Curriculum Links
Curriculum Links pages relate the teacher planning and delivery of this unit to the Technology curriculum in The New Zealand Curriculum (2007).
This page identifies how aspects of Principles, Values and some Key Competencies were delivered.
Principles, Values and Key Competencies
Community engagement
Steve, Lawrence and Michael chose a topic that had meaning for their students. Their unit connected with their wider lives and encouraged support from the community.
Coherence
This unit provided pathways within and across learning areas for students.
One of the beauties of the project, Steve says, was that in allowing students to work in a range of materials, it gave them the opportunity to capitalise on the skills they had developed in Year 9 and Year 10 as well as develop new ones.
Many of the students at St John's had done Year 10 Technology, which involved building a skateboard. This had introduced them to many of the skills useful in their Year 11 project where they now had the opportunity to combine materials, thereby expand their skill/knowledge base.
Steve asked one of the school's science teachers to talk with the class about the physics of the project, outlining what friction, gravity, and momentum were and how they would influence the performance of the luges.
Excellence, innovation and enquiry
The students had considered their designs carefully and the outcomes achieved were generally high quality.
Managing self
The unit demanded students take ownership of what they were doing. A time-frame and ground rules for the unit were clearly established which supported students to be self managing. Students were unable to go on to the next stage until they were completely finished something.
Using language, symbols and texts
Students were encouraged to make extensive use of available resources particularly information available on the internet to develop their understandings.
Thinking
Steve made models of a luge frame, gussets and extended trunks to stimulate his students' thinking. "For example, I made up a laminated timber luge frame, just the spine, and I left that in the workshop. The guys that were making the timber-framed luges looked at the laminated timber frames and they thought about how they could use that in their project."
The boys were required to model their designs and test them before starting in on the full-scale product so they knew that they would work. They spent time debating the merits and weaknesses of the various designs.
Students used creative and critical thinking skills to make sense of information and experiences. They developed understandings and made decisions about the design and manufacture of their own luges.
Students were asked to comment on the knowledge they gained and used, analyse their specifications versus finished project and comment on how well the final outcome worked in practice.
For the evaluation, the three teachers jointly developed a form. "We wanted them to comment on how good those decisions were. For example, the boys were asked to consider the wheels they chose for their luge: Were they appropriate? Was the driving position appropriate?"
Relating to others
Michael formed his students into 'design groups' of three or four and had them come together to throw ideas around, with the result that the more able students increased the capabilities of the less imaginative, and more sensible decision-making was made. "Some students came up with really off-the-wall ideas but their mates reigned them in. In a lot of ways, they were self-regulating."
An important design criterium was adjustability – making sure the luges could be used by other people besides their creators. On race day, students took turns riding each other's creations. As part of the evaluation process, the boys processed their race-day feedback.
