Brief development: Indicators of progression 

Describe the physical and functional nature of the outcome they are going to produce and explain how the outcome will have the ability to address the need or opportunity. 

Use key questions to describe the physical and functional nature of the intended outcome. 

Questions to consider: 

• What will it be used for?  
• What will it look like?  
• What will it be made out of?  
• Where will it be used?  
• Who will use it?  
• Why am I making it?  
• What problem might this address? 

Describe attributes for the outcome and identify those which are key for the development and evaluation of an outcome. 

Matching descriptions of “key attributes” to a range of products. 

Students match a list of described “key attributes” (for example, made from soft spongy material that is lightweight) to a range of products that they are both familiar and unfamiliar with. 

Describing “key attributes” for their outcome. 

Use a template with stems for students to complete.  

For example, the outcome: 

• will be used to ... and needs to ... 
• looks like ... 
• feels like ... 

Matching key attributes to technological products. 

Students match phrases that describe attributes of technological products to pictures of products. For example, cut paper matched to scissors. 

Using the key attributes of given products, students identify what the product is/does.  

For example,  

• this will be used by ... to ... 
• this is made from … so that it will ... 
• this must be able to ... so that ... 

Students evaluating the “fitness for purpose” of products against given key attributes. 

Provide students with a list of key attributes that describe a product. 

Students are asked to identify what the product is and what makes that product “fit for purpose”? 

Students use a set of given key attributes to evaluate the fitness for purpose of others’ products. 

Students evaluate a range of products against a set of given key attributes to determine their fitness for purpose. (What makes that product “fit for purpose”?) 

Literacy development – use of evaluative words. 

Students evaluate another student’s technological outcome against its brief, making suggestions for changes to key attributes to allow an evaluation to occur where necessary. 

Use a touchy/feely bag where students cannot see the products inside. 

Students describe attributes of products using terminology that enables others to know what: 

• the product is made from 
• the shape of product is 
• the product is used for. 

Students are asked to describe a range of products that they can physically touch but which are concealed within a bag. Thus, they should describe what they feel or smell. 

Identify a need or opportunity from the given context and issue. 

Brainstorming needs or opportunities from a given context and/or situation. 

In a given context and/or situation, the class brainstorms on a board/datashow/smart tv to identify potential needs or opportunities, including identification of who their stakeholders would/may be. 

Using a video of a natural or man-made (such as a building failure) disaster. 

Students are asked to identify needs and/or opportunities for technological advancements/solutions that would have alleviated the disaster occurring. 

Personal contexts/issues. 

Students are asked to examine personal contexts/issues to generate needs or opportunities.  

For example: 

• tramping – What are the needs? What are the opportunities? 
• messy bedroom – What are the needs? What are the opportunities? 
• What are some contexts that are relevant to your ākonga? 

Establish a conceptual statement that communicates the nature of the outcome and why such an outcome should be developed. 

Scaffolding student understanding by analysing conceptual statements. 

Provide students with a range of conceptual statements that have been used to develop technological outcomes. Ask students to identify the "key" information presented in the conceptual statements. 

For example: 

• Why is the need or opportunity able to be resolved or fulfilled by the technological outcome? 
• Where is the outcome to be used? 
• Who will use it? 

Writing conceptual statements that describe a technological opportunity. 

Present students with a range of needs/opportunities and ask them to write a conceptual statement that would enable technological practice to be undertaken to address them. 

Writing conceptual statements from existing technological practice. 

Students are asked to write conceptual statements for issues or opportunities provided by teacher and identified from: 

• video clips of technological practice 
• Techlink resources (student examples or real technological practice case studies). 

Establish the key attributes for an outcome informed by stakeholder considerations. 

Use of mind maps to identify the key attributes for a range selected products. 

Students work in groups to identify key attributes and discuss these in order to justify those identified. 

• What might have been the stakeholder need(s) that led to the attributes? 
• Explain why these are deemed important to the stakeholder. 

Stakeholder questions. 

Students are helped to develop a series of questions that can be used to interview a person that will identify their need or opportunity. 

Communicate key attributes that allow an outcome to be evaluated as fit for purpose. 

Identifying how key attributes may vary due to different uses of similar products. 

Provide a range of products that perform similar functions and discuss how different attributes are prioritised because of their intended use/stakeholder needs.  

For example: 

• haircutting scissors must be sharp, have needle pointed tips, be comfortable to use 
• craft scissors must be able to cut cardboard, be blunt ended, have a plastic handle. 

Do these key attributes allow an outcome to be evaluated as fit for purpose? 

Identify a need or opportunity from the given context and issue. 

Brainstorming the needs and/or opportunities in a given context. 

For a given context, the class brainstorms on a board/datashow/smart tv to identify potential needs or opportunities, including identification of who the stakeholders would/may be. 

Develop a series of questions that can be used to interview a person that can help to identify a need or opportunity. 

Use a video of a natural or man-made disaster. 

After watching a video of a natural or man-made disaster, students identify needs and/or opportunities for a technological advancement/solution that could have prevented the disaster from occurring. 

Personal contexts/issues. 

Students are asked to examine personal contexts/issues to generate needs or opportunities.  

