? Any help would be great as I am so frustrated for him. Thank you

Reply 11

Original post by NicNac98

Hello NicNac :hello:

No i would not think he had to cover all of those areas unless the actual brief says 'encouraging a healthy lifestyle, supporting developing countries and addressing the needs of people with disabilities'. I really dont think it would though as those are rather different areas which would be hard to cover in one product.
Ideally he needs to make a mindmap of each of problems that those groups have e.g for developing countries it might be that it is hard to fetch water or there are issues with hygiene. Keep the problems as broad as possible. For instance if you say it's hard to fetch water with existing water containers you area already limiting your product as a redesign of a water container whereas there may be some other solution.
Bear in mind that with each there are factors to consider, for instance an electrical product might have to be safeguarded against unstable electric currents in developing countries and there might not be a ready source of power, just things like that
Hope that helped in some way, feel free to ask anymore questions :smile:

Reply 12

rudijow

Still offering any help ?

Reply 13

Original post by rudijow

Still offering any help ?

What do you need help with? :smile:

Reply 14

Klandestein

Original post by CoolCavy

What do you need help with? :smile:

I need help with my A level NEA. I can't think of anything related to my desired courses which are either chemical engineering or mechanical engineering.

Reply 15