This is the Annual Teaching Plan for Grade 7 Technology. The year covers the design process (investigate, design, make, evaluate and communicate), mechanical systems and levers, structures, electrical systems and magnetism, and processing food and textiles for emergency situations.
Each term is planned week by week over 10 to 11 weeks, with core concepts, pre-knowledge, resources and informal and formal assessment. Terms 1 and 3 each build towards a Practical Assessment Task (PAT), and Terms 2 and 4 end with an examination.
Download the ATP
What the Technology Grade 7 ATP covers
Term 1
- Design process (IDMEC)
- Levers and mechanical advantage
- First, second and third-class levers
- Linked levers and linkages
- Pneumatics and hydraulics with syringes
- Design brief, specifications and constraints
- Graphical communication and oblique drawing
- Making a Jaws-of-Life rescue model
Formal assessment: PAT 1: investigate 15 marks, design 20 marks, make 35 marks, total 70 marks.
Term 2
- Purpose and types of structures
- Shell, frame and solid structures
- Investigating cell phone tower structures
- Stiffening materials and triangulation
- Design brief for a cell phone tower
- Evaluating design ideas in groups
- Working drawings
- Revision of Terms 1 and 2
Formal assessment: Mid-year examination, 30 marks.
Term 3
- Magnetism and magnetic metals
- Simple electric circuits and circuit diagrams
- Making a simple electromagnet
- Cranks and pulleys
- Design brief for a crane with electromagnet
- Flow chart and oblique drawing
- Making and evaluating a model crane
- Recycling scrap metals
Formal assessment: PAT 2: investigate 15 marks, design 20 marks, make 35 marks, total 70 marks.
Term 4
- Emergency situations and refugees
- Processing emergency food
- Preparing and evaluating a meal item
- Textiles for protective clothing
- Indigenous building materials and techniques
- Waterproofing and burning properties of textiles
- Designing an emergency shelter
- Revision of Terms 3 and 4
Formal assessment: End-of-year examination, 30 marks.
Source: Department of Basic Education, 2023/24 Annual Teaching Plans. DBE Circular S19 of 2025 keeps the 2023/24 ATPs in use, with some exclusions, so check with your school or district for any changes.