Delivery – Year 11
There were two Electronics classes taught at Year 11 in 2006, one by Bill, the other by Jasveer.
"At Year 11 we offer Level 1 achievement standards and three Level 2 unit standards in electronics," says Bill. "To be honest, we've done most of the groundwork for those Level 2 unit standards in our Year 10 programme, so the students know most of the work."
Each class does a different project, covering different knowledge areas and outcomes – Jasveer's students design and build a security device using a Picaxe micro-controller, while Bill's design and build a power supply unit. Although different, each class's project is designed to combine and apply the concepts, knowledge and skills students learnt in Year 10 to a real-life project working with key stakeholders.
Both classes begin the year with lessons specifically on technological practice. "The technological practice we cover in Year 11 is the same in both classes," says Bill. "In particular we teach students how to explore an issue for themselves. While tech practice is more lightly covered at Year 10 , the Year 11s are focused on it right from the start of the year."
"I give them an overview and talk about how to solve problems 'the technology way', showing students material from Techlink," says Jasveer. "Then they research technological practice' in industry and look at the 'components of practice' which they have met in Year 10." These early lessons culminate in an assignment interviewing a parent on a project they have done, and examining the process they went through and comparing it to the components of practice.
Students are then introduced to the issue for their main project.
For Bill's class, the year's work focused around one issue: "Batteries have some limitations and could even be dangerous when developing and testing electronic circuits". Students were asked to investigate this issue thoroughly then create their own product as an alternative energy source that could be used for testing circuits.
As he had done for for Year 10, Bill developed a comprehensive illustrated work/textbook for his Year 11 class, entitled Batteries and Electronic Circuits. This contains extensive and detailed sections on: Technological Practice; The issue; The client, the situation and the brief; Planning for practice; Outcome development and keeping a journal; Electronics theory; Research and circuit trials; PCB design; PCB making; Product design; Mains wiring; Case manufacture; Product assembly; Specification testing and outcome evaluation; Wider context issues, such as technology and society; and The five Achievement Standards and three Assessment Schedules applicable to the year's work.
The workbook material had been developed over the preceding two years. Bill had done this project for the first time with his 2005 Year 11 class, and had introduced improvements in 2006 based on that experience. He also consulted with Cliff Harwood (Beacon Practice Professional Facilitator) who suggested an increased focus on aesthetics and product design.
"Cliff challenged me to improve this aspect of student work, and so I stepped back and looked at what we could be doing. With the class we examined issues such as: What is a product? What does a designer/engineer/manufacturer have to do to get a product from nothing to something? Then students designed SketchUp models, then cardboard models, then the actual manufacture. And we've achieved big improvements, which is really satisfying."
By focusing on a single project for all students in the class and limiting their choice of materials, Bill was able to successfully oversee 26 individual projects. "If you create an environment where you get 26 totally different outcomes, it's difficult to keep on top of them all and you can lose the level of quality the students are aiming for. As it was, we ended up with 26 different power supplies – each one is different, addressing a unique set of circumstances."
Security device project
In Jasveer's class, students were asked to find a client with a security issue that can be solved with an electronic device and come up with a solution.
Once they had a client and a security need, students filled out a questionnaire to help clarify the issues and gave them a basis from which to work.
"To work out a viable solution students had to do a some research and some functional analysis – how its going to work, what you want it to do, what sensors would be suitable. Then they did some research and experimenting with a micro-controller before we look at stakeholder and social/cultural issues.
At this stage Jasveer focuses on teaching and brainstorming sessions in class – getting students used to the technological process they need to follow, and the new jargon and technical terms. "I don't like giving students lots of worksheets. I'd rather sit them down at the board and work through things as a class and get students to write things down as we go. With 21 students, it's a big class, so its really important to get their attention. With 21 different projects, you have to work hard to keep on top of it – expectations have to be clear so students understand that a job must be done.
Students then come up with a brief, something Jasveer works through with students step by step. "We work our way through it. I start by asking them to come up with a statement of intent – 'what do you want to make?' – then they look at key factors and specifications and constraints. From their brief they can work through the problem – through concept development, prototyping, ongoing evaluation, costing. Then there's the actual making of the board, soldering of components, taking photos, and then the programming phase – designing the programme and explaining how it works.
"A little programming was done in Year 10 and I do a bit more in Term 1, and now they have to come up with their own programme, and explain each line of it. They prove that it works in simulation then on the actual board – that's the hard part and with some it took four or five goes before it worked, but others got it right first time.
Students then research and design their casing, drawing their designs in SketchUp
, look at codes of practice, produce their final outcome and complete their projects by writing a user manual for their device.
At the end of his first Year 11 class Jasveer was very pleased with the outcomes. "I'm really happy with the way the students came up with their projects and the way they've tackled them – it showed they'd listened to what I've been telling them," he said. "Well three-quarters of the class anyway. When even two or three don't achieve as well as you thought they could, you feel really bad about it. But then you look at their individual evaluations and you see just how much they have learned from your teaching over the year – how to make printed circuit boards, programming, soldering skills, putting everything together and making a project that works. I think that's very good for any Level 1 student.
"Some students picked everything up first time – I'm not sure I could do it that well. And if these Year 11 students build on the basic skills in Year 12 and Year 13, they can go out and do anything in the electronics field. And we're also teaching them to be constructive members of society."
Outcomes
Bill was pleased with the year's outcomes, particularly the way students embraced their project work. "With my Year 11s I just couldn't keep them away from the room and they'll regularly work through their lunchtime," he said.
"By the end of the year, my students have a lot of understanding of the particular power supply circuits," says Bill. "Jasveer's students have a bigger understanding of the Picaxe chip and what it can do,"
And in terms of skill development, Bill says that both Year 11 classes are working at the same level – that of circuits and components.
"If one of my students looks at a circuit diagram they'll be familiar with some components and not others. One of Jasveer's students looking at the same diagram will be familiar with different set of components, that's all. So one student will say 'I need to find out about this' and the other, 'I need to find out about that' and, hopefully, they both feel comfortable about where and how they can find that information.
"There a number of students in the class that I've hardly needed to interact with at all to be honest they've come to me and said 'what do you think of this?' and I've always said, ' it looks fantastic!' But while they've been able to operate pretty independently, when they hit a brick wall they know they can always go to you and get things back on track again.
"In the 2006 Year 11 class the product design element pleased me most because the electronics is incredibly complex. We're doing CAD work, etching circuit boards – we're soldering, testing components and circuits and all that – but actually finishing a final product that looks great as theses students did makes it wonderful."
