Characteristics of technology indicators of progression

Identify that technology helps to create the made world. 

Using pictures of products or actual objects, have a teacher-led discussion about what they do and how technological practice helps create the made world. 

Answer questions such as: 

• What is the purpose of the product/object? 
• How has technological practice helped create the made world as we know it? 

Walking activity 

Go for a walk. 

Identify: 

• objects that are a result of technology and those that are not 
• characteristics that make objects a technology. 

Analysing student familiar products 

Students bring in toys from home and discuss aspects. 

• Why was this toy made? 
• What did the technologist do to make the toy? 

Identify that technology involves people designing and making technological outcomes for an identified purpose. 

Using student-familiar products 

Use products or pictures of products familiar to students.  

Have a discussion with students to find out what they know about the technical practice that may have been undertaken by a technologist to make a product. 

Note: Also encourage discussion around the intention and purpose of this activity. 

Use products known to students, such as toys students play with and discuss: 

• what the technologist needed to do and know to make them 
• what age range of children/adults play with the products 
• what the purpose of the product is – what it does. 

Food product 

Give students a food product (such as a pizza) and a range of ingredients. 

Ask them to choose which ones they think would have been used to make the pizza. 

Challenge students to explain those they think were used by asking, "Why?". 

Use a range of images and outcomes of both familiar and unfamiliar items. 

On a graphic organiser, have students record who the intended user might be and the reason they needed the outcome. 

Identify that technological practice involves knowing what you are making and why, planning what to do and what resources are needed, and making and evaluating an outcome. 

Visit to a practising technologist 

Visit or invite in a practising technologist so that students can see the work they do. 

Discuss things such as the following: 

• what a technologists does 
• how they know people will want the outcomes they produce 
• how they know what materials/resources they will need to make their outcomes. 

Describe the relationship between technology and the made, natural, and social world. 

Naturally occurring objects and social systems 

Discuss differences between products, naturally occurring objects, and social systems, such as the school timetable. 

Have students categorise objects (products, natural objects, and social systems). Discuss relationships and what defines them as belonging to these categories. 

Identify social and/or environmental issues that may have influenced particular technological practices and/or the attributes of outcomes produced. 

Identify what influenced the attributes of familiar products 

Use familiar products, such as convenience food, breakfast food, school bag, sports boots, and: 

• identify their attributes 
• identify why these attributes are important to the function of the product 
• ask why these attributes are important. 

Compare “old” and “new” 

Compare old and new versions of technological outcomes (products), such as domestic phone versus cell phone, games (board games versus electronic). 

Using pictures of old telephones (timeline of photos), discuss with students how people have expanded their lives through communication. Ask students: 

• What do you use phones for today? 
• Who uses them? 
• What were the older phones able to do? 
• What limits the ability of older phones to be useful today? 

Technological developments 

Explore examples of technological developments in history and discuss how they have changed how people do things. Ākonga could explore the following (and similar) sites then construct their own list. 

• "The 50 Greatest Breakthroughs Since the Wheel" – ask students to construct their own list. 
• "20 Inventions That Changed the World - Live Science"
• "3 of the Greatest Technological Inventions in Human History - Information Age"
• "15 Influential Innovations of the Past 50 Years"  

Using a Venn diagram, compare old and new technological outcomes, such as a fax machine and texting, a landline dial phone, and a smartphone. 

Ask questions such as: 

• What kind of technological outcomes are referred to as "old" and "new"? 
• What functions do they perform that are the same/different? 
• What technologies do they possess that are the same/different? 

Compare “old” and “new” 

Compare old and new versions of technologies (products). 

For example: 

• operator required phone versus push button phone 
• games (board games versus electronic) 
• coal range versus electric oven 
• convection oven versus microwave oven. 

Using pictures of technologies (timeline of photos), discuss with students how advances in these technologies have resulted in changes in how people do things. Ask students: 

• What do people do differently today as a result of the advancements in cooking appliances, telecommunications, phones? 
• What were the older technologies able to do? 
• What do the new technologies now enable that is different? 

Describe examples to illustrate when technology has had a positive impact on society and/or the environment. 

"Six Thinking Hats" – a thinking process that allows users to think and understand from different perspectives. 

Yellow hat 

Symbolic of optimism and brightness – under this hat a person explores the positives, value, and benefit. 

Choose a technological outcome, such as cars, TV, soft drinks, and discuss: 

• how the technological outcome has helped people 
• how the technological outcome has impacted on the environment. 

Impact of technological developments 

PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting) 

Choose technological developments that have a positive impact, a negative impact, or both. 

