Pre-planning
Technology is a compulsory subject for Years 7-9, and offered as options to Years 10-13. Year 9 students have a term each of Electronics and Control, Soft Materials, Food, and Resistant Material Technology, taught in three 45-minute lessons per week.
Teachers in the Technology department are keen to ensure that boys and girls take all the technologies, which means taking some out of their 'comfort zones' and into more non-traditional areas. Enthusing and motivating these students means involving them in work that appeals to their interests.
Sandra's first group of Year 9 boys worked on a zoo project that involved them using technological practice to develop a t-shirt promoting Auckland Zoo. "Some of them got on quite well but most didn't, so I needed to come up with something that would capture boys' attention and motivate them."
After deciding that kite-making would appeal to boys and show them that Textiles is about much more than making clothes, Sandra consulted books and visited an Auckland city kite shop to learn about the process herself.
She introduced her Flying High unit in 2004 and found that the boys "really get into this". It was so successful that she has continued with the unit.
However, she found that the unit required some 'tweaking'. Students designed their own kites, with many working on a traditional cross-shaped frame 'eddy', but getting the framing right proved very time-consuming. Sandra says that the unit got too big for such a short period of time and needed more teacher control of what the students attempted.