For example: 

• tramping – What are the needs? What are the opportunities? 
• messy bedroom – What are the needs? What are the opportunities? 

Establish a conceptual statement that justifies the nature of the outcome and why such an outcome should be developed. 

Writing conceptual statements for given needs or opportunities. 

Students practise writing conceptual statements for an issue/opportunity that is provided by the teacher or identified from the above activities. 

Students present their conceptual statement to class. 

Students focus on justifying the nature of an outcome and explaining why such an outcome should be developed. 

Establish the specifications for an outcome based on the nature of the outcome required to address the need or opportunity, and informed by key stakeholder considerations. 

Distinguishing the difference between attributes and specifications. 

Provide students with a range of briefs that contain both attributes and specifications. In groups, students identify the attributes and the specifications. 

Bulls-eye chart (three concentric circles):

• outside circle labelled attributes
• middle circle labelled key attributes
• inner circle labelled specifications.

Students to refine identified attributes into specifications (measurable/observable functional and aesthetic expectations). 

Students move from writing attributes to specifications, and then consider stakeholders in terms of what, how, and why. 

Identify stakeholder considerations. 

Students create a stakeholder profile and write specifications that meet their need(s).  

Deconstructing an existing product to identify its specifications. 

Students write brief specifications for an existing product through deconstructing the product to identify such things as materials made from, cost, size of components/ingredients, relationships between components/ingredients, safety considerations, and so on. 

Presenting a developed brief. 

Students present their developed brief to their class, justifying why their selected specifications are important to address the need/opportunity. 

Communicate specifications that allow an outcome to be evaluated as fit for purpose. 

Identify how specifications may vary due to different uses within similar products. 

Provide a range of products that perform similar functions and discuss how different specifications were prioritised due to their intended use/stakeholder needs. 

For example: 

• haircutting scissors – made from surgical quality stainless steel 
• craft scissors – made from carbon steel 

Think-pair-share discussion that leads to a written example. 

Critiquing specifications to determine their measurability or establish if they are observable. 

Students sort a range of statements into those which are specifications and those which are not measurable/observable. 

• Identify what it is that enables a specification to be measurable? 
• Identify what it is that allows a specification to be observable? 

Note: an attribute is usually subjectively measured/determined, while a specification is more objectively measured/determined (more specific). 

Identify a need or opportunity from the given context and issue. 

Understanding the differences between a context, issue, need, and opportunity. 

Scaffold students’ understanding through activities, such as: 

• first definition/second definition 
• place mat. 

Use teacher-provided examples and the Connected series for examples. 

Identifying an issue, need, or opportunity from a video or case study that describes a context. 

Provide students with a range of videos or case studies and have them determine an issue, need, or opportunity. For examples, for activities refer to the book Top Tools for Social Sciences Teachers. 

Developing questions to identify the issue, need, or opportunity. 

Provide a context for students and ask them to structure questions that will identify an issue, need, or opportunity. This will also promote students' skills in questioning techniques. 

Questions can go onto a dice template and be used by them and/or other students in the future. 

Potential client presenting their context. 

A client – real or role play – presents a context and/or issue. Students question the client to gain more information. 

Based upon presentation and questioning the client, the students identify a need or opportunity. This can include the identification of key stakeholders. Encourage students to provide justifications as to why they believe these are relevant to the context. 

Establish a conceptual statement that justifies the nature of the outcome and why such an outcome should be developed. 

Using a technologist to critique a student conceptual statement. 

The technologist critiques student conceptual statements once developed. 

Students critique a technologist’s conceptual statement. 

Establish the specifications for an outcome based on the nature of the outcome required to address the need or opportunity, consideration of the environment in which the outcome will be situated, and resources available. 

Analysis of briefs developed by practising technologists. 

Use briefs that evolved as the outcome progresses towards a technological outcome.  

For example: 

• client specifications to architect 
• architect specifications to builder

Ask students to identify: 

• how specifications change according to their intended audience but that, in changing, they are making clearer the justification for and needs of the outcome 
• the constraints imposed by the brief on the outcome and the practice undertaken for its realisation. 

Ask students to determine the specifications that focus on the outcome and those that are concerned with the practice undertaken to realise the outcome. 

Communicate specifications that allow an outcome to be evaluated as fit for purpose. 

Key stakeholders critique specifications to determine if they will enable an outcome to be evaluated as fit for purpose. 

Key stakeholders are informed to ensure that they understand the difference between a specification and an attribute. 

Justify the specifications in terms of key and wider community stakeholder considerations. 

Analyse the physical and social environment in which a technological outcome will be located. Include feedback from key and wider community stakeholders. 

Use evaluation tools, such as: 

• SCAMPER (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, Reverse)  
• SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats)  
• SWOB (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Barriers) 

Explore the context to select an issue. 

Use a range of evaluative tools to explore and evaluate a context. 

Evaluation tools could include: 

• SCAMPER (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, Reverse)  
• SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats)  
• SWOB (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Barriers) 
• PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting) 
• Waterfall questions (focuses on developing projects through sequential tasks) 
• “What if” questions 
• Ryan’s Thinkers Keys (a range of questions presented as keys to unlock analytical, critical, and creative thinking abilities) 
• Evaluating dice – with key questions 
• Question box – with key questions (colour coded for different levels) 

Also see Bloom’s Taxonomy. 

