Knowledge of Design

To support students to develop understandings about the basic concepts in design at level 6, teachers could do the following.

Guide students to recognise "design" is both as a verb and a noun.

Provide opportunity for students to explore or debate different definitions of "design" in order to understand what design is.

Provide opportunity for students to explore how designing pulls together subjective and objective considerations to take human ideas into "made" outcomes.

Subjective considerations
are those linked to aesthetics (the nature of beauty as understood through the  senses or sensibilities).

 Objective considerations are those that can be established in a quantifiable sense.

Provide opportunity for students to explore differing opinions about the value of particular designs and to understand how these arise due to variations in how subjective and objective considerations are prioritised.

Guide students to understand that designs can be evaluated as "good" or "bad" in terms of how they bring together form, function, cost, and contextual understandings.

To support students to develop understandings about the advanced concepts in design at level 7, teachers could do the following.

Provide opportunity for students to understand what "designing for lifecycle" means and what additional considerations are required when designing for lifecycle (for example, those related to accessing materials or ongoing maintenance and disposal).

Provide opportunity for students to explore implications of additional considerations on how any design can be judged as "good" or "bad".

Provide opportunity for students to debate the nature of innovative designing.

Guide students to determine the types of things that can inspire innovative ideas through analysing historical and contemporary innovations to identify inspirational drivers such as previous designs (within a similar and dissimilar range of outcomes), art, nature, literature, attitudes, needs, desires, constraints, opportunities.

Guide students to determine aspects that support innovative designing. For example, acceptance of risk-taking, collaboration, freedom to explore diverse design ideas, appropriate resourcing, opportunity for free and frank debate, application of "feasibility filters" – timing and "depth".

To support students to develop understandings about the complex concepts in design at level 8, teachers could do the following.

Provide opportunity for students to explore innovative designing for sustainable futures.

Guide students to examine a range of models of design as recognised by design professionals and organisations.

Provide opportunity for students to develop a contemporary understanding of the "principles of good design".

Provide students with an opportunity to debate possible and probable future scenarios, the reliability of projections based on uncertainty, and the role of design principles in responding to uncertainty and the mitigation of risk.

Provide opportunity for students to apply the principles of good design to make informed judgements about the quality of a design.

Provide opportunity for students to debate how the principles of good design may have impacted on the design decision-making undertaken during the development of a variety of technological outcomes.

AS91053 Generic Technology 1.10

Demonstrate understanding of design elements

Standards & Assessment

AS91363 Generic Technology 2.10

Demonstrate understanding of sustainability in design

Standards & Assessment

AS91617 Generic Technology 3.10

Demonstrate understanding of sustainability in design

Standards & Assessment (draft)