Unpacking the curriculum - Technological knowledge
An overview of the technological knowledge curriculum strand.
About this resource
The technology learning area in The New Zealand Curriculum includes a strand called technological knowledge.
Unpacking the curriculum: Technological knowledge
Technological knowledge strand
The technological practice strand within the technology learning area of The New Zealand Curriculum guides teachers to develop learning activities that support students in developing specialist knowledge of what they will need to design and develop outcomes.
As students design and develop outcomes, they will draw on technological knowledge as and when it is needed. For example, when designing a new school playground, students will explore where timbers, metals, and plastics are used. By knowing about the properties of these materials, they will understand why they are used in different places and for different purposes.
Students develop technological knowledge particular to technological enterprises and environments and in relation to how and why things work. They learn how functional modelling is used to evaluate design ideas. Prototyping is used to evaluate the fitness for purpose of systems and products as they are developed. An understanding of material properties, uses, and development is essential to understanding how and why products work the way they do. Similarly, an understanding of the constituent parts of systems and how these work together is essential to understanding how and why systems operate the way they do.
Contexts for learning tasks should be as authentic as possible. When choosing and implementing learning tasks, consider how you can integrate and embed te ao Māori and mātauranga Māori, for example, by connecting with local iwi and hapū and understanding opportunities for reciprocal collaborations. Growing teacher knowledge and understanding of tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori is a really important first step in this.
Components within the Technological knowledge strand
The Technological knowledge strand comprises three components: "Technological modelling", "Technological products", and "Technological systems". Learning programmes should support students in making links between the components and strands. .
The purpose of technological modelling is to support students in testing their design ideas, making decisions to make them more successful, and beginning to understand the wider impact of the outcome.
There are two types of technological modelling:
- Functional modelling is the ongoing testing of design concepts (ideas) to see if they work/function as intended
- Prototyping (literally, "creating the first of a kind") is the realisation of a fully functioning model using the actual materials
Taken together, the two types of modelling provide evidence of factors that may impact on, and consequences that may result from, the student developing a technological outcome.
When students undertake Technological modelling, you should see two kinds of reasoning, or critical thinking:
- Functional reasoning: how to make it happen and how it is happening
- Practical reasoning: should we make it happen and should it be happening?
For further information, see:
- Unpacking the curriculum: Technological modelling indicators of progression
See Materials that come with this resource to download:
- Technological modelling: Key ideas (.doc)
Technological products are material objects that have been designed by people and developed through technological practice to serve particular functions.
A crucial relationship exists between the (chemical) composition and structure of the materials used and their performance properties exists in every technological product. For this reason, students (technologists) need to be able to evaluate different materials and select the most suitable for their purpose. Students also need to understand how:
- existing materials can be modified
- new materials formulated
- their choice of materials impacts the design, development, maintenance, and disposal of their outcome.
To demonstrate evidence of their learning, students should be able to explain why and how materials are selected and how they enable outcomes (technological products) to function as expected.
For further information, see:
- Unpacking the curriculum: Technological products indicators of progression
See Materials that come with this resource to download:
- Technological products: Key ideas (.pdf)
A technological system is a set of interconnected components that has been designed to fulfill a particular function without further human design input. Technological systems transform, store, transport, or control materials, energy, and/or information for a particular purpose.
For example, a door mechanism is a system made of material parts that are controlled to allow a door to open and close. Computer code is an example of an information system where lines of code direct the computer to carry out instructions. Generating power using hydroelectricity is an example of a system that controls and transforms the energy of moving water into electricity.
In any system, how the parts work together is as important as their individual characteristics.
The purpose of the "Technological systems" component is to support students in developing logical capabilities by understanding why and how systems work the way they do and then applying this knowledge when they design and develop their own systems.
In order for students to design their own systems, it is important they understand the following systems concepts:
- input, output, transformation, and control
- "black box"
- redundancy and reliability
- operational parameters
For further information, see:
- Unpacking the curriculum: Technological systems indicators of progression
See Materials that come with this resource to download:
- Technological systems: Key ideas (.doc)