Exploring contexts and issues. 

Provide students with a variety of scenarios (contexts) which they can critically evaluate to identify issues that allow for the undertaking of technological practice to derive a feasible outcome. Students undertake feasibility studies on the issue(s) and the likely technological practice that is required to resolve the issue(s). 

Identify a need or opportunity relevant to their selected issue. 

Expand on examples listed in Level 6. 

Establish a conceptual statement that justifies 

the nature of the outcome and why such an outcome should be developed with reference to the issue it is addressing. 

Literacy development – using linking words to provide justifications. 

• Encourage students to use linking language, such as as a result of, because, therefore. 

Students – and/or practising technologists – critically analyse each other’s (student) developed conceptual statements to ensure that it is robust and can be justified. 

• How will the conceptual statement allow the issue to be addressed? 

Establish the specifications for an outcome using stakeholder feedback, and based on the nature of the outcome required to address the need or opportunity, consideration of the environment in which the outcome will be situated, and resources available. 

Strategies for eliciting stakeholder feedback. 

Students explore the advantages and limitations of strategies to obtain feedback from key and wider community stakeholders. 

For example: 

• surveys 
• email, social networking sites 
• interview – face-to-face, phone, Skype 

Specification checklist. 

Do the specifications consider: 

• stakeholder feedback 
• the nature of the outcome 
• the need/opportunity 
• the environment where the technological outcome will be developed 
• the environment where the technological outcome will be placed 
• the resources required to develop a technological outcome and demonstrate its fitness for purpose? 

Communicate specifications that allow an outcome to be evaluated as fit for purpose. 

Students in pairs clarifying their specifications. 

• Are the specifications explicit enough to be used to evaluate the fitness for purpose of a developed outcome? 

Justify the specifications in terms of stakeholder feedback, and the nature of the outcome required to address the need or opportunity, consideration of the environment in which the outcome will be situated, and resources available. 

Literacy development. Use linking words to provide justifications. 

Encourage students to use linking language, such as, as a result of, because, therefore. henceforth, consequently. 

Another student – and/or practising technologist – critically analyses a student’s specifications to verify if they can be justified and enable a technological outcome to be determined as fit for purpose. 

Focus on answering questions, such as: 

• How do the specifications address the need or opportunity? 
• Has the student's specifications considered stakeholder feedback? 
• Has the environment where the outcome will be developed been considered? 
• Has the outcome’s intended environment been considered? 
• Do the specifications consider available resources? 

Identify and evaluate a range of contexts to select an authentic issue. 

Analyse previous students’ technological practice / case studies to identify the critical evaluation that occurred to determine a suitable context and issue to undertake technological practice. 

Questions that could be answered by students include: 

• What implications did the selected context impose on the technological practice undertaken to develop the technological outcome? Who initiated these and who (stakeholders) were the beneficiaries/losers? 
• What consequences resulted due to implementing the technological outcome? 
• What was prioritised in developing and implementing the outcome? 

Use of compare and contrast templates, such as a Venn Diagram. 

Exercises in comparing and contrasting such things as: 

• contexts 
• technological outcome  
• technological practice undertaken and specific parts of practice, such as stakeholder interactions, technological modelling, planning techniques, and so on. 

Identify suitable clients from possible issues. 

Provide scenarios of potential client issues and ask students to critically evaluate clients and issues to determine their suitability for engagement. Justifications are required to support their inclusion or rejection as potential clients. 

Developing questions to determine client suitability. 

The class brainstorms to identify questions that will elicit information that will determine if a client is potentially suitable.  

For example: 

• Is the client providing an opportunity to undertake technological practice to resolve an issue? 
• Can a technological outcome be realised within the time constraints and using the available resources? 

Identify a need or opportunity relevant to their selected issue. 

Relevance of need/opportunity to the issue. 

Students present their need/opportunities to the class. 

Class critiques the need/opportunities relevance to the selected issue. 

Establish a conceptual statement that justifies the nature of the outcome and why such an outcome should be developed with reference to the issue being addressed and the wider context. 

Expand on examples listed in Level 7. 

What is the wider context? 

A wider context is … 

Establish the specifications for an outcome and its development using stakeholder feedback and based on the nature of the outcome required to address the need or opportunity, consideration of the environment in which the outcome will be situated, and resources available. 

Expand on examples listed in Level 7. 

Communicate specifications that allow an outcome to be evaluated as fit for purpose in the broadest sense. 

Students critique a range of practising technologist briefs. 

Students critically analyse the technological practice undertaken by a range of practising technologists to develop a brief, to identify if their specifications are robust and allow a developed technological outcome to be evaluated as "fit for purpose". 

Select a range of technologists, for example, an architect, a product designer, a graphic designer, an engineer, a food technologist. 

Justify the specifications as based on stakeholder feedback and the nature of the outcome required to address the need or opportunity, consideration of the environment in which the outcome will be situated, and resources available. 

Expand on examples listed in Level 7.