Clarification details
Updated November 2015. This document has been updated in its entirety to address new issues that have arisen from moderation.
General Notes
This standard requires students to research and synthesise information to create a report or presentation that demonstrates their understanding of the application of a technical area within a field of technology. Students will explain how technical ideas have underpinned past, contemporary, and possible future developments in diverse fields of technology.
Students should select a technical area where the scope and application is not too broad or difficult, thus enabling the technical ideas that have led to the development of these areas and their changes over time to be explored.
Explanatory Note 3 suggests that suitable technical areas could include Artificial Intelligence, nanotechnologies, smart materials, cryptographic algorithms, Computer Numerical Control, functional foods, laser technologies, modern materials, virtual modelling and robotics.
Explanatory Note 4 suggests the technical area must be applied to a specific field (for example, medicine, sport, communications, entertainment, food production, urban planning, gambling and military).
Teachers and students may decide to study technical areas and specific fields that are not included in Explanatory Notes 3 and 4.
Presentation of Evidence
The students may present their report in any appropriate format and medium, by advance agreement with the teacher. For example, they could present it as a slideshow, a display board, a written report, or a portfolio.
Creating a report or other means of presenting information (for example, video, oral, written report, poster, slide show) is an individual activity, but students may investigate the selected field and technical area either independently, with a partner, or in a group.