The Technological Knowledge Strand Explanatory Papers Updated May 2010
Technological Modelling
Junior Secondary (Years 9-10)
Possible learning experiences
The learning experiences suggested below have been provided to support teachers as they develop their understandings of the Technological Modelling component of the Technological Knowledge strand, and how this could be reflected in student achievement at various levels. There is no expectation that these would form the basis of any specific unit of work in technology. The learning experiences have been written in such a way as to support student learning across a range of levels. This stance reflects the majority of classrooms, where it is expected that students will demonstrate a range of levels of achievement.
Students could select examples of successful (for example, Post Its, Aquada, telephones, printing press, antibiotics, Hamilton jet, vaccines, a past successful student outcome, etc.) and unsuccessful technological outcomes (for example, Thalidomide, Chenobyl and/or Three Mile Island nuclear power plants, Cave Creek, Hindenburg airship, Titanic, Columbia, Sliver Bridge, early generation hybrid cars, unsafe toy and/or food products, a past failed student outcome, etc.).
They could explore the extent to which functional modelling was used during development phases, and what factors (economic, social, political, technological knowledge, etc.) influenced the developments. Particular attention should be paid to understanding key decision points and the basis upon which these decisions were made. Resources such as Technological Accidents: Learning from Disaster at www.econ.canterbury.ac.nz/downloads/philofit.pdf could be discussed as a basis to support students in developing an understanding of the complexities involved in managing risk in technological developments.
Examples from the students' past and current technological practice could also be brought into discussions, to encourage them to identify appropriate times where functional modelling may have enhanced success. Students select a particular example of an unsuccessful technological outcome and make a case, based on a retrospective analysis and their developing understandings, for how things might have been done differently.
Students achieving at level 3 could be expected to:
- identify examples of successful and unsuccessful technological outcomes and explain the role that technological modelling played in each;
- identify the benefits and limitations of functional modelling used during technological development; and
- explain why both functional modelling and prototyping are needed to support decision making in technology.
Students achieving at level 4 could be expected to:
- identify decisions that focussed on what could happen and those that focussed on what should happen and explain how these impacted on the resulting technological outcome;
- identify information that has been gathered from functional models about the suitability of design concepts and describe how this information was used; and
- explain how prototyping has played a role in supporting the implementation of a technological outcome with both successful and unsuccessful results.
Students achieving at level 5 could be expected to:
- explain how evidence was gathered and used to the support of the development of a successful outcome and compare this with an example where the resulting technological outcome was unsuccessful;
- discuss examples of how prototyping allowed maintenance requirements to be determined; and
- outline a case for how technological modelling could lesson the chance of market failure or resulting disaster, in the case of a particular technological outcome.
