Supporting Learning Environment Level 3

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

• provide students with the opportunity to investigate a range of technological systems and guide them to understand that technological systems do not require further human design decision making during the transformation process for the inputs to be transformed to outputs. That is, a technological system will produce particular outputs in an automated fashion once the inputs have initiated the transformation process
• guide students to understand that a ‘black box’ is a term used to describe a part of a system where the inputs and outputs are known but the transformation process is not known
• provide examples of technological systems that contain unknown transformation processes (black boxes) and guide them to understand the role these play in terms of the advantages and/or disadvantages for developers and users
• provide opportunity for students to discuss that the fitness for purpose of a technological system relies on the selection of components, and how they are connected to ensure the system is technically feasible and acceptable (safe, ethical, environmentally friendly, economically viable, etc -as appropriate to particular systems)
• provide students with examples of how technological systems can be represented and guide students to interpret the specialised language and symbol conventions used
• provide students with opportunity to use specialised language and symbol conventions to represent technological systems to others.

Describe what ‘black box’ refers to within a technological system and the role of particular black boxes within technological systems

Students compare two systems, one with obvious components and one more hidden.

For example a torch and a cell phone. Explore what they can see and explain and what is hidden or unknown
Teacher questions could be:

• What is a system?
• How does this system work?
• Are there parts of the system that you don’t know about or are hidden
• Why do you think that might be?

Introduce the term black box

Teacher supplies a range of technological systems. Identify:

• the purpose of black boxing a system
• what function the black box performs in the system (i.e. for a phone - transmitter sends the message, receiver accepts the message)

Show pictures of ‘black-boxed technologies’
See photographs of technological systems:

Petrol pump

Cigarette machine

ATM machine

Toy truck

Discuss as a class

• could the picture of the technological system be real?
• how do you know that it is/is not real?
• if the technological system were black-boxed do you need to know what is happening?
• what tells us what the technology does?

Identify possible advantages and disadvantages of having black boxed transformations within particular technological systems

Teachers use a PMI chart with students to identify possible advantages and disadvantages of black boxes in technology

Use a visiting technologist to talk about the concept of black boxes

Discuss topics such as:

• do we need to know what’s in the black box?
• when would it be useful for you to know what’s in the black box?
• when is black boxing a system useful (an advantage)
• when is it not useful (a disadvantage)

Describe how the components, and how they are connected, allow particular systems to be technical feasible and socially acceptable

Students disassemble a simple systems to identify components they are made of, determine how they are connected and what each component does

Teachers assist students to make links to the technological products activities at level 2 and use the appropriate descriptive language to describe the systems components and connections

Describe particular technological systems using specialised language and symbol conventions

Draw flow chart using systems symbols and language to communicate a systems inputs transformation processes and outputs

Match circuit component symbols with their symbols

Technology student website - basic circuit component symbols

Technology student website - more advanced circuit component symbols

Introduce resistor values. Calculate using resistor code posters, resistor colour wheels or online convertors