Teachers should establish if students have developed robust level two understandings and are ready to begin working towards level three achievement objectives for the nature of technology and plan learning experiences to progress these as guided by the level three Indicators below.

Characteristics of Technology

Characteristics of Technological Outcomes

Achievement Objective

Students will:

• Understand how society and environments impact on and are influenced by technology in historical and contemporary contexts and that technological knowledge is validated by successful function.

Achievement Objective

Students will:

• Understand that Technological Outcomes are recognisable as fit for purpose by the relationship between their physical and functional natures.

Teacher Guidance

To support students to develop understanding of characteristics of technology at level 3, teachers could:

• provide students with examples of different technologist's practice and guide them to identify how social and environmental issues could have influenced their decision making about; what should be made and why, how planning should be done and what resources should be used, how materials could be manipulated and tested, how outcomes should be evaluated, and manufacturing considerations;
• provide students with the opportunity to explore a range of technologies and guide them to determine why they have changed over time. Reasons for changes include such things as changing needs, fashions, attitudes, ethical and environmental stances etc., or the development of new materials, skills and knowledge;
• guide students to determine the impacts different technologies have had on society and/or the environment over time;
• provide students with opportunities to discuss technological knowledge as knowledge that technologists agree is important for the development of a successful outcome and that if this knowledge is useful for a number of situations it can be codified for quick reference. For example; material tolerances, ratios, dosage.

Teacher Guidance

To support students to develop understanding of characteristics of Technological Outcomes at level 3, teachers could:

• provide students with a range of Technological Outcomes with unknown functions to explore and guide them to make informed suggestions regarding who might use them and the possible function they could perform, as based on an exploration and analysis of their physical nature;
• provide students with the opportunity to explore a range of Technological Outcomes that are similar in their functional nature but have differences in their physical natures and vice versa;
• support students to understand that the intended use and users, socio-cultural and physical locations all combine to determine how the physical and functional attributes can be best matched for optimum fitness for purpose. For example; a selection of brooms could be described as having similar functional attributes (clean an area by sweeping unwanted material to another location, able to be used while standing) but whether they are for a young child to sweep dust of the kitchen floor or for an adult to sweep water off driveways will mean quite different physical attributes will be decided upon to ensure the broom is fit for its purpose. Alternatively, a selection of brushes could be described as having similar physical natures (all have flexible bristles) but the way in which they are used will determine their functional nature as to whether they function to clean, act as a reservoir to spread a substance, or to separate something;
• guide students to understand the relationship between the physical and functional nature in a Technological Outcome. That is, the functional nature requirements set boundaries around the suitability of proposed physical nature options (for example a chair for a child will constrain the dimensions of the chair) and the physical nature options will set boundaries around what functional nature is feasible for a Technological Outcome at any time (for example heavy cast iron pots will not be suitable for everyday use by the elderly);
• guide students to understand that the judgment of a Technological Outcome as a 'good' or 'bad' is related to the match between its physical and functional nature, its intended user/s and the context they would normally use it in.

Indicators

Students can:

• describe how societal and/or environmental issues can influence what people decided to make, how they would undertake planning, the selection of resources, and how they would make and test an outcome;
• explain why particular Technological Outcomes have changed over time;
• describe examples of how technology has impacted on the social world over time;
• describe examples of how technology has impacted on the natural world over time;
• identify that technological knowledge is knowledge that technologists agree is useful in ensuring a successful outcome.

Indicators

Students can:

• describe possible users and functions of a Technological Outcome based on clues provided by its physical attributes;
• describe examples of Technological Outcomes with different physical natures that have similar functional natures;
• describe examples of Technological Outcomes with different functional natures that have similar physical natures;
• explain why a Technological Outcome could be called a 'good' or 'bad' design.