Supporting Learning Environment Level 5

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

• guide students to understand that the properties of a subsystem relate to its transformation performance and its level of connective compatibility and that additional interface components may be required to ensure a subsystem can be effectively integrated into a system
• provide students with the opportunity to analyse a range of examples of complex technological systems that contain at least one subsystem. Complex technological systems are those designed to change inputs to outputs through more than one transformation process
• guide students to identify subsystems within technological systems and explain them in terms of their properties
• support students to use examples to gain insight into how the selection and interfacing of subsystems relies on understanding the transformation and connective properties of subsystems to ensure the best ‘fit’ with the required system specifications. Examples should include the subsystem selection and interfacing practices of technologists.

Identify subsystems within technological systems and explain their transformation and connective properties

Using examples from How Stuff Works have students identify the subsystems in a tech system

Provide a range of everyday technological products/appliances that students can disassemble and identify the subsystems within them e.g. toasters, jugs, whiz sticks, laptops, phones etc

Use examples from How Stuff Works to assist students to verify that they have identified the subsystems

Discuss how transformation and connection properties of subsystems impact on system layout and component selection

Students disassemble systems that contain subsystems (ie phone, toaster) to identify the subsystems and their components within them, how the subsystems connect with one another and what each subsystem does

Discuss examples to illustrate how interfaces take into account the connective compatibility between subsystems and other system components.

Dismantle products/appliances to look at the connections the between subsystems that make up the product

Students explain what they believe each subsystem does and how they connect with other subsystems to allow the product to function in the way that it does.
Students draw a sequence/flow diagram to shows how the subsystems interface with each other.
Students use How Stuff Works to verify/assist them with their explanations