Links with Other Essential Learning Areas

Throughout technology education, students will be drawing on knowledge and skills developed in other areas of the curriculum, and from other sources. In turn, technological activities contribute to the development of learning in other essential areas by providing practical and authentic contexts in which the knowledge and skills can be used.

Language and Languages

Learning experiences in technology require students to investigate needs, communicate ideas, and present solutions. They will be engaged in using oral, written, and visual language and in responding to the ideas of others. For example, students will use:

• oral language, when interviewing, listening, and responding to the ideas of others, and when expressing their own ideas concisely and accurately;
• visual and written language, when developing and demonstrating technological ideas, interpreting models, and presenting information graphically;
• written language, when preparing briefs, interpreting specifications, and presenting proposals and evaluations.

Mathematics

Technological activities draw on many areas of mathematical concepts and skills, as students undertake investigations, organise and use resources, and plan strategies. For example, students will be:

• surveying, graphing, and describing trends;
• collating and interpreting statistical information;
• estimating, measuring, and calculating quantities, time, and costs.

Science

Science helps people to investigate products and processes systematically, to record and test observations, and to test some of the ideas on which technological solutions may be based. For example, students will be:

• observing and identifying principles, generalising, and providing accurate evidence;
• including scientific knowledge and skills in the design of functional solutions;
• identifying relationships between science and technological innovations.

Teachers should note that Science in the New Zealand Curriculum, Ministry of Education, 1993, includes a strand, "Making Sense of Science and its Relationship to Technology".

Social Sciences

Technology education contributes to, and draws on, students' understandings of their own society and those of others in the past, present, and possible future. Students will be challenged to understand many aspects of human behaviour, including the ways decisions
are made in different societies. They will be helped to understand their responsibilities as members of a family and be empowered to take part in society as an informed citizen. Economic and environmental considerations are important in planning technological solutions to needs and opportunities. For example, students will be:

• exploring how technologists work in a variety of settings;
• managing time and resources to achieve an outcome that meets identified needs;
• understanding the cultural factors, values, and social structures that influence decisions;
• researching and analysing past uses and impacts of technology;
• recognising the impact of location, natural resources, and environment on priorities and decision making in different societies.

The Arts

The arts cross the boundaries into technological education in a number of contexts &; for example, in recreation &; as well as in particular knowledge and skills that are important in developing technological solutions to problems. For example, students will use:

• drawing and modelling in shaping ideas for solutions;
• a range of media in presenting ideas and products;
• aesthetic principles and knowledge in developing and appraising ideas and products.

Health and Physical Well-being

Technology education offers practical opportunities for all students to experience the success that contributes to their self-esteem, as well as opportunities for purposeful social interactions with their peers. It also requires knowledge and skills related to:

• nutrition and food processing;
• handling equipment and materials in a healthy, safe way;
• producing outcomes that promote well-being and are safe for users;
• making choices which enhance health and well-being.