The Technology Department at Tauranga Intermediate School is in the process of integrating the new national Curriculum Document into its year 7 and 8 programmes. We have 4 technology environments within the department, Hard Materials, Electronics, Food technology and Materials Technology. At year 7 the students have 5 lessons in Food technology, Materials technology and 10 in the integrated environment of Hard materials and Electronics. In year 8 the students do a term of 10 lessons of Hard Materials and either Food or Materials technology.
The school is an innovator in its approach to technology and offers extension classes that are linked to national competitions for example Co2 Cars, the National Young Designer Awards YDA, Fuel for Schools and our students are winners in all those areas.
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At present we are part of a two year national technology project and Tauranga Intermediate School’s participation can be found on the Techlink website which is the national website for Technology Education in New Zealand.
HOD Technology Raina Urwin (Food), Jo Young (Soft Materials), Phil Appelman (Electronics/Hard Materials), and Warren MacDonald (Electronics/Hard Materials) will be considering assessment, sharing of ideas, and student progression as part of their two-year Technology programme. The team will also work on creating a working relationship with their local secondary schools. Some of Jo's Year 8 work can be seen in the Student Showcase and Teaching Snapshot sections, see the Tennis outfit showcase and the Young Designer teaching snapshot. The next case study from Tauranga Intermediate will be based on our relationship with our local Contemporary Maori Artist Shane Warbrick who has acted as a mentor in our department.
Resource Development and Facilitation: Years 7-10 Technology Project
This two-year project (2009-2010) is a GIF–Technology Education Initiative that aims to build teacher capability and quality resources in Years 7-10 Technology education, when all students are engaged with Technology learning as part of their compulsory education.
Six schools, in Auckland and Tauranga, were selected to participate in the North Island stage of the project:
* Remuera Intermediate School
* Rosehill Intermediate School
* Takapuna Normal Intermediate School
* Tauranga Intermediate School
* Otumoetai College
* Dilworth School
The stated aims of the project are to:
* develop resources that support the delivery of Technology programmes for Years 7-10
* explore and implement successful strategies for developing Technology programmes for Years 7-10
* support development of Technology programmes that are 'progressive and sequential' in the critical transitional stage of Years 7-8, to address weaknesses identified in the ERO (Education Review Office) report on Technology 2005 under 'Recommendations for Improvement'
* develop examples of progression in learning for the transition years, Years 6-7 and Years 8-9
Teachers accepted into the project are each funded for five teacher-release days and provided with support from the facilitator and in-school professional development to help them develop their Technology programmes, and has created a professional development action plan to help them develop their Technology programmes so that they align to The New Zealand Curriculum (2007).
Selena Hinchco was appointed as the full-time facilitator for this two-year project (2009-2010) and is based at Remuera Intermediate. Her role is to support selected teachers to maximise the opportunities from their Technology programmes and to develop quality resources that will benefit all teachers of Technology when they are published on Techlink.
