Learning area
Design and Technologies Incursions
Designing, building, testing and improving a real structure. These incursions sit in the Victorian Curriculum 2.0 Technologies learning area, under Design and Technologies, Creating Designed Solutions. They are not Science.
$490 + GST per session, flat. No per-student fees. Bookings have a 2-session minimum.
Design and Technologies is a separate learning area, not a science strand
Design and Technologies is its own Victorian Curriculum 2.0 learning area, separate from Science. The content descriptions these sessions address come from the Creating Designed Solutions strand, the VCDSCD codes, not from Science Understanding. For Physical, Chemical, Biological or Earth and Space Sciences, use the strand pages instead.
Creating Designed Solutions asks students to follow a process rather than learn a body of knowledge: investigate a need, generate and communicate design ideas, produce a solution safely with real materials and tools, evaluate it against criteria for success, and plan and manage the steps along the way. It is the one part of the curriculum where being wrong on the first attempt is the intended outcome. A tower that collapses is data, not failure.
That process is hard to run in a normal classroom because it needs materials, mess, and enough of both for thirty students to build, break and rebuild inside one session. Our Building & Construction program does exactly that at three year bands, with the challenge and the success criteria pitched up as students get older: from describing which tower stood up, to justifying material choices with test measurements, to negotiating the criteria themselves.
Curriculum coverage
The distinct Victorian Curriculum v2.0 content descriptions addressed across the programs on this page.
- VC2TDE2C04Core
Identify how the characteristics and properties of materials and components affect the design of solutions. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2TDE2D03Core
Use materials, components, tools and techniques to safely make designed solutions, following a sequence of steps. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2TDE4C01Core
Explain how forces affect the function and performance of a product or system. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2TDE4C04Core
Explain how the properties of materials affect their use in designed solutions. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2TDE4D04Core
Evaluate design ideas, processes and solutions against criteria, including consideration of sustainability, to judge their suitability. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2TDE6C04Core
Explain how the characteristics and properties of materials, systems, components, tools and equipment affect the design of solutions and their use. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2TDE6D04Core
Negotiate criteria, including sustainability, for evaluating design ideas and solutions, and use these to judge their suitability. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2TDE6D02Core
Generate, iterate and communicate design ideas and decisions using appropriate technical terms and graphical representation techniques. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2TDE2C01Related
Explain how technologies, including force and motion, affect the way products and systems move. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S2U11Related
Pushes and pulls can change the speed, direction or shape of an object, and vary in strength and direction. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2TDE4D03Related
Select and safely use materials, components, tools, equipment and techniques to make designed solutions. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S4U10Related
Contact forces and non-contact forces, including friction, gravity, magnetism and static electricity, can be exerted between objects and affect their motion. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2TDE6D01Related
Investigate the sustainability of materials, systems, components, tools and equipment when designing solutions to meet needs or opportunities. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S6H02Related
Scientific knowledge, skills and data can be used by individuals and communities to identify problems, consider responses and make decisions. View on VCAA ↗
3 programs in this group
Design and Technologies
Building & Construction
Young engineers build earthquake-tested cup towers, compare bridge designs to see why arches are stronger than flat spans, build and test their own pop-stick bridge, then design, compare and take home a catapult.
Design and Technologies
Building & Construction
Students build earthquake-resistant towers, discover why arches beat flat spans, build and load-test their own pop-stick bridge, and compare two catapult designs before refining and testing their own.
Design and Technologies
Building & Construction
Students tackle towers, bridges and catapults using the full engineering design cycle, designing, building, testing against measurable criteria and iterating to improve performance, plus a hands-on demonstration of why triangles resist twisting better than squares.
Common questions
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Get a quote for Design and Technologies incursions
Tell us your year levels and the term you're planning for. We'll confirm availability and send a quote — no per-student fees, no surprises.
Limited dates each term — one facilitator, one school per day.