An example of an object that can impact positively or negatively on society is a plastic drink bottle – it is positive on people's health but negative for the environment. 

Describe examples to illustrate when technology has had a negative impact on society and/ or the environment. 

"Six Thinking Hats" – a thinking process that helps users to think and understand from different perspectives. 

Black hat 

Risks, difficulties, problems – under this hat spots where things might go wrong, why something may not work, and risks that could arise. 

As for the yellow hat, but discuss how the technological developments have harmed people and the environment. 

Describe how societal and/or environmental issues can influence what people decide to make, how they would undertake planning, the selection of resources, and how they would make and test an outcome. 

Discussion-starter cards 

Use discussion starter cards to engage students in debate. 

Cards contain: 

• written descriptions or pictures of a social or environmental issue, such as recycling, obesity, security, reducing consumption 
• descriptions and/or pictures of real technological practice.  

Use these cards as starters to discuss ‘how issue "X" has affected "Y"?’. 

Contexts 

Analyse contemporary and historical contexts where environmental and/or social issues have influenced the development of a technological outcome. For example: 

• open-cast mining 
• power generation – turbines in the Kaipara harbour, wind farms, coal/gas generation, hydro generation 
• car airbags. 

Develop a set of questions specific to the context being studied. 

Identify the agencies (Department of Conservation, local iwi) that would have an impact on decisions in how the technological outcome was developed. 

Explain why particular technological outcomes have changed over time. 

Set objects, pictures, and/or words that describe how a technological outcome has evolved over time, such as can openers, baby buggies, egg beaters. 

Answer questions such as: 

• Why have they changed? 
• What caused this change? Was it ergonomics, planned obsolescence, evolution of materials such as plastics, synthetics, electronic components, or other? 

Timeline 

Create a timeline of a range of dissimilar technological outcomes. 

Timeline tools 

• Canva 
• Google Slides (slide per event with added info and images) 
• Book Creator (as for Slides),  
• Padlet - video instructions 
• Google Sheets timeline creator 

The aim of this exercise is to focus pupils on "time" and chronological order. Students arrange inventions on a timeline. 

Investigate the history of a technological outcome 

Students choose a technological outcome and investigate its development over history. 

Many products have a long history. Good examples are the bicycle and clock. 

History of parts of a bicycle 

"The Very Long and Fascinating History of Clocks"  

Describe examples of how technology has impacted on the social world over time. 

Technology's impact on a group 

Using an existing technology, talk about how it impacted a particular group. 

Discuss: 

• What has happened to people as a result of the implementation of the technology? 
• How has the technology evolved over time due to its impact on the group? 

Produce a timeline (see above for suitable tools) with photographs of the product as it has evolved over time and a description of what has changed. 

Use topical images of technologies, such as milk powder, windmills, or light bulbs. What impacts have these technologies had on people's lives? 

"Six Thinking Hats" – a thinking process that helps users to think and understand from different perspectives. 

Interview an older person about the technologies they have interacted with 

Interview an older person about life in earlier times. Have students listen and then identify the technological outcomes/products that are not present today. 

Describe examples of how technology has impacted on the natural world over time. 

Technology's impact on the physical environment 

Discuss changes to the physical environment due to the introduction of a technological outcome. Compare photographs from current and historic periods. 

Use a set of historic and contemporary photographs of similar technologies, such as a bicycle. 

Ask students to identify the key changes in the technologies over time and ask what may have caused these. 

Use Te Ara or Digital NZ to source images, audio, and other information. 

Identify that technological knowledge is knowledge that technologists agree is useful in ensuring a successful outcome. 

Developing student knowledge 

Bubble-chart of possible knowledge required by students to develop a technological outcome that addresses an issue. 

Students should: 

• pick knowledge that they consider will be relevant to addressing the issue 
• identify knowledge that is missing in the bubble- chart. 

Issues or needs 

Discuss with students a relevant issue or need.  

Ask what do we need to know to: 

• develop an outcome that addresses the issue/need? 
• evaluate the outcome as fit for purpose? 

Focus students initially on identifying the generic knowledge that is required to undertake technological practice rather than specific context knowledge required to develop the outcome. 

Knowledge of context 

Identify the specific knowledge (context knowledge) needed to ensure a basic technological outcome functions, such as a suitable food product as an after school snack. 

For example, the specific knowledge required to develop a suitable food product as an afterschool snack includes: 

• ingredients 
• health and safety 
• safe oven-use 
• temperature 
• utensils 
• cost 
• mixing 
• measurements 
• nutrition 
• storage 
• an understanding of consumer preferences 
• knowledge of evaluation including sensory evaluation 
• shelf-life 
• nutritional benefits. 

