Strategies for teaching Characteristics of Technological Outcomes
Level: Years 6, 8 and 9
School: Dilworth School
Teacher: Sarah Blenkiron
Category: Teaching strategy
Teacher Sarah Blenkiron's major strategy for teaching the components of the three Technology strands is to provide hands-on activities for her students – being able to touch and play with things not only keeps their interest but helps to reinforce learning. Sarah used this approach to focus on the Characteristics of Technological Outcomes (CoTO) component in the Nature of Technology strand with her Years 6, 8, and 9 classes at Dilworth School (a decile 4 independent boys' scholarship school).
The classes worked on similar activities and had worksheets based on the same layout, but within different contexts. Year 6 students developed metal jewellery in their Hard Materials unit, the Year 8s worked in groups to develop a coffee mug in a Graphics-based unit, and Year 9 students designed a soft materials hat.
Year 6 Jewellery unit
The Year 6 students designed and created individual metal jewellery and their outcomes included key-rings, pendants, and necklaces. During this unit of work the class focussed on two of the Technology curriculum components: Characteristics of Technological Outcomes and Technological Products. Sarah found that there were clear links between these two components, as both involved students investigating the links between the physical nature of a product, including its materials and the function of that product. See the Techlink Teaching Snapshot Strategies for teaching Technological Products.
For the Characteristics of Technological Outcomes focus, Sarah began by introducing students to the term 'Technological Outcome' . The students looked at a variety of images [PDF] and had to identify those which were Technological Outcomes. Sarah comments that although the students did this pretty well, there was quite a bit of debate about some things such as whether a painting is a Technological Outcome.
The class discussed what physical and functional attributes are for Technological Outcomes, and when the students sketched ideas for their own jewellery design they listed the physical and functional [PDF] attributes of their piece of jewellery. To encourage her students to see the links between the physical and functional nature of their products, Sarah asked them to use arrows to show these links and to describe why they thought they linked.
To deepen their exploration of the physical and functional nature of outcomes, Sarah introduced the students to the idea that some products can look different but have similar functions and used brooms as an example of this. She gave her students three different brooms that each looked quite different. Using real brooms and images to work with, the students described the physical attributes of each broom and discussed how these attributes help that broom meet its specific use [PDF]. The students next considered brushes, but this time Sarah provided them with a description of the physical nature which they then used to decide its function [PDF].
Year 8 Coffee Mugs unit
Year 8 students were given an authentic issue – that staff didn't return their coffee mugs to the staffroom – and worked in groups to design a staff coffee mug. This Graphics unit of work has a similar structure to a past Graphics unit Sarah shared on Techlink where students developed a logo for their school production – see the case study Production Logo. The winning mug design, selected from the three classes, would be produced by a commercial firm as the new staffroom mug.
Sarah used a hands-on activity to teach physical and functional nature – she brought a lot of gadgets [PDF] in for the students to pick up, touch and play with. Some of the outcomes related to their mug theme, such as tea infusers and coffee plungers, but some were unique gadgets that they hadn't seen before. Students had to describe the physical attributes of the gadgets [PDF] and then use these physical attributes to try to identify each gadget and explain its function (an explanation was attached to each object in case the students couldn't work it out).
Sarah then had the students explore physical and functional attributes directly linked to their project, so they examined a range of coffee mugs. They described the physical and functional attributes of coffee mugs and identified features that were both physical and functional. Sarah says that some of the responses – for example that the flat bottom of a mug is both a physical and functional attribute – were what she expected, but that students could justify other ideas [PDF] such as 'white' being a physical and functional attribute because the colour makes it easier to see how much coffee is left in a mug.
The class discussed the meaning of 'proper function' and that sometimes objects might have an 'alternative function' . They looked at a selection of products, such as a screwdriver, paint tin, and tea towel, and decided what their proper function was and how else they could be used. The students next looked at malfunction and researched examples on the internet. To ensure safe internet searching, Sarah reminded her students about their school internet agreements and she stayed with them in the ICT suite. As a class they discussed how important key-words are for internet searching and eventually they discovered that using the word 'malfunction' was not successful, but that they had better results from terms such as 'product failure' and 'faulty products'.
