The Technological Practice Strand Explanatory Papers Updated May 2010
Brief Development
Senior Secondary (Years 11-13)
Learning experiences
The following learning experiences have been provided to support teachers as they develop their understandings of the Brief Development component of the Technological Practice strand. There is no expectation that these would form the basis of any specific unit of work in technology. The learning experiences have been summarised from classrooms across New Zealand, and provide examples of student achievement across a range of levels. This stance reflects the majority of classrooms within which it is expected that students will demonstrate a range of levels of achievement.
A group of year 13 students was invited to work with a local picture framing business called Edges. Edges provided a common context for the students to explore in order to identify issues, and potential needs and/or opportunities within these. Issues identified included: security, advertising and promotion, and construction and display of products.
The students worked closely with the client to develop a brief to define and specify the requirements of an outcome that would address an identified need or opportunity for Edges. The students' final outcomes were in the form of the brief and conceptual ideas for potential outcomes that would meet the brief. For details of this unit please see the Client based student practice case study.
Students achieving at level 4 could:
- identify a need and establish a conceptual statement for a potential outcome based on this;
- justify the focus and nature of potential outcomes, based on understandings of the need or opportunity and the impact of the selected issue on Edges as a business;
- establish key attributes for potential outcomes, and how they could be best communicated, as a starting point for development work;
- refine their conceptual statement and key attributes, as they undertook further research and explored techniques for developing and communicating conceptual ideas, and gained feedback from personnel working at Edges; and
- describe the key attributes required for potential outcomes that allowed them, their teacher and personnel working at Edges to provide feedback on their developing communication skills, and the potential fitness for purpose of the conceptual ideas presented.
Students achieving at level 5 could:
- identify a need and establish a conceptual statement for a potential outcome based on this;
- justify the focus and nature of potential outcomes, based on understandings of the need and discussions with key stakeholders associated with Edges;
- develop specifications for their presentation from identified attributes ensuring that each specification allows for a standardised evaluation to be undertaken;
- refine their conceptual statement and specifications as they undertook further research and experimented with a range of techniques for developing and communicating conceptual ideas, and gained feedback from key stakeholders associated with Edges; and
- describe final specifications for their potential outcome that allowed them, their teacher and key stakeholders associated with Edges to provide feedback on the effectiveness of their communicative drawings/displays to convey design ideas, and the potential fitness for purpose of the conceptual ideas presented.
Students achieving at level 6 could:
- identify a need and establish a conceptual statement for a potential outcome based on this;
- justify the focus and nature of potential outcomes, based on understandings of the need or opportunity, understandings of current and prospective customers, and discussions with key stakeholders;
- develop specifications for their presentation from identified attributes ensuring that each specification allows for a standardised evaluation to be undertaken for both the potential outcome and its communication to a range of audiences;
- refine their conceptual statement and specifications as they undertook further research into the need or opportunity, the physical and social environment within which Edges functions, and experimented with a range of techniques for developing, communicating and trialling conceptual ideas with different stakeholders such as Edges' staff, customers (past, current and potential future), to gain critical feedback on both the ideas and the techniques used to communicate them; and
- justify specifications for a potential outcome in terms of key and wider community stakeholders.
Students achieving at level 7 could:
- explore the context to select an issue which allowed them to identify a need and establish a conceptual statement for a potential outcome based on this and an understanding of the issue;
- justify the focus and nature of potential outcomes, based on understandings of the impact of the selected issue on Edges as a business, understandings of current and prospective customers, and discussions with key stakeholders;
- develop specifications for their presentation from identified attributes to guide development work of a potential outcome to address the issue, and to ensure the potential outcome is effectively communicated to a range of audiences ensuring that each specification allows for a standardised evaluation to be undertaken;
- refine their conceptual statement and specifications as they undertook further research into the issue as it relates to Edges, the physical and social environment within which Edges functions and experimented with a range of techniques for developing, communicating and trialling conceptual ideas with different stakeholders such as Edges' staff, customers (past, current and potential future), to gain critical feedback on both the ideas and the techniques used to communicate them; and
- justify specifications for a potential outcome in terms of key and wider community stakeholders, resources available, and environment considerations related to the potential outcomes intended location.
Students achieving at level 8 could:
- explore the context to select an issue which allowed them to identify a need and establish a conceptual statement for a potential outcome based on this and an understanding of the issue;
- justify the focus and nature of potential outcomes, based on understandings of the impact of the selected issue on Edges as a business, other factors influencing and impacting on Edges from the physical and social environment, including understandings of current and prospective customers, and discussions with key stakeholders;
- develop specifications for their presentation from identified attributes to guide development work of a potential outcome to address the issue, and to ensure the potential outcome is effectively communicated to a range of audiences ensuring that each specification allows for a standardised evaluation to be undertaken;
- refine their conceptual statement and specifications as they undertook further research into the wider context and the issue as it relates to Edges, the physical and social environment within which Edges functions and experimented with a range of techniques for developing, communicating and trialling conceptual ideas with different stakeholders such as Edges' staff, customers (past, current and potential future), to gain critical feedback on both the ideas and the techniques used to communicate them; and
- justify specifications for a potential outcome, and for the development of conceptual ideas of possible outcomes, in terms of key and wider community stakeholders, resources available, environment considerations related to the potential outcomes development and intended location, and implications from the wider context.
