One skill that I was able to develop extensively during the course of the DT Project was researching. My product type wasn’t an easy one to find information on, as it is something that is usually manufactured by large corporations and not an IGCSE student.

Inspiration was a valuable piece of research for the development of my product. In the early stages of my planning process, I would look up existing products and note features that I thought could work with what I had in mind. They were often manufactured out of material I couldn’t get my hands on in a DT workshop and had crazy technical specifications, not to mention how too much inspiration can be plagiarism. But overall, the research I found helped teach me more about a product that I had little knowledge on beforehand.

I also had to make sure I had credible information on the types of material I could potentially use for my product. I needed to ensure that they worked with my specifications. In particular, I need to be sure that the material the product would be constructed out of would be non-toxic, as the product could not pose any threat to the safety of my sister. Research also proved to be useful for understanding the workshop processes for putting together my product.