Teaching strategies: Engaging with technological products
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Steve Andrew and his colleagues create learning communities full of curiosity and exploration. They have their students captivated and having fun learning about materials through hands-on experiences.
This is just the approach that the teacher guidance for the technology curriculum suggests to develop understanding of technological products: See Technological products, level 1.
The videos in this section share the way conceptual understandings, hands-on experiences, and the students own technological practice are linked within technology teaching and learning at St John's College.
Combining knowledge and practice
In this video Steve Andrew describes how focusing on technological products gives depth to technology teaching and learning at St John's.
Linking hands-on experiences and understandings
Terry Mitchell, Steve Andrew, and their students show how making whistles from aluminium and from plastic provides a great context for discussing the properties of materials.
Play, experiment, explore
Steve Andrew shares how and why he has the students see, feel, and play with products to develop their understandings in materials.
Finding materials to meet the specs
Steve Andrews shares how students identify material specifications in a brief and then test materials to find those that are suitable.
School–industry relationship cuts both ways
Steve Andrew and Terry Rillstone describe the way the relationship between St John's College and The Shop has benefits for them both.
Pushing the boundaries with materials
Steve Andrews describes how his senior students have the confidence to select and work with unfamiliar materials.
Exploring unfamiliar materials
Two year 12 students describe what they know about bamboo and how they are applying this knowledge to their projects.