| Technological Areas
The technological areas indicate areas in which students will be expected to carry out their technological activities, and suggest the range around which the technology curriculum in schools can be organised and developed. These areas, listed here alphabetically, are not mutually exclusive: most technological developments and learning experiences encompass more than one area.
Whichever technological area is selected, design, including the processes of specification and development and testing of prototypes, is an essential component of the activity. Drawing and graphics, including freehand and technical drawing and the use of computer graphics packages, are also essential in technological practice to depict and clarify ideas and proposed solutions.
Schools and teachers should develop learning approaches and technological activities within the technological areas which will best help their students achieve the objectives of this curriculum.
- Biotechnology involves the use of living systems, organisms, or parts of organisms to manipulate natural processes in order to develop products, systems, or environments to benefit people. These may be products, such as foods, pharmaceuticals, or compost; systems, such as waste management or water purification; or environments, such as hydroponics. Biotechnology also includes genetic or biomedical engineering.
- Electronics and Control technology includes knowledge and use of electrical and electronic systems and devices, as well as their design, construction, and production. These may be simple electrical circuits or complex integrated electronic circuits, or robotics. Control technologies may be electronic, pneumatic, hydraulic, or mechanical.
- Food technology includes understanding and using safe and reliable processes for producing, preparing, presenting, and storing food and the development, packaging, and marketing of foods.
- Information and Communication technology includes systems that enable the collection, structuring, manipulation, retrieval, and communication of information in various forms. This includes audio and graphical communications, the use of electronic networks, and interactive multimedia.
- Materials technology includes the investigation, use, and development of materials to achieve a desired result. It involves knowledge of the qualities and suitability of different types of materials, including wood, textiles, composites, metals, plastics, and synthetics, and fuels, as well as the processing, preservation, and recycling of materials. Materials technology contributes to many other areas, especially Structures and Mechanisms.
- Production and Process technology includes both the manufacture and assembly of products from individual components in, for instance, a furniture or appliance factory or a motor vehicle assembly line; and the processing of fluid-bulk raw materials &; gases, fluids, and fluidised solids &; into products such as paints, fertilisers, and petrochemicals through a continuous process. This area also includes large-scale primary production of agricultural and forest products.
- Structures and Mechanisms includes a wide variety of technologies, from simple structures, such as a monument, or mechanical devices, such as a mousetrap, to large, complex structures such as a high-rise office block, or mechanical devices such as a motor car.
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