Characteristics of effective units in S&T

It is through the design of effective units of work that students are provided with opportunities to develop positive attitudes towards Science and Technology, and the knowledge and skills required by the syllabus.

The following principles need to be reflected when planning units of work in Science & Technology.

Learning processes are essential in every unit of work

Every unit of work should:

• involve students in investigating and designing and making, and
• demonstrate the relationship between the processes.

Aspects of using technology will also be explored in every unit of work.

Selecting content strands

Most topics developed will present opportunities to address outcomes from more than one, usually two, of the content strands.

Explicit teaching is important

It is recognised that the explicit teaching of process skills is a necessary part of Science and Technology. Whilst each unit will include opportunities to develop skills and understanding in each of the learning processes, there will be times when one aspect of a process is emphasised.

For example, during a design and make task to develop a system for managing reusable items in the classroom, the teacher implemented focused lessons on the creation of flow charts (by hand and using computer software) as a way of representing design ideas. The unit still involved generating ideas and producing the system, without as much explicit teaching.

Units should demonstrate diversity of activity

Every time a unit of work is implemented, it should result in a different experience for both students and the teacher.
It may be modified to suit the very particular needs or interests of students in the class, or the unique environment (location, time of year, group of people) that the class enjoys.

Across the range of units undertaken by any one class, there should be a variety of ways of starting the unit, different types of products created and different methods of investigation used.

Refer to selecting content for more ideas on how to make a varied and balanced program.

Literacy in SciTech

Many opportunities exist to develop and practise literacy skills as a natural part of S&T activities.

It is important to highlight and address the literacy demands of the KLA, as well as capitalising on opportunities to practise a variety of text types and information skills.

These demands include:

• learning the language of investigating, designing and making and using technology
• learning the terminology associated with each of the content strands
• learning the language of learning in S&T. This metalanguage allows students to talk about and reflect on what they are doing and learning.
• analysing and constructing the unique texts of science
• analysing and constructing the unique texts of technology.

Students are never too young to learn and use the appropriate terminology of Science & Technology.

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