After a class discussion on the meaning of 'fitness for purpose' the students looked at images of old products and had to decide if they were still fit for purpose in 2010. Sarah notes that this activity widened their definition of fitness for purpose from "Does it work?" to "Does it work for people today and in this environment?" She included common objects, such as pencils, but also some quirky things which appeal to this age-group. The deodorising toilet seat inspired a lot of discussion! This activity resulted in some interesting answers – some realised the spotted lead pencil wasn't suitable because of the toxic lead, while a few thought it wasn't suitable because it had spots on it. Some thought the old leather suitcase with detachable wheels was a good idea but they didn't consider that modern wheeled suitcases made of plastic are tougher and lighter.
Year 9 Handsome Hats unit
Even though many of her Year 9 students are working at Level 4 and 5 in Technological Practice, Sarah also started their unit by looking at Technological Outcomes within Level 1 and 2 because they didn't have the base knowledge that her future Year 9s will have. This is due to them not having had focussed teaching on the concepts within CoTO before as this is a new aspect introduced in the Technology Curriculum in the New Zealand Curriculum (2007).The class brief was to "design a new hat for a specific stakeholder or need" so a lot of the preparatory CoTO work they did featured hats. The students started their unit by exploring a variety of hats – for children, females or males, summer or winter – and could try on as many as they wanted in the allocated time, but had to include a sunhat, winter hat, and child's hat. The boys had a lot of fun trying on hats, and this activity helped them to further understand the idea of physical and functional attributes. They also identified the physical and functional attributes of the hats and the relationship between these attributes.
The students then looked at objects with different functions but the same physical natures. Sarah kept this within the soft materials context and brought in lots of different sports balls. She encouraged the boys to explore them in-depth so they had a close look at them, squeezed them, threw them, and bounced them.
They then discussed their different functions, such as being hit with a racket or thrown. The students then looked at the reverse when they explored more hats that had the same function but different physical natures. They also looked at 'proper function' and 'alternative function'. Sarah says they came up with a great variety of alternative uses for the tea towel example she gave them, and were able to think of other products with an alternative function.
To explore the development of Technological Outcomes over time, Sarah used a matching game [PDF] in which the students matched pictures of hats with both the dates in which they were developed and with the given descriptions. As with the Year 8s, this class also looked at fitness for purpose and the students had to justify if some old-fashioned hats were still fit for purpose. The students then worked in pairs to research a soft material outcome that had malfunctioned.
Download the Hats Project pdf (410kb)
Teacher comment
What I tried to do was get the boys to learn the concepts of CoTO, often seen as the 'theory' side of things, in an interesting way. So we had lots of interaction with pictures, computers, and hands-on time with products they could actually touch, feel, play with and take them apart, and they all really enjoyed that. I also try to link Nature of Technology activities with the boys' Technological Practice. It was really important to me that we weren't doing something that was completely separate, it was well integrated and the boys could actually see the point to doing it rather than just as a random activity on its own.
Facilitator comment
Providing real Technological Outcomes for students to feel, play with and pull apart is a valuable teaching strategy. This opportunity to handle and dismantle objects can help students understand the physical and functional nature of outcomes within the Characteristics of Technological Outcomes component, it is also a useful approach for use within other components also, such as Technological Practice and Technological Systems. Sarah took advantage of her students' own Technological Practice and ensured there were links between their practice and the CoTO concepts she was focussing on. She also introduced her students to the CoTO concepts (such as proper function, alternative function, and malfunction) in a broader way through using everyday products, gadgets, and inquiry projects. This ensured that her students did not think the CoTO concepts they explored were only true within their own outcomes, but were true of all Technological Outcomes.
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