Supporting Learning Environment Level 5

To support students to develop understanding of technological modelling at level 5, teachers could:

• provide opportunity for students to identify practical and functional reasoning underpinning technological modelling. Functional reasoning provides a basis for exploring the technical feasibility of the design concept and the realised outcome. That is, ‘how to make it happen’ in the functional modelling phase, and the reasoning behind ‘how it is happening’ in prototyping. Practical reasoning provides a basis for exploring acceptability (including socio-cultural and environmental dimensions) surrounding the design concept and realized outcome. That is, the reasoning around decisions as to ‘should it happen?’ in functional modelling and ‘should it be happening?’ in prototyping.
• provide opportunity for students to explore how informed and justifiable design decision making relies on both functional and practical reasoning and draws from evidence provided from modelling
• guide students to analyse examples of functional modelling practices to explain how these were used to gain evidence to justify design decisions with regards to both technical feasibility and acceptability. Such justifications will rely on the synthesis of evidence gained from modelling that sought feedback from different stakeholders.
• guide students to analyse examples of prototyping to explain how results were to used justify an outcome as fit for purpose or requiring refinement.
• provide opportunity for students to understand that maintenance requirements can be identified through prototyping and guide them to identify that maintaining an outcome can involve controlling environmental influences and/or undertaking ongoing refinements of the technological outcome
• support students to gain insight from prototyping examples into how testing procedures can provide information regarding maintenance requirements of a technological outcome. Examples should include the modelling practices of technologists and should include instances where refinements to the prototype were required to meet specifications.

Identify examples of functional and practical reasoning within design decision making

Define evidence and reasoning

Discuss and define what evidence is and what is reasoning.
Brainstorm possible evidence and reasoning based on examples of functional modelling

Visiting technologists or stories about their functional modelling

What modelling did they do?
What evidence did they have prior to their functional modelling?
What information did they find as a result of functional modelling?
What reasoning process did they undertake?
How did this affect their decision making?
What were the consequences for the final technological outcome once it was fully developed and implemented?

Explain how evidence gained from functional modelling was used to justify design decisions

Visiting technologists or stories about their functional modelling

www.youtube.com/
watch?v=fBnSlHwESZU

Identify examples of functional and practical reasoning underpinning prototype evaluations and the establishment of maintenance requirements

Examples of how prototypes can provide this information

Explore examples of technological outcomes where a prototype did / could have informed the technologist of the maintenance requirements to ensure continued optimal performance over time.
Use examples of products that have recently been recalled e.g. seat belts in cars, baby buggy,

Google, search ‘product recall notifications NZ’ to find examples of products that have been recalled

Explain how evidence gained from prototyping was used to justify outcome evaluation as fit for purpose or in need of further development.

Visiting technologist

Discuss how they use prototyping to test their technological outcomes in situ and provide evidence that the outcome is fit for purpose.

Adidas Soccer Boot video – Beyond Two Thousand Television series