Technology+vocabulary

back to Vocabulary builders Glossary of achievement objectives vocabulary

Technology Glossary

- from old curriculum



In the **Technological Practice** strand, students examine the practice of others and undertake their own. They develop a range of outcomes, including concepts, plans, briefs, technological models, and fully realised products or systems. Students investigate issues and existing outcomes and use the understandings gained, together with design principles and approaches, to inform their own practice. They also learn to consider ethics, legal requirements, protocols, codes of practice, and the needs of and potential impacts on stakeholders and the environment. Through the **Technological Knowledge** strand, students develop knowledge particular to technological enterprises and environments and understandings of how and why things work. Students learn how functional modelling is used to evaluate design ideas and how 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 in the way they do. Through the **Nature of Technology** strand, students develop an understanding of technology as a discipline and of how it differs from other disciplines. They learn to critique the impact of technology on societies and the environment and to explore how developments and outcomes are valued by different peoples in different times. As they do so, they come to appreciate the socially embedded nature of technology and become increasingly able to engage with current and historical issues and to explore future scenarios.

Activities in technology education should allow students to develop, enhance or explore a range of components of technology, including: = = == adaptation**: the process of adjusting or altering to fit new conditions or purposes
 * The Characteristics of Technology – to understand technology as a purposeful intervention-by-design human activity with the potential to enhance the capability of humans to transform materials, energy and information.
 * The Characteristics of Technological Outcomes - to understand such outcomes as material products and systems developed through technological practice to be fit for purpose.
 * Technological Modelling – to understand the purpose and methods of functional modelling for the ongoing evaluation of design concepts for yet-to-be-realised technological outcomes and prototyping for the evaluation of the fitness for purpose of the technological outcome itself.
 * Technological Products – to understand the relationship between the properties of materials and their performance capability in the development of technological products and the concepts underpinning material evaluation, formulation and disposal.
 * Technological Systems – to understand the interconnected parts (technological products and processes) that serve to transform, store, transport or control materials, energy and/or information and the concepts underpinning systems development and maintenance.
 * Brief Development – to develop practices that allow for the defining of a desired outcome to meet a need or realise an opportunity and therefore provide purpose and guidance for technological practice.
 * Planning for Practice – to develop effective and efficient organising practices and therefore support successful technological practice.
 * Outcome Development and Evaluation – to develop idea generation, trialling and production practices that lead to 'fit for purpose' outcomes from technological practice.
 * Glossary
 * aesthetics**: concerned with the qualities of appearance; visual appeal; good taste; beauty
 * biotechnology**: the technique of using living materials or systems, including micro-organisms, to perform chemical processing, such as waste recycling, or to produce other materials, such as cheese or antibiotics; also the process of using genetic techniques to modify organisms
 * circuit**: a complete route or path through which a current or communication channel can flow; the apparatus through which current passes
 * context**: conditions or situations which precede or follow an event and help fix its meaning and give it coherence
 * cost-effectiveness**: the provision of effective benefit in relation to the cost involved
 * critical path**: sequence of stages, marking transition points, and determining the time needed for a project
 * design**: preliminary conception or plan; development of specifications necessary to execute plans
 * electronics**: the branch of technology concerned with the development and application of circuits or systems using electron devices, including magnetic amplifiers, transistors
 * efficiency**: the ratio of useful work achieved to the amount of effort and resources used
 * environment**: all external conditions and influences affecting the life or development of a person or organism
 * ergonomics**: the study of the relationship between people and their environment, especially the equipment they use
 * feedback**: information gained as a result of tests
 * graphics**: the process or art of drawing in accordance with mathematical rules; design and decoration involving typography
 * interconnectivity**: capacity to connect components or systems; having reciprocal links
 * model**: a representation, often on a small scale, of a proposed structure; simplified description or plan of a system or design to assist calculations and predictions
 * modification**: a partial alteration to a structure or system, usually to make it more efficient, without changing its essential character
 * modularisation**: the development of standardised parts or independent units for assembly especially within construction, manufacturing, or electronic systems
 * needs**: requirements; conditions or circumstances motivating some course of action
 * opportunities**: favourable circumstances for action; good chances for achieving an end or purpose
 * optimisation**: gaining the best or most favourable outcome
 * process**: a series of actions, taking place in a planned manner, that produce a change or development, especially a series of regular operations in manufacture
 * process industry**: an industry based on the processing of fluid or bulk resources into other products. Examples are the chemical and petrochemical industries.
 * product**: an object, plan, or service produced by effort, natural process, manufacture, or operation; a result or consequence
 * production**: a term generally associated with manufacturing, where materials are shaped and assembled according to a systematic plan
 * promotion**: the action taken to communicate with, inform, and gain support from a client or consumer
 * reflection**: reconsideration; the action of turning or fixing thoughts on some subject; an act of concentrated thinking
 * reliability**: probability that a system will not fail
 * resources**: a supply or source of support; stock that can be drawn on; inventiveness; ingenuity
 * robot**: an automated machine that can be programmed to perform a variety of specific mechanical functions
 * robotics**: the technology of designing, building, controlling, and using robots (q.v.)
 * robust**: the ability of a system to work under changing conditions
 * specification**: an organised, detailed description of the criteria for construction, appearance, performance and so on, in relation to some projected work or construction
 * system**: a set of things or parts connected, associated, or interdependent so as to form a complete unity; a whole composed of parts in an orderly arrangement according to some plan

