Teaching Snapshot: Strategies for teaching Technological Modelling

Ellie's final design drawings
(Click image to enlarge)

Level: Year 7-8
School: Rosehill Intermediate/ Remuera Intermediate/ Takapuna Intermediate
Teachers: Jan McEwan, Geoff McCulloch, John Drought, Adrian Steel
Category: Teaching Strategy

Technology teachers at Rosehill Intermediate School, Takapuna Normal Intermediate School and Remuera Intermediate School developed strategies to teach Technological Modelling as part of their involvement in the Resource Development and Facilitation: Years 7-10 Technology Project. Each teacher already engaged students in undertaking technological modelling but needed to extend this so that students understood the purpose and importance of technological modelling in their own Technological Practice and that of others.

Electronic Badges – Year 7

An example of student modelling
(Click image to enlarge)

Jan McEwan teaches Hard Materials and Electronics to nine client schools at Rosehill Intermediate School (three hours over five weeks or one-and-a-half hours over ten weeks). During their Electronics unit her Year 7 class made flashing LED badges, for sale at their school gala. As most students didn't have any experience in working with wires, bulbs, and batteries, Jan introduced the concept of circuits and, using an Electro-Flash kit, they made practice circuits – another form of modelling.

The students did lots of modelling as they developed their badges including: concept drawings of the front/back of the badge which they shared with other students and the teacher, a drawing of the circuit using symbols that was checked by the teacher to ensure it could function as intended, and the development and testing of a prototype. Their record of their modelling concluded with the question "Why do we do different kinds of modelling?"

In order to focus her students on the concepts that underpin technological modelling, in this case the purpose of the models and how they give different evidence (information), Jan made some changes to the questioning she was using. She replaced the more general "Why do we do different kinds of modelling?" question with one that emphasised the point – "Why did I need this functional model and how has it helped me?" Jan will review how the children's understanding of technological modelling improves with this more specific question.

However, she is aware that some of the less able children might still have difficulty with this question so plans to make a Venn diagram. This strategy will encourage students to compare what evidence the two different models have given them, what the models have in common in terms of purpose and the evidence they provide, and what they don't.

Jan also wants her students to be able to identify the technological modelling done by 'real' technologists and plans to incorporate this into the unit in the future.

Paua Jewellery – Year 7

Geoff McCulloch's Year 7 class at Remuera Intermediate School worked on a six-week (two one-and-a half hour lessons per week) paua jewellery unit, during which they made drawings and templates (functional models).

Although Geoff's students in previous years had used sketches and templates as part of their Technological Practice, he hadn't focussed on teaching the concepts within technological modelling. Geoff introduced the class to the purpose of functional models – to explore, test and evaluate design concepts – through a brainstorming session in which the students considered:

What information do our sketches give us and how can we use this to test and evaluate our design ideas?
What information does our paper template give us and how can we use this to test and evaluate our design?

Geoff's next step will be having students identify technological modelling done by technologists – he plans to have them look at a product, such as a mobile phone, and discuss what modelling might have been done and what evidence each model would have given the technologist..

Clocks – Year 8

Examples of student outcomes
(Click images to enlarge)

Adrian Steel taught Technology at Takapuna Intermediate in 2009. Takapuna Normal Intermediate School operates on a six-day timetable – the students have a two-and-a-half hour Technology session every six days, so Adrian had each class for eight to ten sessions over approximately 13 weeks.

In an existing Year 8 unit, students developed clocks with an optional circuit but didn't do much modelling – after planning their clocks they moved straight into construction. In mid 2009 Adrian adapted the unit to highlight and teach technological modelling. Students did concept drawings, final drawings, and a cardboard template and/or 3D mock-up, and had to ask themselves three questions:

What information do I expect my model to allow me to test?
What information did I actually get?
Did my model make me change anything? If so, why?

Adrian found that focusing on technological modelling meant that the students could better justify their designs as having the potential to be fit for purpose, and that the modelling process also helped them to manage their time better. Adrian planned to follow this up by asking students to identify the information (evidence) each model gave them ("the model told me…", "the 3D mock-up told me…") and discussing with them the benefits and limitations of these types of technological modelling in terms of how they enable design ideas to be tested and evaluated.

Soaps – Year 8

Making soap (Click image to enlarge)

Making moulds with the vacuum-former (Click image to enlarge)

Filling moulds
(Click image to enlarge)

John Drought's Year 8 students at Takapuna Intermediate each developed a soap gift for their stakeholder. His students who had developed soap in the past had always done lots of modelling as part of their Technological Practice, but hadn't formally looked at why technological modelling is important.

In the modified unit students continued to draw conceptual sketches, detailed drawings, card mock-ups, clay models and plastic moulds. Technological modelling was introduced to the students during a lesson in which they discussed:

What is a model/modelling?
What is a technological model/modelling?
What forms of technological modelling have you done for your soap?
What information/evidence did each model give you?

John also introduced more brief development terminology, some of which was new to him, so that students became familiar with terms such as conceptual statement, attributes and specifications.

Facilitator comment

What makes this good Technology?

Jan, Geoff, Adrian and John had all previously engaged their students in undertaking technological modelling as part of their Technological Practice. However, through questioning these teachers quickly discovered that doing some modelling didn't mean that students understood the purpose and importance of technological modelling. So, they developed these teaching strategies and activities to explicitly teach concepts about technological modelling and link these concepts to the modelling undertaken by both the students and technologists.

Teaching technological modelling is about students understanding:

what technological modelling is
the importance of technological modelling in Technology
the purpose of technological modelling
the evidence/information a model provides
the benefits and limitations of certain models
how technological modelling can be used to enhance their own Technological Practice.