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2014 Notes from the Marking Centre – Design and Technology

Introduction

This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Design and Technology course. It contains comments on candidate responses to the 2014 Higher School Certificate examination, highlighting their strengths in particular parts of the examination and indicating where candidates need to improve.

This document should be read along with:

Major Design Project

Project Proposal and Project Management

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • presenting finance plans with a proposed budget and an actual expense table
  • understanding the project need with a good base for general discussion.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • substantiating the need with research, data, graphs or examples that support the aim of the MDP
  • meeting the page limit requirement – 80 pages in 12-point font
  • choosing areas of investigation that provide the opportunity for future direction of the project
  • providing evidence of detailed exploration and analysis of stated criteria
  • including a supporting discussion that is relevant and specific to the intended project, with clear links to relevant actions.

Project Development and Project Realisation

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • providing evidence of realisation in either a table or a flow chart showing logical steps, including photographs
  • documenting progressive design development
  • applying some testing and experimentation.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • providing evidence of the design process
  • conducting genuine experimentation and testing that indicates specific purpose and future directions in design development
  • communicating a design process that is specific to the candidate’s own particular design project.

Project Evaluation

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • understanding the functional and aesthetical aspects of the project
  • including positive and negative considerations of the project and the relevant relationship to the proposal in the final evaluation
  • making clear reference to the criteria to evaluate success
  • honestly appraising the project, making judgements on the success of the process or product.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • emphasising ongoing evaluation throughout the development of the project
  • using multimedia in the evaluation process
  • understanding and focusing closely on the impact upon society and the environment
  • spending more time on this section to clearly articulate evaluative measures and results.

Written Examination

Section II

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • describing similar and different design features of two related products (Q.11 (a))
  • understanding the meaning of entrepreneurial activity (Q.11 (b))
  • drawing upon more than one example of new and emerging technologies (Q.12)
  • articulating the relationship that exists between society’s changing needs and the development of new and emerging technologies (Q.12).

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • providing product-specific examples to demonstrate understanding of how entrepreneurial activity can influence the success of products (Q.11 (b))
  • understanding and articulating the many complexities that contribute to the continuing development of technologies (Q.12).

Section III

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • knowing what is meant by the term ‘innovative’ (Q.13 (a))
  • describing a wide range of sources that inspire designers, such as exploring existing related products or ideas, personal satisfaction, meeting client and consumer needs, nature and new materials (Q.13 (a))
  • displaying an understanding of the relationship that exists between timing, economic conditions and the probability of design success (Q.13 (b))
  • writing responses of appropriate length that address the full scope of the question (Q.13 (a) and (b)).

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • developing a deeper understanding of how sources of inspiration can influence creativity and innovation (Q.13 (a))
  • understanding the role that the acknowledgement and use of historical occasions and data play in determining the success or failure of designs (Q.13 (b))
  • ensuring that all aspects of the question are responded to when writing their response (Q.13 (b)).
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