"Food Safety at Home" has information about food safety, food recalls, and requirements for food and beverage production, testing, storing, and transporting. 

Identify examples where technology has changed people’s sensory perception and/or physical abilities and discuss the potential short and long term impacts of these. 

Ask students to choose a decade of New Zealand’s history and find a significant technological development that occurred during this time. 

Identify how this technological development has expanded human possibilities 

Examples of technological developments include: 

• the Hamilton jet boat 
• the Buzzy bee 
• pavlova 
• the electric fence 
• baby formula 
• bungy jumping 

Watch then discuss current and potential future impacts: 

• Evolution of Apple iMac Computers (1976 - 2018) (4:18)  identify how technological developments have expanded human possibilities 
• Is Technology Moving Too Fast? -  Evolution of Technology And the Inventions that Changed the World  

Identify examples of creative and critical thinking in technological practice. 

Have students search on YouTube "tomorrow's technology New Zealand" and find a New Zealand technological outcome which they can research and discuss.  

Discuss a specific technology and the innovations that have allowed (or need to occur to enable) these technologies to be realised (developed through to implemented products). 

Discuss questions such as: 

• What is "creative" about the technology (such as design features, functions and/or its appearance) and/or its development (such as the reason why it was developed, how it was developed)? 
• What "critical thinking" may have been needed to enable the technology to be developed through to implemented products? 

Identify and categorise knowledge and skills from technology and other disciplines that have informed decisions in technological development and manufacture. 

Analyse the technological development used to develop a technological outcome. 

For ideas on New Zealand developed technological outcomes google "NZ Inventions". 

Contexts that could be explored include: 

• "Nine Inventions by Talented New Zealanders" (NZ Herald, 2 May 2014) 
• "The Fence" – Maungatautari Reserve vermin-proof fence 
• "New Zealand Inventions Shaping The World As We Know It" (28 February 2017). 
• MAiPOD vehicle-mounted mobile clinic to provide timely medical care to residents in New Zealand
• "Steve Saunders: 'Culture eats strategy any day of the week'"

Have students discuss questions, such as: 

• What was the main issue/problem(s) that needed resolution? 
• What knowledge (specific and generic) did the technologists need to resolve the issue/problem(s)? 
• What skills did the technologist need to resolve the issue/problem(s)? 

Discuss examples of creative and critical thinking that have supported technological innovation. 

Brainstorm 

Students brainstorm and record all of the technological products they own or use daily. 

The intention is to get students to realise they readily accept new technology because of their past experience with technology. 

Investigate 

Students investigate their parent’s/grandparent’s acceptance of new technology, such as smartphones, facetime, video conferencing, microwave. 

The intention is that students will realise that other generations have had different experiences with technology than they have and that this influences their acceptance of new technology. 

Watch an advertisement or YouTube clip of a new technology and discuss if we should adopt this new technology. Use words like ethical, equitable, moral. Ask if it is environmentally and socially acceptable. 

Review future technologies and have students: 

• debate if people will accept these technologies should they be developed and implemented 
• discuss what would need to change for the technologies to be accepted. 

Use science fiction movie extracts or trailers from a science fiction movie or trailer.  

• "Welcome to the Future: 11 Ideas That Went Ffrom Science Fiction to Reality" – modern-day technologies appeared in science fiction decades before their time. 

Explore websites, for example, "Future Technology: 22 Ideas About to Change Our World" (1 February 2022) – emerging technologies will change the way we live, how we look after our bodies, and help us avert a climate disaster. 

Forecast 

Forecasting future developments for everyday (familiar) products. 

In groups, students choose an everyday technological product (such as phone, schoolbag) and brainstorm what further development could be done to this product. 

Inform these ideas based on your own experiences and predictions about future needs / technological developments. 

The aim is for students to understand how they can influence future development based on experience. 

Develop 

Give students a brief to further develop an everyday technological product. 

Have students explore design ideas to enhance the functionality/appearance of technological products. 

• class offers the initial stakeholder feedback on student design ideas
• students then present design ideas to wider stakeholders (parents, grandparents)
• compare wider-stakeholder feedback with class feedback. 

Use a Venn diagram to illustrate found differences between the feedback – students discuss these differences to determine possible reasons for them. 

Explain how people’s perception of technology influences their acceptance of technology. 

Research 

Students research different people’s perception of a technology and determine how this influences their acceptance of it. 

Use a Venn diagram to illustrate found differences between people’s perceptions – students discuss these differences to determine possible reasons for them. 

Explain how people’s perception of technology impacts on future technological development. 

