Supporting Learning Environment Level 3

To support students to develop understanding of technological products at level 3, teachers could:

• provide students with the opportunity to discuss that performance properties of materials can be measured objectively and subjectively. Subjective measurement is reliant on people’s perception (tasty, evokes a sense of natural beauty, warm and inviting etc) where as objective measurement is not (conductivity, UV resistance etc). The fitness for purpose of a product relies on the material providing appropriate performance properties to ensure the product is technically feasible and acceptable (safe, ethical, environmentally friendly, economically viable, etc -as appropriate to particular products)
• provide students with a variety of technological products to explore and guide them to identify the performance properties of all the materials used, and to explain if these could be measured objectively or subjectively
• provide students with a variety of technological products and guide them to explain how properties combine to make the product both technically feasible and socially acceptable.

Describe the properties of materials used in particular products that can be measured objectively

Examine familiar and unfamiliar products (or photos of products) made from two or more materials, (e.g. a pen, a pencil case or toy, etc).

Have students identify the materials the products are made from and their properties. Identify the properties that are common across materials and those that are different and categorise into those can be measured objectively and those subjectively

Describe the properties of materials used in particular products that can be measured subjectively

Describe how the properties combine to ensure the materials allow the product to be technically feasible and socially acceptable.

Examine familiar products (or photos of products) made from two or more materials, (e.g. a pen, a clock or watch, etc).

Working in pairs/groups students to determine:

• What are the properties of the materials in this product
• How do the materials and/or properties contribute to the product being technically feasible e.g. function
• How do the materials and/or properties contribute to the product being socially accepted

Teacher encouraged to choose a variety of products for the students to examine (and if possible have some that can be pulled apart).