Supporting Learning Environment Level 4

To support students to undertake outcome development and evaluation at level four teachers could:

• ensure that there is a brief with attributes against which a developed outcome can be evaluated
• establish an environment that encourages and supports student innovation when generating design ideas
• provide opportunities to develop drawing and modelling skills to communicate and explore design ideas. Emphasis should be on progressing 2D and 3D drawing skills and increasing the range and complexity of functional modelling
• provide a range of materials/components and support students to develop the necessary knowledge and skills to test and use them
• guide students to evaluate outcomes in situ against key attributes.

Describe design ideas (either through drawing, models and/or verbally) or potential outcomes

Teach a range of techniques related to communicating design ideas i.e. drawing, context specific vocabulary and modelling skills etc
Focus on techniques such as:

• rapid viz, crating, 2D/3D
• necker cubes
• use of annotations to explain drawings
• graphics techniques ( Technology student website – graphics)

Techniques broken down into those used for:

• design idea generation (e.g. research tools, concept screening tools
• testing design ideas to determine their potential to be fit for purpose
• mockup and modelling techniques

Undertake functional modelling to develop design ideas into a conceptual design that addresses the key attributes

Analyse past students’ best practice and or teacher resources of ‘best’ practice in developing design ideas into a conceptual design including:

• the functional modelling undertaken to test the potential fitness for purpose of design ideas
• identifying how selected materials were determined as suitable,
• how materials were sourced.

Use portfolios of previous student’s practice, student mentoring and/or Case Studies on the Techlink website.
Provide a range of existing design ideas and developed conceptual designs for students to analyse

Video’s or DVDs that shows modelling in practice e.g.

• Better by Design
• Google search: product design modelling videos
• Technology student website - modelling

Test the key performance properties of materials/components to select those appropriate for use in the production of a feasible outcome

Develop students’ domain specific skills in testing materials.

Conduct a series of skill related activities that focus on enhancing student knowledge of how materials can be worked and tested to determine their performance properties and therefore their suitability for inclusion in an outcome.

Explore limitations of the performance properties of material/components.

Conduct controlled tests of materials/components against criteria to find their physical limits ( ie point of failure/what situations they are suited for and those that they are not)
Use worksheets with Focused questions. View videos that demonstrate the applications of materials such as:

Megastructures website

Water cube website

Analyse past students practice to identify how they ensured that their outcome would meet the key attributes identified as important to address the need or opportunity.

Use portfolios of previous students practice and/or Case Studies on the Techlink website.

Produce and trial a prototype of the outcome

Analyse past students practice in using prototypes to test, evaluate and determine an outcomes fitness for purpose.

Use portfolios of previous students practice and/or Case Studies on the Techlink website.
Develop a set of questions that focus on determining a prototypes fitness for purpose in addressing the brief. Use these to determine if a prototype is fit for purpose.

Develop skill and knowledge in manufacturing prototypes.

Rapid prototyping

Use a series of photographs that demonstrate the production stages that were undertaken that led to a prototype.

Analyse photographs to determine the techniques used to produce the prototype and the trialling processes that may have taken place to determine its fitness for purpose.

Evaluate the fitness for purpose of the final outcome against the key attributes

Enhance student strategies for seeking and analysing stakeholder feedback.

Identify advantages and limitations of different strategies for gaining stakeholder feedback including when best to use them.

Strategies could include such things as:

• open question surveys, close question surveys – email, phone or hard copy
• face to face structured, semi structured or unstructured interviews
• sensory testing techniques – hedonic scale

Students evaluate the classes developed outcomes against the attributes they were developed to meet.

Have students evaluate each other’s outcomes to determine if they address the intended need or opportunity. Each student has three post-it notes that they can make one comment on and attach it to the students work

Students evaluate others developed outcome against the attributes it was developed to meet

Provide students with a range of existing outcomes and the briefs that they were developed to address.

Dragons Den type round robin discussion.

Use a group brief and ask students to talk about how their outcome met the attributes described in the brief

Explore the advantages and limitations of different analysis/data collating tools such as:

• spread sheets
• graphs – pie charts, bar charts, frequency, mean

Have students interpret data that is presented using different data collating tools
Students share their interpretations to identify those tools that provide similar information and those which are different. Discuss why any such differences occurred.