Supporting Learning Environment Level 1

To support students to develop understanding of characteristics of technology at level 1, teachers could:

• provide opportunities for students to discuss what is meant by the made, natural, and social world and guide them to identify technological outcomes as making up a significant part of the made world
• provide students with examples of technologists and guide them to identify the sort of things they do as part of their technological practice. Technological practice involves the defining practices underpinning the development of a brief, the organising practices underpinning planning, and the production and evaluation practices involved in the development of an outcome that is fit for purpose as defined by the brief
• guide students to identify that the aim of technology is to design and make outcomes for an identified purpose.

Identify that technology helps to create the made world

Using pictures of products or actual objects have a teacher led discussion about what they do, and how technological practice helps create the made world.

Answer questions such as:

• what is the products/objects purpose?
• how has technological practice helped create the made world as we know it?

Walking activity.

Go for a walk and identify those objects that are a result of technology and those that are not – identify characteristics that make objects a technology.

Analysing student familiar products.

Students bring in toys from home and discuss things such as:

• why was this toy made?
• what did the technologist do to make the toy?

Identify that technology involves people designing and making technological outcomes for an identified purpose

Using student familiar products ( or pictures of products) have a discussion with students to find out what they know about the technical practice that may have been undertaken by a technologist to make a product.
Note: also encourage discussion around the intention and purposeful of this activity.

Use products known to students e.g. toys students play with – discuss:

• what the technologist needed to do and know to make them
• what age range of children/adults play with the products
• what the purpose of the product is - what it does

Provide students with a food product (e.g. a pizza) and a range of ingredients and ask them to choose which ones they think would have been used to make the pizza.

Challenge students to explain those they think were used with 'Why?'

Use a range of images / outcomes of both familiar and unfamiliar items.

On a graphic organizer, have students record who the intended user might be, and the reason they needed the outcome.

Identify that technological practice involves knowing what you are making and why, planning what to do and what resources are needed, and making and evaluating an outcome.

Visit to a practicing technologist to see the work they are involved in doing.

Discuss things such as:

• what it is a technologists does
• how they know people will want the outcomes they produce
• how they know what materials/resources they will need to make their outcomes.