Teachers should establish if students hold any misconceptions or partial understandings that would inhibit students meeting the level one achievement objectives for the nature of technology and plan learning experiences to challenge and/or progress these as guided by the level one Indicators below.

Characteristics of Technology

Characteristics of Technological Outcomes

Achievement Objective

Students will:

• Understand that technology is purposeful intervention through design

Achievement Objective

Students will:

• Understand that technological outcomes are products or systems developed by people and have a physical nature and a functional nature.

Teacher Guidance

To support students to develop understanding of characteristics of technology at level 1, teachers could:

• provide opportunities for students to discuss what is meant by the made, natural, and social world and guide them to identify technological outcomes as making up a significant part of the made world
• provide students with examples of technologists and guide them to identify the sort of things they do as part of their technological practice. Technological practice involves the defining practices underpinning the development of a brief, the organising practices underpinning planning, and the production and evaluation practices involved in the development of an outcome that is fit for purpose as defined by the brief
• guide students to identify that the aim of technology is to design and make outcomes for an identified purpose.

Teacher Guidance

To support students to develop understanding of characteristics of technological outcomes at level 1, teachers could:

• provide students with a range of contemporary and historical technological products and systems and encourage them to explore these through such things as: using, 'playing', dismantling and rebuilding as appropriate;
• guide students to recognise the products and systems explored as technological outcomes developed by people to be suitable for particular users;
• guide students to identify technological outcomes when presented with a collection of technological and non-technological objects and systems;
• guide students to identify the physical nature of technological outcomes. The physical nature of technological outcomes refers to its physical attributes. For example; size, shape, colour, smell, texture, components;
• guide students to identify the functional nature of technological outcomes. The functional nature of technological outcomes refers to its functional attributes. That is, what the outcome or part of the outcome does. For example; provides grip, transports mass, stores, joins surfaces.

Indicators

Students can:

• identify that technology helps to create the made world
• identify that technology involves people designing and making technological outcomes for an identified purpose
• identify that technological practice involves knowing what you are making and why, planning what to do and what resources are needed, and making and evaluating an outcome.

Indicators

Students can:

• identify technological outcomes in a group of technological and non-technological objects and systems;
• identify who might use particular technological outcomes;
• identify the physical attributes of technological outcomes;
• identify the functional attributes of technological outcomes.