Syllabus Outline (EA/Theory Overview)
- Habeeb Yusuf
- Oct 29, 2025
- 5 min read
Contents
Overview of the Theory Content
Purpose
Purpose of syllabus
The aim of the syllabus is to integrate concepts, topic content and the nature of design technology through inquiry. Students and teachers are encouraged to personalize their approach to the syllabus according to what best fits their interests.
Time allocation
The recommended teaching time is 240 hours to complete higher level (HL) courses and 150 hours to complete standard level (SL) courses.
Assessment Outline (Standard Level / SL)
Assessment Outline (Higher Level / HL)
Syllabus Content (Criteria)
The Diploma Programme (DP) design technology course has been designed to be flexible and can be adapted to suit many contexts and learning environments. The structure of the design technology syllabus is intended to promote concept-based learning and teaching that can be connected through four broad discipline-specific concepts: people, process, product and production. These four broad, design technology-based concepts appear throughout the programme and are organized into three themes: design in theory, design in practice and design in context. The students’ skill development should be integrated into the teaching of the content. The course structure reflects the fact that skills are best developed through a conceptual approach to learning and teaching as illustrated in the table below:
Units of Inquiry (UoI's)
The collection of suggested units of inquiry has been developed to foster a spirit of exploration, inquiry and intellectual engagement in the classroom. Each unit is underpinned by the design thinking process by exploring a range of specific themes or topics, and should therefore be taught contextually to facilitate conceptual understanding.
The 11 Units of Inquiry include all the criteria from SL and HL, and therefore once completed, the students will have engaged with all the neccessary theory components of the DT diploma programme.
Key features of these units are as follows.
Inquiry-based: Students are encouraged to ask questions, explore different perspectives and construct their own understanding through active engagement.
Flexible: The non-sequential organization allows teachers to adapt the units to their specific curriculum priorities, school resources and student needs.
Experiential: A range of suggested inquiry-based experiences provides teachers with opportunities to differentiate learning and cater to different learning styles.
A list of the Units of Inquiry are below:
Note that where criteria are repeated in units, parts of that criteria will be distributed in the relavant units. See the individual units pages for more information. Furthermore, note that these units are not usually taught in a sequantial order, but may be delivered in any order.
Unit # | Unit Name | Criteria Covered in Unit | Hours |
1 | Ergonomic investigations (SL) | · A1.1 Ergonomics · B1.1 User-centred design · C1.1 Responsibility of the designer · C1.2 Inclusive design · A2.1 User-centred research methods · B2.2 Modelling and prototyping | 20–25 |
2 | Researching to understand end-users (SL) | · B1.1 User-centred design · A2.1 User-centred research methods · A2.2 Prototyping techniques · B2.1 The design process · B2.2 Modelling and prototyping · A3.1 Material classification and properties · C3.1 Product analysis and evaluation | 20–25 |
3 | Sustainability and circular design (SL) | · B1.1 User-centred design · A2.2 Prototyping techniques · B2.1 The design process · B2.2 Modelling and prototyping · C2.1 Design for sustainability · C2.2 Design for a circular economy · A3.1 Material classification and properties · B3.1 Material selection | 20–25 |
4 | Materializing ideas: From theory to prototype (SL) | · C1.2 Inclusive design · A2.2 Prototyping techniques · B2.2 Modelling and prototyping · A3.1 Material classification and properties · B3.1 Material selection · C3.1 Product analysis and evaluation | 20–25 |
5 | User experience journeys (SL) | · B1.1 User-centred design · C1.2 Inclusive design · A2.1 User-centred research methods · B2.1 The design process · C3.1 Product analysis and evaluation | 20–25 |
6 | Beyond usability (HL) | · C1.3 Beyond usability | 6 |
7 | Building on sustainability and circular design (HL) | · C3.2 Life-cycle analysis | 7 |
8 | Engineering successful designs (HL) | · A3.2 Introduction to structural systems · B3.2 Structural systems application and selection | 14 |
9 | Manufacturing successful designs (HL) | · A4.1 Manufacturing techniques · B4.1 Production systems · C4.1 Design for manufacture strategies | 14 |
10 | Designing in movement (HL) | · A3.3 Introduction to mechanical systems · B3.3 Mechanical systems application and selection | 14 |
11 | Designing in electronics (HL) | · A3.4 Introduction to electronic systems · B3.4 Electronic systems application and selection | 16 |
Note that in HL, no criteria are split across multiple units. However, in SL, the following overlaps appear:
Unit 1: Ergonomic Investigations (SL)
A1.1 Ergonomics (No repeat)
A2.1 User-centred research methods → also in Units 2 and 5
B1.1 User-centred design → also in Units 2, 3, and 5
B2.2 Modelling and prototyping → also in Units 2, 3, and 4
C1.1 Responsibility of the designer (No repeat)
C1.2 Inclusive design → also in Units 4 and 5
Unit 2: Researching to Understand End-Users (SL)
A2.1 User-centred research methods → also in Units 1 and 5
A2.2 Prototyping techniques → also in Units 3 and 4
A3.1 Material classification and properties → also in Units 3 and 4
B1.1 User-centred design → also in Units 1, 3, and 5
B2.1 The design process → also in Units 3 and 5
B2.2 Modelling and prototyping → also in Units 1, 3, and 4
C3.1 Product analysis and evaluation → also in Units 4 and 5
Unit 3: Sustainability and Circular Design (SL)
A2.2 Prototyping techniques → also in Units 2 and 4
A3.1 Material classification and properties → also in Units 2 and 4
B1.1 User-centred design → also in Units 1, 2, and 5
B2.1 The design process → also in Units 2 and 5
B2.2 Modelling and prototyping → also in Units 1, 2, and 4
B3.1 Material selection → also in Unit 4
C2.1 Design for sustainability (No repeat)
C2.2 Design for a circular economy (No repeat)
Unit 4: Materialising Ideas – From Theory to Prototype (SL)
A2.2 Prototyping techniques → also in Units 2 and 3
A3.1 Material classification and properties → also in Units 2 and 3
B2.2 Modelling and prototyping → also in Units 1, 2, and 3
B3.1 Material selection → also in Unit 3
C1.2 Inclusive design → also in Units 1 and 5
C3.1 Product analysis and evaluation → also in Units 2 and 5
Unit 5: User Experience Journeys (SL)
A2.1 User-centred research methods → also in Units 1 and 2
B1.1 User-centred design → also in Units 1, 2, and 3
B2.1 The design process → also in Units 2 and 3
C1.2 Inclusive design → also in Units 1 and 4
C3.1 Product analysis and evaluation → also in Units 2 and 4
Where criteria are aplit across multiple units, the criteria will be split and aspects of it will be taught in the relavant units to as appropriate. Notwithstanding, there maybe some repitition of core concepts.
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