Technological Modelling for Perfect Pasta
Level: Year 8
School: Remuera Intermediate
Teacher: Sonja Potter
Category: Teaching strategy
When the Technology team at Remuera Intermediate created a programme of learning in 2009 they established Technological Modelling as the focus component in Year 8 Food Technology. This presented a challenge for their new Food Technology teacher Sonja Potter. Sonja had returned to teaching Technology in 2010 after several years running her own business and had to update her knowledge of the Technology Curriculum. The team had created technological modelling assessment criteria using the Indicators of Progression as part of the team-wide use of rubrics. Sonja decided on a "mini units" approach for her first Year 8 cycle and her students worked on two different challenges during the twelve weeks. They were first introduced to the concepts within technological modelling when designing and creating a "healthy" cake for a cafe. The students created at least two prototype cakes over several weeks, which they evaluated against their attributes and brief.
The students' second challenge was to design a "perfect pasta" shape to hold a pre-cooked sauce of medium consistency. Sonja immersed her students in pasta-making, beginning with a demonstration by Cesare – an Italian who makes pasta for the local farmers' market – who showed the students how to make pasta dough and how to use a hand-cranked pasta machine. Some of the students filmed the demonstration and the video clip was used with other Year 8 classes. The students practised making a range of pasta such as spaghetti, fettuccine, and other popular shapes, and researched different pasta shapes using books, the internet, and store-bought pasta.
This focus on pasta helped the students develop the attributes for their pasta shapes, and they then sketched and evaluated a range of shapes to see if they met these attributes (view student's worksheets).
. Sonja and her students discussed how these drawings are a form of technological modelling and, to help them understand the concepts within technological modelling, how their sketch models helped them test their ideas, make decisions, and evaluate their ideas. The students also identified the limitations of their sketches – that they couldn't see the 3D shape of their pasta (its physical form) or determine its taste and texture. The students then created 3D models of their pasta shapes in clay which, because of its similar nature to pasta dough, helped them realise how time-consuming, tricky, or futile some shapes were.
After evaluating their clay models the students selected a shape to further develop into a pasta prototype then recreated it in pasta dough, cooked it, and combined it with pre-cooked pasta sauce. This test was controlled through each student having the exact same weight of dough and amount of sauce. Each student evaluated their prototype, using the amount of sauce left in the bowl as a test as to whether it met the brief of holding a sauce. They used the results of this test to develop a second prototype to ensure that a "perfect" pasta shape was created.
Sonja reinforced the purpose of technological modelling throughout the students' development of their pasta shape by having them identify the different forms of technological modelling that they used, including research, Cesare's demonstration, sketches, 3D clay models, and prototypes. They discussed how each of these forms is only technological modelling if it informs decision-making and helps in designing and creating an outcome that can be justified as fit for purpose . Sonja developed a template so that students could identify how their models had helped them – they had to select three models they had used and describe what each model told them. She added another question later, asking students to identify what information was missed in each of the three models. Sonja also introduced the students to technological modelling using images of a wide range of technological models.
Teacher comment
Finding a food product which lent itself to different types of technological modelling has certainly enhanced student learning. They are now aware of the need to use more than one type of modelling to assist in the development of an outcome that is fit for purpose. The student worksheet format evolved during the course of the unit. The initial page relating to technological modelling had limitations which impacted on my ability to evaluate all levels of the assessment criteria rubric. By revisiting the rubric and the Indicators of Progression I was able to devise questions for the template which would better test student knowledge of the importance of each type of modelling.
When I teach this unit to the next cycle of Year 8 students, I will include an introductory lesson about technological modelling in which students will look at the purpose of modelling and at some types of modelling used for a variety of non-food products. This will include a YouTube clip about modelling by BMW, and a matching game activity in which students match models with the appropriate evidence it provides. [These resources are in Strategies for Engaging Students – Technological modelling Level 3.]
Facilitator comment
"Technological modelling within the Technology curriculum was very new to Sonja, but she learnt about it and developed teaching strategies to use with her students. They were involved in lots of modelling within their own Technological Practice, but Sonja made a point of specifically teaching the concepts and understandings of technological modelling. She initially approached the teaching of these concepts by using the examples of modelling that students were doing in the development of their own outcomes. However, she soon realised that this could result in students having a narrow view of technological modelling. She instigated class discussions about other forms of modelling for other Technological Outcomes, such as cars, and plans to extend this through new strategies she has discovered with the Strategies for Engaging Students.
"It took Sonja some time to get used to using the correct terminology and she often caught herself being inconsistent with the language of technological modelling; for example, sometimes referring to a student's first product as a mock-up or practice instead of a prototype (their first outcomes were prototypes, not mock-ups, because they were full-size functional versions made from the real ingredients). For students to fully understand technological modelling, and its purpose in the development of Technological Outcomes, it is essential that we, as their teachers, consistently use the correct terms and encourage them to do so also."
– Selena Hinchco, Resource Development and Facilitation Year 7-10 Technology Project.
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