Supporting Learning Environment Level 7

To support students to develop understanding of characteristics of technology at level 7, teachers could:

• provide students with opportunities to discuss the inseparable nature of technology and society and guide them to explore examples to analyse instances of the complex intertwining of society and technology. Contexts for exploration could be selected from areas such as; communication practices and communication technologies, life experiences and medical technologies, sporting endeavours and equipment/enhancement technologies. By exploring such contexts students can develop understanding of the influences on and of socio-cultural factors. Socio-cultural factors include such things as: social; cultural; political; environmental; economic and spiritual factors.
• provide students with opportunities to discuss technology as a discipline of on-going contestation and competing priorities that require resolution through complex decision making and guide students to recognise the role of functional and practical reasoning in such decision making
• guide students to critically analyse examples of technological practice to gain insight into how technologists take competing priorities into account during decision making. Competing priorities include such things as: innovation versus acceptance/continuation; time versus quality; majority acceptance versus acceptable to all; social versus environmental benefit; ethical versus legal compliance etc. Competing priorities arise in and are dealt with differently across different aspects of technological practice. Aspects of technological practice include such things as: problem identification and refinement to establish needs and opportunities; the development of designs and technological outcomes; resource selection and justification; post development manufacturing; implementation and ongoing in situ evaluation; maintenance and disposal; and ethical, social and moral responsibilities
• guide students to critically analyse examples of innovative technological developments. Examples should draw from the past and present and allow students to gain insight into how informed creativity, critical evaluation and the pushing of boundaries can support innovative decision making and outcomes. Opportunity should also be provided to critique innovative developments in terms their impact on how technology is understood and accepted by different groups in both positive and negative ways.

Discuss examples to illustrate how socio-cultural factors influences technology and in turn technology influences socio-cultural factors in complex and ongoing ways

Establish factors that technologists may face and their potential priorities when developing a technological outcome

Brainstorm factors and priorities. Link these to other existing products that exemplify where these factors have been prioritised

Review designers/technologists such as:

• Victor Papanek – ethical and sustainable design
• Chris Bangle – car design
• Peter Jensen – fashion design

Identify the socio-cultural factors that impacted on these technologists technological practice

View techlink tech practice case studies

Find a suitable case study that highlights the socio-cultural factors that a technologist had to deal with.

Visiting technologist

Technologist talks to students about their own decision making process to make complex decisions. Answer student’s pre-prepared questions that focus on identifying the socio-cultural factors they had to address when developing their product(s)

Choose a technological product and investigate

Discuss what socio-cultural factors ‘might’ have influenced the development of the technology

Explain technology as a discipline of on-going contestation and discuss why competing priorities arise

Establish all factors that technologists may face and their potential priorities

Brainstorm all factors and priorities. Link to existing products that exemplify these priorities and may cause contestation

Review designers/technologists such as:

• Victor Papanek – ethical and sustainable design
• Chris Bangle – car design
• Peter Jensen – fashion design

Identify the contestations and competing priorities that impacted on these technologists technological practice

View techlink tech practice case studies

Find a suitable case study that highlights the competing priorities that the technologist had to deal with. Class discussion on role of practical and functional reasoning in complex decision making.

Visiting technologist

To talk about their own decision making process to make complex decisions. Answer student’s pre-prepared questions that focus on identifying the competing priorities they had to address when developing their product

Explain how competing priorities have been managed in technological decisions of the past

Visiting technologist

Technologist talks to students about how influences and priorities have been managed in developing their technological outcome(s). Answer student’s pre-prepared questions that focus on what these influences and priorities where

Explain how critical evaluation, informed creativity and boundary pushing impacts on technological development and public views of technology.

What are boundaries and how do you push them?

Brainstorm and discuss with class. Class debate?

www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ tim_brown_on_creativity_and_play.html

Critically analyse a range of innovative technological outcomes from the past and present.

Choose a range of innovative technological outcomes. Explore www.ted.com videos of the developer talking about the development of the product, or case studies on the development process.

Introduce concepts/contexts that deserve critical evaluation

Explore sites such as:

www.ted.com

www.youtube.com/
watch?v=boQ5unUxjuY
for examples of critical evaluations undertaken by technologists