Attributes and Specifications ** Attributes are descriptive aspects of the physical and functional nature of a technological outcome. Specifications define the requirements of the physical and functional nature of the outcome in a way that is measurable. ** For example, an attribute may refer to the outcome being small enough to be comfortably held, whereas the specification would give the precise measurement in terms of length,width and depth.
 * Glossary of achievement objectives vocabulary **

Brief ** A brief is developed to clearly describe a desired outcome that would meet a need or ** realise an opportunity. It is comprised of a conceptual statement that communicates what is to be done and why, and a set of specifications that define the requirements of the outcome in terms of its physical and functional nature Context **'Context' in technology education has been used to refer to the overall focus of a ** technological development or of a technological learning experience. When talking about the context of a technological development, the term refers to the wider physical and social environment within which the development occurs. Conceptual design ** Where it is not feasible to present a full model of some or all of the technological solution, ** e.g. in the case of a technological solution that requires ongoing production and it is not practical to construct a prototype, the conceptual design is presented. This is a description of how the solution would be implemented using presentation techniques such as scaled plans or drawings, scale models, computer simulations, written descriptions, lists of components and assembly instructions.

Fitness for purpose ** 'Fitness for purpose' is commonly used to judge the ability of an outcome to serve its purpose in 'doing the job' within the intended location, where the 'job to be done' is clearly defined by the brief. Referring to 'fitness for purpose' in its broadest sense within technology education, correlates to an extension of this usage to include the determination of the 'fitness' of the practices involved in the development of the outcome, ** as well as the 'fitness' of the outcome itself, for the identified purpose. Extending the concept in this way is an attempt to locate both the concept and its application within a sociocultural understanding of the nature of technological practice whereby the performance of outcome is but one of the factors that justifies a positive ‘fitness for purpose' judgment. When 'fitness for purpose' is described as being ‘in its broadest sense’, the concept is extended to include the determination of the 'fitness' of the practices involved in the development of the outcome - including such things as the sustainability of resources used, treatment of people involved in manufacture, ethical nature of testing practices, cultural appropriateness of trialing procedures, determination of lifecycle and ultimate disposal, etc - as well as the 'fitness' of the actual outcome itself Gantt chart ** The Gantt chart (named after American engineer Henry Lawrence Gantt) is a useful project management tool. It is a bar chart which shows the start/finish dates of the project when particular tasks or activities need to be undertaken, and (may incorporate) the resources required for them. ** Issue ** An issue in technology refers to a specific subset of the context that will allow students to identify a need or opportunity. ** Key Stakeholders **Key stakeholders are those people that are directly impacted on by the development practices and the resulting outcome. Wider community stakeholders are those people and social groupings that are less directly impacted on or influenced by the development practices and the resulting outcome. ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Malfunction **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> A malfunction occurs when the outcome does not operate as intended. ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Mockup **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> A mockup is a physical representation of an idea (part of an intended solution) that is used to test/predict its feasibility. ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Model **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> A model is a physical representation of a technological solution (sometimes scaled) that enables a solution's feasibility to be tested/predicted. ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Need or Opportunity **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> A need in technology refers to an identified requirement of a person, group or environment. A need is identified from an issue, and sits within a context. Technological practice can be undertaken in an attempt to meet an identified need. ** For example:  The need in Meeting Seating was to develop a seat appropriate for a school garden where students could meet for discussions An opportunity in technology refers to an identified possibility for a person, group or environment. An opportunity is identified from an issue, and sits within a context. Technological practice can be undertaken in an attempt to realise an identified opportunity. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Plan of action **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Sets out how resources such as time, expertise, materials and finance will be used in a coherent and systematic manner during the development of a technological solution. It establishes key milestone outcomes (intermediate project accomplishment points which are usually also key decision points), and states how each of the resources is to be used to achieve the outcome at each milestone stage. It also establishes how consultation with stakeholders and resource people (e.g. experts) will be carried out to ensure that all constraints and requirements are met. ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Stakeholders **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Stakeholders are any individuals or groups who have a vested interest in the technological development or technological outcome. Key Stakeholders are those people that are directly influential or will be directly impacted on by the Technological Practice itself and/or its resulting outcomes (including the technological outcome and any other by-products). Wider community stakeholders are those people that are less directly influential for or impacted on by the practice or outcome. They can, nonetheless, be identified as having some level of influence, often through others, and/or they may be affected by the project or its outcome in the future.