Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2013

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ENGINEERING BY DESIGN

ARTICLE

MS EMMA JONES, TECHNOLOGY STUDIES FACULTY

AUTHOR

AS THE SCHOOL MAKES preparations for a new and exciting phase of our history with the introduction of Year 7 in 2015, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has initiated a new Technologies Curriculum, which is scheduled to commence around the same time. The draft curriculum entitles students to study two strands of technology in Year 7 and Year 8 — digital and design. In Year 9 and Year 10 students also have the option to choose one or two of these technologies.

words are used in technological contexts and how this style of language can be used to manipulate meanings. In Term I the focus of the ID curriculum has been on practical application of engineering drawing standards and techniques. Using industrial engineering style design briefs, students prepare accurate, annotated engineering drawings and generate engineering project analysis reports and specifications (ACARA, 2013, p. 12.)

Drawing further from the draft curriculum for Technologies from ACARA, we need to provide

Design and technology students need to possess fundamental skills to critically evaluate existing design ideas for real-world solutions.

opportunities for students to learn how to operate specific software tools and digital hardware to assist them in realising their ideas. The ID programme actively encourages this through the use of 3DLEs to create innovative design ideas that meet a need through the use of computer simulations (ACARA, 2013, p. 14). The students use manual and digital technologies to generate and clarify ideas through the synthesis of annotated conceptual sketching and the generation of orthogonal and isometric scaled drawings and prototypes. The new draft curriculum also encourages teachers to provide opportunities for students to investigate design and technology professions and futures. ID as a subject is intrinsically linked with digital technologies, core design skills, architectural design principles and engineering fundamentals. This year will see students meeting architects and engineers, through our links with The University of Queensland, and visiting professionals from associated industries to discuss real-world applications for their design innovations.

Linking in with current developments of the ACARA draft Technologies curriculum, the Technology Studies Faculty initiated a review of the Year 9 Innovative Design (ID) course of study. ID is a core subject that Year 9 girls attend twice per fortnight. Over the last five years the ID learning objectives have primarily focused on the development of girls’ 3D spatial learning and awareness. The overarching goal of the subject is to enable students to explore space and form in a 3D Learning Environment, or 3DLE (Kapp & O’Driscoll, 2010), through the design and development of scaled architectural models. Design and technology students need to possess fundamental skills to critically evaluate existing design ideas for real-world solutions. In order to prepare our girls for this, we need to first equip them with the necessary visual and technical language. This gives them the knowledge and understanding to recognise how and why

REFERENCES Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).(2013, February). Draft Australian curriculum: Technologies . Retrieved from http:// www.acara.edu.au/technologies.html

Kapp, K. M. & O’Driscoll, T. (2010). Learning in 3D . San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

AUTUMN ISSUE / 2013