Supporting Learning Environment Level 6

To support students to undertake planning for practice at level six teachers could:

• ensure that there is a brief against which planning to develop an outcome can occur
• support students to critically analyse a range of planning tools that have been used in past practice
• support students to select tools that will provide appropriate support for their practice
• support students to use selected tools to effectively manage resources (including time, materials, money, equipment and access to stakeholders etc) to enable the outcome produced to successfully meet the brief.

Select appropriate planning tools informed by the critical analysis of own and others’ planning practices

What does critical analysis mean?

Students develop questions that enable them to critically analyse a technological outcome (or a photo of an outcome) in regard to a specific functions/attributes (e.g. ergonomics, fitness for purpose).
Focus students on creating ‘fertile’ questions that allow a critical analysis to be undertaken.

Now move to critical analysis of planning practices.
Model this with a case study of someone else’s technological practice, including their use of planning tools.
Start with a past/present student’s work or Techlink student showcase (www.techlink.org.nz/student-showcase/).
What planning practices did/might they have been used?
Then move onto Techlink classroom practice case studies (www.techlink.org.nz/Case-studies/Classroom-practice/index.htm), and then use a real world technological practice case study.
Use these points as a class to create focused questions in which to approach the critical analysis of a case study…

• what overall planning and project management tools were use?
• how did these tools ensure fitness for purpose of their(own) outcome?
• what strategies were used to gain access to stakeholder feedback
• what resource management techniques were used and how were these planned for.

Students add to this list of foci questions.

Students critically analyse own past planning and organisational practice.

(Above activity ideally done first)
Students critically evaluate their own practice focusing on such things as:

• their overall planning and project management
• how they ensure that their outcome would be fit for purpose
• strategies they used for gaining access to stakeholder feedback
• resource management techniques used and how this was planned for.

Use planning tools to plan for the effective management of resources to ensure completion of an outcome

Use of physical and virtual planning, and modelling techniques

Students provided opportunity to place their outcome in its intended physical and social environment by using physical modelling techniques (e.g. testing of materials, trials with mock-ups (or virtually place it in its intended physical and social environment by using a virtual/simulated model e.g crocodile-clips, 3D virtual model)
Students discuss and substantiate any judgments made about the success or otherwise of their modelling the outcome in its intended physical and social environment.
What were the risks/issues identified?
How can these be minimised/eliminated to ensure the successful completion of their outcome.

Identify the strengths and weaknesses of different planning tools.

Focus on answering questions such as:

• what is the planning tool and how is it best used?
• what is the likely information the planning tool will elicit when used in practice?
• what key stage within practice is this planning tool most suited to in terms of providing informed projections
• what impact is the information gained through the use of this tool likely to have on future practice
• how much Iteration is necessary between the planning tool and the ongoing development of the technological outcome to ensure the outcome(s) developed is fit for purpose?

Use planning tools to record initial plans and ongoing revisions in ways which provide justification for planning decisions made

Explore contexts and issues.

Provide students with a variety of scenarios (contexts) which they can critically evaluate to identify issues that provide opportunity for the undertaking of technological practice.
Students undertake feasibility studies on these issues and determine the likely technological practice required to develop an outcome that addresses the issue.

Literacy development – using linking words to provide justifications.

Encourage students to use linking language when justifying aspects of their practice. Such words could include:

• as a result of…
• because…
• therefore …

Refer to Effective Literacy strategies book for Secondary Schools.

Model justifications

Students to formulate ‘model justifications’ (explanations) that draw off each students previous planning decisions

Explore the use of a range of evaluative tools.

Evaluation tools could include:

• PMI
• CAMPER (consequences, actions, minify /modify/magnify, put into another use, eliminate, reverse)
• SWOT/SWOB analysis
• What if questions
• Ryan’s thinkers keys
• Evaluating dice – with key questions
• Question Box – with key questions (colour code for different levels) see Blooms taxonomy.

What are the advantages / disadvantages of these tools?
When would you use each tool?

Justifying the management of resources in terms of the physical and social environment in which they are used.

Students to critically evaluate:

• others practice (case study and/or observation of a practicing technologists practice) to determine how well they managed resources within the physical and environmental location in which they were used.
• own past practice to determine how well they managed resources within the physical and environmental location in which they used.