By Mrs Foley (DT Teacher)

Year 9 Design and Technology students recently took on the role of professional designers as they began developing their own Endangered Animals board games. As part of the design process, students conducted interviews with a very important group of “clients”, our enthusiastic Year 3 pupils.

During the session, Year 9 students presented their early ideas and asked the younger pupils questions about what makes a board game fun, exciting, and easy to understand. The Year 3 students shared fantastic insights, from the types of animals they would like to learn about to the kinds of challenges, colours, and gameplay that would keep them engaged.

This real life design experience allowed Year 9 students to practise an essential part of the design process: gathering user feedback before developing their final ideas. Listening to the thoughts of their target audience helped them refine their concepts and think carefully about how their games could both educate and entertain younger players.

The activity was also a wonderful opportunity for collaboration between year groups. Year 3 pupils thoroughly enjoyed acting as “game experts,” while the older students valued their honest and creative feedback.

Year 9 will now move on to developing and making their final board game designs, using the suggestions from their Year 3 clients to help create games that are fun, engaging, and raise awareness about endangered animals.