Materials and Processing Technology webcasts

Kia ora and welcome.

This webcast is intended to provide guidance and advice on the requirements for the Level 1 Materials and Processing Technology standard 92013.

Specifically, this webcast will unpack the requirements to ‘explore’ and ‘investigate’ the performance properties of different materials.
Let's have a look at what the standard requires.

To Achieve, students will physically explore the properties of more than one material using the experimental methods in Explanatory Note 3 of the standard.

For Merit and above, students will investigate the properties of different materials through ongoing experimentation using methods of transforming, combining, manipulating or forming.

The expressions ‘explore’ and ‘investigate’ relate to the depth of the experimentation.

The standard does require that 2 or more materials must be used to explore or discover 2 or more performance properties.

So what would exploration look like? 

The student has physically transformed, combined, manipulated and/or formed the materials, observed the way the materials perform and then made a decision on which material to select for their purposeful outcome.

The experiment is likely a single test or trial.

So what is the distinction between exploration and investigation?

A key to this criterion is continuous experimentation with materials to understand more about their performance properties.

The exploration has to be more than one time study, and must show evidence of an iterative cycle of experimentation, analysis and refinement. This means that the student’s understanding of material performance properties is strengthened or deepened as they undertake further physical experiments using, again, the methods from Explanatory Note 3.

So what is not considered evidence of exploration or investigation?

• While research can support experiments, evidence must demonstrate physical, hands-on experimentation.
• Although students may use simulations to experiment with different materials, this alone does not qualify as exploration or investigation.
• Experiments that do not use the methods from Explanatory Note 3 are not considered exploration or investigation.
• Evidence where the student has used the methods from Explanatory Note 3, but not observed performance properties, will not attain the standard.
• Remember, the intent of the standard is for students to deeply explore and make deliberate choices regarding the selection of performance properties and materials. Unrelated multiple experiments do not count as investigation.

For more explanation and examples of what is required for this aspect, see the Materials and Processing Technology National Moderator Report and exemplars on the NZQA website.  

There are also annotated samples of student evidence on the Assessor Practice Tool for 92013. These show the different ways in which this aspect can be met.

Further assessor support for the internal Achievement Standards in Materials and Processing Technology can be found on our assessor support catalogue available on the NZQA website.  

Thank you.  

Kia ora and welcome. This webcast is intended to provide guidance and advice on the requirements for Level 1 Materials and Processing Technology standard 92013.

Specifically, this webcast will unpack Explanatory Note 3.

The title of the standard is, "Experiment with different materials to develop a Materials and Processing Technology outcome."

Explanatory Note 3 of the standard refers to experimentation as ‘trying out new ideas or methods for the purpose of discovery.’ To attain the standard, the actions or methods of transforming, combining, manipulating, or forming materials must be seen in the evidence.

One or more of these actions or methods are required.

Let's unpack the actions and methods listed in Explanatory Note 3.

Transforming involves experimenting with materials in ways that change their physical structure without changing their chemical composition.

Combining materials refers to incorporating at least one material with another during experimentation. Two or more materials would be united, connected, or linked, and therefore used together.

Manipulating involves experimenting with materials in ways that do not change their composition and structure. Manipulative methods are the actions most commonly seen when developing technological products.

Forming requires experiments with different materials to create an entirely new material, one that has a different chemical composition or structure.

Assessors must remember that the purpose of the experiments is to explore the performance properties of different materials.

When addressing Explanatory Note 3, it is worth considering that the exploration of performance properties must involve physical experiments, but not all hands-on experiments fit in the categories of Explanatory Note 3.

For example, burning or stretching a fabric, breaking or hitting timber, washing, soaking, or weathering materials.
These actions on their own will likely verify material performance properties, but if an experiment cannot be categorized as transforming, combining, manipulating, or forming, it does not contribute to meeting the standard.

Also remember that research and/or simulations that explore performance properties do not on their own contribute to attainment of the standard. And lastly, it's essential that the evidence gathered from the experiments does not focus on the students’ selection and use of equipment and tools. The standard's intention is not to emphasise these aspects. Instead, the focus should be on exploring ideas or methods to understand how a material performs when transformed, combined, manipulated, or formed.

Techniques, tools, and equipment are simply means to facilitate these discoveries.

For additional explanation and examples of what is required for this aspect of the standard, see the exemplars and the National Moderator Report on the Materials and Processing Technology subject page on the NZQA website.

Further assessor support for this Level 1 Materials and Processing Technology internal Achievement Standard is also available on Pūtake, NZQA's learning management system.

Thank you.