Lessons learnt from technological disasters 

Review a YouTube video of product failure or technological disasters,

Students discuss lessons learnt from such disasters and how this informed the development of codified knowledge, such as changes in building codes. 

Students realise that lessons can be learnt from failure that can lead to guidelines and codes to prevent failure in the future. 

Explain how and why technological knowledge becomes codified. 

Securing knowledge 

Students do simple tasks, such as packaging a fragile item, for example, glass Christmas ornament or old lightbulb (place in a plastic bag for safety) so it survives a drop from a height. 

Successful students pass on knowledge of how it worked to others via text. 

Students realise that codified knowledge is not only developed from failures, for example, knitting patterns, recipes, sewing patterns, skateboards, music genres. 

Explain the role codified knowledge plays in technological practice. 

Examples of codified knowledge 

Identify examples of where and when codified knowledge is used. 

Brainstorm different occupations and subcultures, such as surfers, computer geeks, electricians, gamers.  

Discuss the codified knowledge that each of these groups uses. 

Activity: Understanding the purpose for codified knowledge, including graphic codes. 

Students brainstorm questions about the value of codified knowledge and then discuss potential answers to them. For example: 

• What is the purpose of the codified knowledge? 
• Where is this codified knowledge used? 
• Who could you expect to understand this codified knowledge? 

Codified knowledge in action 

Put an unfamiliar "code" in front of students to see if they can read it or determine what it means. 

Discuss the importance or reason for having standardised codified knowledge. 

Technologist visit 

Have a technologist visit and talk about their responsibilities, and the Codes of Practice and Codes of Ethics they work within. 

Set up a scenario where you are going to be developing a technological outcome for a local daycare centre, such as making a movie, toys or furniture. 

Brainstorm some of the factors you would have to consider in this situation. 

Using understandings gained from the visiting technologist, discuss the technologist’s responsibilities: 

• to the community (daycare centre) 
• to their professional organisation/peers. 

Provide students with a practical example of how a technologist works with codified knowledge when developing a technological outcome. 

Students discuss where codified knowledge was used in the development of the outcomes and how this enhanced/hindered the technologist’s practice in terms of their ability to: 

• communicate with their peers 
• record ideas. 

Explain how different disciplines have impacted on technological practice. 

Identifying knowledge bases needed to develop a product 

Spend 15 minutes playing computer games. Brainstorm/discuss in pairs the different knowledge bases that were required to develop the game. 

Students identify different knowledge bases required to develop the game, such as mathematics, physics, graphics. Discuss what each discipline has contributed to the overall outcome. 

Present different examples of technological outcomes that are obvious results of collaborations. 

For example: 

• a tent – textile shell and resistant structure 
• an electronic product – package design and electronic circuit design. 

Students discuss the links between material areas, common and specific knowledge, and the likely attributes that involved successful collaboration 

Examples of successful collaborative practice 

Find an industry example or a case study that shows good collaborative practice between technologists, for example: 

• The Pixar story 
• "20 Examples of Technology Collaborations" 

Students undertake independent inquiry to identify the different disciplines involved and the collaborative practices adopted by technologists and present findings to class. 

Examples of unsuccessful collaborative practice 

Students explore examples of where unsuccessful collaborative practices have led to product failure, for example: 

• Dog lips toy review 
• Worst product failures  

Students use understandings from research about attributes that contribute to successful collaboration to determine attributes that contribute to unsuccessful collaboration. 

Explain how interdisciplinary collaboration in technology can enhance and/or inhibit technological development and implementation. 

Research: How collaboration can enhance or inhibit 

Research examples where interdisciplinary collaboration in technology has enhanced and/or inhibited a technological development and its implementation. 

Students present research findings in a seminar presentation to the class. 

Describe examples of interdisciplinary collaboration in technology that have influenced or could influence on public understanding and acceptance of technology. 

Research: Interdisciplinary collaboration's influence  

Research examples where interdisciplinary collaboration in technology have influenced or could influence public understandings and acceptance of technology. 

Students present research findings in a seminar presentation to the class. 

Discuss examples to illustrate how socio-cultural factors influence technology and in turn technology influences socio- cultural factors in complex and ongoing ways. 

What technologists may face 

Establish factors that technologists may face and their potential priorities when developing a technological outcome. 

Brainstorm factors and priorities. Link these to other existing products that exemplify where these factors have been prioritised. 

Designers, technologists, and case studies 

Review designers/technologists such as: 

• Victor Papanek – ethical and sustainable design 
• Chris Bangle – car design. 

Identify the socio-cultural factors that impacted on these technologists' technological practice.

