Equipping every child with the thinking tools to solve problems in a complex world
About DOT
Designing Our Tomorrow (DOT) is an initiative that brings together the expertise of the Faculty of Education and the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. DOT started in 2009 as a research project aimed at bringing authentic engineering design practice to STEM subjects, in particular Design & Technology (D&T). The output from this works has influenced the England & Wales National Curriculum 2014 and GCSE and A-Level Specifications 2017.
The iterative process of explore, create, evaluate are at the heart of all D&T GCSE and A-Level specifications that was developed by the DOT team. We have developed and evaluated a range of resources that support teachers to equip their students with the "thinking tools" to creatively solve real-world problems with technology. We can only currently support larger multi-school projects but we are looking at ways that we can support individual schools in the future.
Use of these resources can transform pupils understanding of their own creative potential and how to develop and practice it. This is summed up by a quote from a pupil that was taught with these resources.
“
We were very creative. I never knew that was inside me ... and I want it to be like that everyday. ”
DOT in Action
The following short videos show the resources and the impact of their use.
DOT in Canada (3 minutes) showing the resources in action. Filmed and edited by the students from Sisler High School
An overview of DOT (2 minutes)
People
Designing Our Tomorrow was founded by Bill Nicholl and Ian Hosking