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AOs/LOs by level

Technological practice (TP)

6-1 | 6-2 | 6-3

7-1 | 7-2 | 7-3

8-1 | 8-2 | 8-3

Technological knowledge (TK)

6-1 | 6-2 | 6-3

7-1 | 7-2 | 7-3

8-1 | 8-2 | 8-3

Nature of technology (NT)

6-1 | 6-2

7-1 | 7-2

8-1 | 8-2

Design in technology (DET)

6-1 | 6-2

7-1 | 7-2

8-1/2

Manufacturing (MFG)

6-1 | 6-2

7-1 | 7-2

8-1/2

Technical areas (TCA)

8-1 

Construction and mechanical technologies (CMT)

6-1 | 6-2 | 6-3 | 6-4

6-5 | 6-6 | 6-7

7-1 |  7-2 |  7-3 |  7-4

7-5 |  7-6 |  7-7

8-1 | 8-2 | 8-3 | 8-4

8-5 | 8-6 | 8-7

Design and visual communication (DVC)

6-1 | 6-2 | 6-3

7-1 | 7-2 | 7-3

8-1 | 8-2 | 8-3

Digital technologies (DTG)

6-1 | 6-2 | 6-3 | 6-4

6-5 | 6-6 | 6-7 | 6-8

6-9 | 6-10 | 6-11 | 6-12

7-1 |  7-2 |  7-3 |  7-4

7-5 |  7-6 |  7-7 |  7-8

7-9 |  7-10 |  7-11 |  7-12

8-1 | 8-2 | 8-3 | 8-4

8-5 |  8-6/7 | 8-8 | 8-9

8-10 |  8-11 | 8-12

Processing technologies (PRT)

6-1 | 6-2 | 6-3

7-1 | 7-2 | 7-3

8-1/2 | 8-3

Technological systems TK 8-3

Technological systems are a set of interconnected components that serve to transform, store, transport, or control materials, energy, and/or information. These systems exist as the result of human design.

Achievement objective: TK 8-3

Students will:

  • understand operational parameters and their role in the design, development, and maintenance of technological systems.

Indicators

  • Explains what operational parameters are in relation to technological systems.
  • Explains the operational parameters established for particular technological systems and explain the factors that influenced these.
  • Discusses examples of technological systems to illustrate how operational parameters impacted on system design, development and maintenance.
  • Discusses examples of simple, complex, and highly complex technological systems to illustrate the demands that increasing complexity in system design requires in terms of establishing operational parameters.

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Progression

At Level 8, students will be dealing with complex and highly complex technological systems, and they need to understand operational parameters.

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Teacher guidance

To support students to develop understanding of technological systems at level 8, teachers could support students to:

  • understand what operational parameters are and the role they play in the design, development, and maintenance of technological systems. Operational parameters refer to the boundaries and/or conditions within which the system has been designed to function and are influenced by a number of factors associated with the technical feasibility and social acceptability of the system
  • identify and differentiate highly complex systems. Highly complex systems include self-regulatory and intelligent systems. Self regulatory systems are those that have been designed to adjust the functioning of transformation processes in response to feedback from any part of the system to produce desirable and known outputs. Intelligent systems have been designed to adapt to environmental inputs in ways that change the nature of the system components and/or transformation processes in known and unknown ways to produce desirable but unspecified outputs
  • identify and analyse a range of technological systems including simple, complex, and highly complex technological systems
  • use examples to gain insight into underpinning operational parameters and how these have impacted on and been influenced by system design, development, and maintenance decisions. Examples should include system design, development, and maintenance practices of technologists.

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Contexts for teaching and learning

  • Support students to identify and analyse a range of technological systems including complex, and highly complex systems (self-regulatory and intelligent systems). This may involve a mixture of case study material, guest speakers, practical work, and directed and independent research.
  • Ensure students know how to write a report, and what evidence needs to be included in the report.
  • Ensure students understand the difference between a technological system and any other type of system such as a biological system, a social system, or a system (process) of production.
  • AS91614 Explanatory note 3 defines a complex system (changes inputs to outputs through more than one transformational process).
  • AS91614 Explanatory note 4 defines a highly complex system (highly complex systems include self-regulatory and intelligent technological systems). 
  • Self-regulatory systems and intelligent systems are not defined in the standard but the curriculum support material provides definitions:
    • Self-regulatory systems are those that have been designed to adjust the functioning of transformation processes in response to feedback from any part of the system to produce desirable and known outputs. Examples of self-regulatory technological systems include an automated greenhouse or electronic stability control in a car.
    • Intelligent systems have been designed to adapt to environmental inputs in ways that change the nature of the system components and/or transformation processes in known and unknown ways to produce desirable but unspecified outputs. Examples of intelligent technological systems include Deep Blue (the computer that beat a chess grand master), or adaptive robots.
    • Operational parameters are not defined in the standard but again the curriculum support material provides a useful definition. Operational parameters refer to the boundaries and/or conditions within which the system has been designed to function and are influenced by a number of factors associated with the technical feasibility and social acceptability of the system. Examples of operational parameters may be the temperature range within which the system can operate, or a maximum speed at which a system will function correctly.
  • AS91614 Explanatory note 5 makes it clear that factors that influence operational parameters are those associated with both the technical feasibility and the social acceptability of the technological system. Factors influencing operational parameters that are associated with the technical feasibility of the technological system may include such things as the way weather conditions affect the audibility of sirens in a Tsunami warning system. Factors influencing operational parameters that are associated with the social acceptability of the technological system may include such things as the likelihood of injury when an airbag inflates in a SRS (Supplemental Restraint System) airbag system in a car, or the siren volume and/or duration in a house alarm system.

Literacy considerations

Support students to understand what operational parameters are and the role they play in the design, development, and maintenance of technological systems.

Resources to support student achievement

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Assessment for qualifications

The following achievement standard could assess learning outcomes from this achievement objective:

  • AS91614 Generic technology 3.7 Demonstrate understanding of operational parameters in complex and highly complex technological systems

Key messages from the standard

Ensure students know how to write a report that meets the requirements as set out in the assessment specifications and covers everything asked for in the standard. For example some criteria list multiple requirements such as "address factors concerned with the system’s operation and maintenance in situ". So operation and maintenance both need to be covered, but furthermore when looking at the explanatory notes it is apparent the factors need to cover both technical feasibility and social acceptability.

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Last updated October 16, 2020

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