A typical D&T room - is that possible?

A couple of weeks ago I put out a question on twitter:

Describe a 'typical'D&T room in 140 characters? Please RT (for my phd) - thanks #dtchat #phdchat
— Alison Hardy (@hardy_alison) August 27, 2013

and many thanks to those of you who replied (see below for contributors).
So what did I find out?

Mainly that there’s a lot of ‘stuff’ in D&T rooms:

• 3 x big old desks, band saw, scroll saws x 8, disc sander, jewellery trolleys, pillar drill, projector w. Apple TV, sink
• 2 x lathe, milling machine, forge, pewter casting, 4 x old desks, pillar drill, band saw, projector
• PCs on mezzanine + library, laser cutter, 3D printer, 5 x scroll saws, band saw, open plan desks, pillar drill, lathe, belt sand, Mobile whiteboard with projector + Apple TV, wall of whiteboards
• 4 x open desks,18 x PCs, hand tools, laser & vinyl cutter, mobile white board + Apple TV + projector, sink, conf. table. Storage
• Big screen. PCs. Technician. Lots of power sockets and space near by
• Benches, stools and a timeline of machines & equipment with work crammed into any space available.
• 11 double bench, ABC of DT, Keywords,3D letters-more coming soon
• benching with vices for woods, metals, plastics. Organised tool boards, 2-3centre lathes, wood lathe, laser cutter, graphics equipment
• One half woodwork benches and power tools, one half tables for 'designing'. Lots of safety notices. Lack of storage space
• HDPE plastic collecting, machines, tool stations, spray booth- off cut box
• metal/wood work benches, wood and metal lathes, tool cupboard, sander, pillar drill, laser cutter
• 'hand tools/machines/laser cutter/work benches/wood & metal vices/
• projector & whiteboard/laptops/display-exemplar work, levels & keywords'
• student work of the week, articles, icons, ukdesigners, Old layout, new kit, dash of tech

@hardy_alison preferably easy access to hot metal area. Easy access to Graphics equipment, a hegner or 2, and a linisher/disc sander.
— ADK (@DTteacher1001) August 27, 2013

But what’s missing from this list? There’s no mention of textiles technology, food technology and little related to systems & control. I’d really like to hear from D&T teachers who use these materials so I can add the detail to my research.

Hidden in these tweets were pedagogic ideas and the teacher’s personality:

• mobile whiteboards, good reads, stories of past students, inspiration, quotes
• create ideas with out designing
• student work of the week
• 1 big group table to share ideas
• #accessFM#cafeque posters
• ABC of DT – would be great if @patlink could share this

I loved this one:

• @hardy_alison workbenches that subliminally trick students into thinking that the room is only for making! Old layout, new kit, dash of tech

— Stephen Charleston (@nohandsup) August 30, 2013

It revealed to me the dichotomy that exists sometimes in D&T: do we make or design? And what do pupils prefer? (A blog post for another time).

And then things that made me sit up and smile about the uniqueness of D&T and its teachers:

• teachers' current projects
• technology, lots of it.
• versatile, organised, enabling, inspirational, airy, robust, technological, evocative smelling, noisy, serious, welcoming...
• lots of things that look like junk but are great learning aids
• A DT room is another world.The smell, noise, machines, work space & atmosphere are completely different to any other classroom in the...school
• A changing place learners want to be

(@misstreeteacher, @cdtMrHay, @mrcharlwood, @andrewhirstdt)

And finally one room had carpets - which strikes me as a luxury!

Many thanks to all of you who took the time to tweet to me – I’ll be putting together a blog post about your ideal D&T room soon.

Contributions from:

@mrcharlwood, @andrewhirstdt, @fitzpatrickjim, @patlink72, @tristramshepard, @CDTMrHAy, @DTteacher1001, @maghullhighDT, @cranny44, @misstreeteacher, @nohandsup
If i've missed you off - let me know and I'll add your name to the list.