Find a suitable case study that highlights the socio-cultural factors that a technologist had to deal with. 

Visiting technologist 

Technologist talks to students about their own decision making process to make complex decisions. Answer student’s pre-prepared questions that focus on identifying the socio-cultural factors they had to address when developing their product(s). 

Choose a technological product and investigate. 

Discuss what socio-cultural factors might have influenced the development of the technology. 

Explain technology as a discipline of on-going contestation and discuss why competing priorities arise. 

What technologists may face 

Establish all factors that technologists may face and their potential priorities. 

Brainstorm all factors and priorities. Link to existing products that exemplify these priorities and may cause contestation. 

Designers, technologists, and case studies 

Review and investigate designers/technologists, such as: 

• Victor Papanek – ethical and sustainable design 
• Chris Bangle – car design. 

Identify the conflicts and competing priorities that impact on these technologists' technological practice. 

Find a suitable case study that highlights the competing priorities that the technologist had to deal with. Class discusses the role of practical and functional reasoning in complex decision-making. 

Visiting technologist 

Invite a visiting technologist to talk about their own decision making process to make complex decisions. 

Answer student’s pre-prepared questions that focus on identifying the competing priorities they had to address when developing their product. 

Visiting technologist 

Technologist talks to students about how influences and priorities have been managed in developing their technological outcome(s). 

Answer student’s prepared questions that focus on what these influences and priorities were. 

Explain how critical evaluation, informed creativity, and boundary pushing impacts on technological development and public views of technology. 

What are boundaries and how do you push them? 

Brainstorm and discuss with class. Consider having a class debate. 

Tales of creativity and play – designer Tim Brown talks about the powerful relationship between creative thinking and play. (TED Talk, May 2008). 

Analysing technological outcomes 

Critically analyse a range of innovative technological outcomes from the past and present. 

Choose a range of innovative technological outcomes. 

Explore ted.com videos of the developer talking about the development of their product, or case studies on the development process. 

Critical evaluation 

Introduce concepts/contexts that deserve critical evaluation. 

Explore sites such as the following for examples of critical evaluations undertaken by technologists: 

• ted.com 
• Simoniz GlassCoat Field Test – a product failure test on Glass Coat, a new paint protectant from Simoniz (3:55) 
• Design Is [Speculative] Futures Design Thinking - a new toolkit for preemptive design – an approach that considers alternate futures for technology and society. 

Discuss technology as intervention by design and explain the impacts and implications of this. 

Case studies 

Critically analyse case studies of technological developments, for example: 

• artificial intelligence (AI) 
• genetic modification 
• medicine-antibiotics 
• space travel 
• virtual reality (VR). 

Teachers support students to explore technological developments and their impacts (known and unknown, intended and unintended, long term and short term). Students present and discuss findings to class. 

Class debate 

Class debate the role and responsibility of a technologist. 

Pose the following Victor Papanek topic as the subject of debate: 

• "Whether designers, architects, and engineers can be held personally responsible and legally liable for creating tools, objects, appliances, and buildings that bring about environmental deterioration." 

Assign students as pro or anti this view and have a formal class debate. 

Discuss why technology can challenge people’s views of what it is to be "human". 

What it is to be human 

Watch movies and/or You Tube clips that challenge ideas of what it is to be human. 

To introduce the concept of "challenging what it is to be human" by watching clips you find or the ones below. 

• Soul Machines – pioneered research into progressing human-machine and set out to create a new form of biologically inspired AI. 
• "Technology is humanity's biggest challenge" – international best-selling author, Yuval Noah Harari, discusses artificial intelligence, climate change, and immigration with Al Jazeera (24 August 2018). 
• Yoshua Bengio - Can AI Help Solve Humanity's Greatest Challenges (28 June 2020, 5:47). 

Student present skit or movie clip 

Have students work in groups and produce a short skit / movie clip that challenges people’s view of what it is to be human. 

Students present their short skit / movie clip to the rest of the class. 

Critique the role of technology in the development of sustainable environments. 

Development of sustainable environments 

Analyse technological outcomes developed to ensure a sustainable environment. 

Students determine attributes about these technologies that allows them to be considered as maintaining/ensuring a sustainable environment. 

Students use a Venn diagram to illustrate common and different attributes. 

Discuss future scenarios where technology plays out different roles and justify projected impacts. 

Have students work in pairs or groups 

Choose a context (such as artificial intelligence, second-life gaming, genetic engineering) and research how a technology has played out different roles for different people and justify their projected impacts. 

Students use research findings to make a presentation to explain to the class how technology has played out different roles for different people and justify their projected impacts.