Technology Programme Design – Section Two
Learning Outcomes
Programmes of learning may include a varying number and range of contexts within which a series of coherent learning experiences will be developed. These may be organised as units and/or projects, however care should be taken to ensure such organisational structures are clearly interlinked to support the programme as a whole. The time allocated to learning experiences is determined by both the intended learning planned by the teacher, and student learning needs in relation to this learning focus. For example, a series of lessons may be planned whereby students disassemble a product developed locally, visit or are visited by a technologist involved in the product's development, and review their initial analysis in order to develop an understanding of brief development prior to developing their own brief for as part of their own technological practice.
When planning for 2008 and 2009, teachers are encouraged to develop learning experiences focused on one or more of the components from the technological practice strand, as well as any other knowledge and skills identified as 'key' to student learning. The identification of other knowledge and skills will be determined by the specific context selected and the nature of the student's technological practice. While some of these will be common across all students, others may vary between students as dependent on their needs.
Learning Outcomes can therefore be predetermined by the teacher prior to the delivery of the learning experiences to ensure students have access to generic knowledge and practice that takes into account students' prior learning. However, during the delivery of learning experiences, opportunity should be left to develop negotiated Learning Outcomes that are responsive to student technological practice, and additional specific contextualised learning needs and/or their interests that arise from the experiences offered.
As Learning Outcomes represent the learning that the teacher has determined to be 'key' within the context, they provide the main focus for teacher interactions within the classroom. However, they do not represent all the learning experiences the context will provide. For example, when students are undertaking technological practice within a specific context they will clearly be increasing their capability and knowledge of all three of the components of technological practice. However, the 'focus' for teacher interaction, and therefore assessment and monitoring of student learning, may be on only one or two of these components. This will increasingly be the case as the five new components from the two additional strands become part of the school technology programme.
Pedagogical Strategies
All teaching in technology should be based on an understanding of students' current level of achievement and interest and an awareness of what their next learning steps should be. Pedagogical strategies that have been found to be particularly useful in supporting technological practice include:
- Explanation and demonstration of skills and techniques followed by scaffolded opportunities for students to develop these themselves.
- Exploration of and free 'playing' with a wide range of materials.
- Demonstration of equipment use, followed by multiple opportunities for students to use the equipment safely for a range of appropriate purposes.
- Investigation of multiple perspectives underlying own and others' decision making.
Research into current understandings of how things work. - Analysis of past and contemporary technological developments.
- Technological product and system analysis.
- Open debate of personal ideas and contentious issues.
- Questioning (from teacher, peer and self) to encourage justification for decisions made.
- Introducing and revisiting concepts, skills and practices across a range of contexts to aid students develop more generic understandings.
- Explicit discussion of similarities and differences across contexts.
Learning environments which provide students with authentic tasks and the opportunity to interact with a range of people (for example, team teaching situations, outside 'experts', clients) have also been shown to increase motivation and raise the standard of the outcomes produced.
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