The Technological Practice Strand Explanatory Papers Updated May 2010
Planning for Practice
Senior Primary/Intermediate (Years 5-8)
Learning experiences
The following learning experiences have been provided to support teachers as they develop their understanding of the Planning for Practice component of the Technological Practice strand. There is no expectation that these would form the basis of any specific unit of work in technology. The learning experiences have been summarised from classrooms across New Zealand and provide examples of student achievement across a range of levels. This stance reflects the majority of classrooms, within which it is expected that students will demonstrate a range of levels of achievement.
A group of students found that their school garden was producing more vegetables than could be used during particular growing seasons. They worked alongside a community expert to develop a pataka for storing the vegetables, so the gardening efforts would not go to waste. For details of this unit please see the Ministry of Education's Connected Series 2005 Volume 3 – Our Pataka.
Students achieving at level 2 could:
- identify the key stages required to ensure the construction of a storage hut within the timeframe and financial constraints and record these in a plan of action; and
- draw a design of their outcome and label the materials it could be made of.
Students achieving at level 3 could:
- record a plan of action that showed key stages and how much time each stage would require, what knowledge was needed, and who could be approached to provide any additional expertise/skill needed to ensure the plan could be put into action; and
- review the initial plan of action and modify as needed to take account of changes to their timeline and environmental factors .
Students achieving at level 4 could:
- develop a plan of action that included key stages, activities that needed to be undertaken and the resources required for these to be successful. Plan also included details of experts that would need to be accessed at each stage and how they could be contacted, and identified review points to reflect on progress to date;
- allocate time for meeting with stakeholders (teacher, others involved in garden, outside expert, principal, local council) to ensure ideas and materials selected were in keeping with stakeholder expectations; and
- undertake periodic reflection of progress and use this to update their timelines and resource needs as the project proceeded to ensure dates for building were confirmed well in advance and plans made to cater for the helpers on the day.
