PART A – PEER EVALUATION REFLECTION In classrooms, a common communication tool that teachers use is peer feedback. This allows students to view other students works, evaluate it and then give feedback on what has been done well, what hasn’t yet been done and can be improved upon. Peer feedback holds aspects of a concept known as ‘community of practice’, a social constructivist approach to learning developed by Lave and Wenger in 1999. As stated by Blair and McGinty, ‘the idea of community suggests that students’ participating in the academic community helps to integrate them into the expectations of the academic community’ (2010). Therefore, students providing peer feedback and being involved in the academic community will learn of the expectations of certain academic tasks. For this particular assignment, we as students were required to choose a design challenge, follow the Design Technology Process and create a Weebly to present our design. When this was completed, we posted to the forum on Moodle so that other students are able to view it and provide peer feedback using the feedback form. Giving and receiving peer feedback helps us understand what is to be done in terms of the design process. By giving peer feedback, we evaluate others work and search for key aspects that are to be included in the piece being evaluated. This way, we are able to view different ways and solutions for solving a problem, or in this case, understanding the design process. When we receive peer feedback, we use it to improve and build our work to achieve the desired outcome. This feedback helps us understand what has been done well, what can be improved and what has not been done, allowing us understand what needs to be included in the design process. From the feedback I received from a fellow peer, I was able to gain a different understanding of the design process. My feedback helped me to understand what I was missing in the design process and also included strategies as to how I could improve my design.
When we receive peer feedback, we are given tips and suggestions for how we can improve our piece of work. In particular, it can enhance the quality of our communication in our design. With other students/peers reading and evaluating another’s piece of work, feedback is given as to whether the design is easy to understand, is clear and has been communicated in an effective manner. From the feedback I received, it was evident that my design was clearly communicated and easy to understand. To enhance my communication of ideas, I could have included more information regarding the problem that I was addressing and its impact on the environment, now and in the future. In terms of critical and creative thinking, the feedback I received did not show any suggestions as to how I can enhance the quality of my thinking in this curriculum area. Critical and creative thinking involves students thinking broadly and deeply, where they ‘learn to generate and evaluate knowledge, clarify concepts and ideas, seek possibilities, consider alternatives and solve problems’ (ACARA, 2017). In the technologies curriculum area, students develop these thinking skills as they imagine, generate, develop and critically evaluate ideas. Giving and receiving peer evaluation can enhance the quality of critical and creative thinking in this particular curriculum area as we analyse problems, refine concepts and reflect on decision-making and designing processes for a range of situations.
The feedback that I received was clear and easy to understand. Each section had a written comment from the peer regarding the standard that each part had been completed. From my feedback, I am able to identify which areas I need to work on in my design and also the areas that have been achieved. to improve the feedback/evaluation for this project, another column can be added to the table that allows those giving feedback to add in tips and suggestions to improve in certain areas and achieve a higher quality of design. This way, students are given ideas and suggestions from others completing similar projects, and can use the opinions of others to include a view for all in their design, catering for different people and their needs. More feedback could also be given about the overall, communication, display and effectiveness of the design. This would allow us to determine if our website displaying the design is effective in addressing the issue and making the community aware of what can be done.
PART B - TWO CRITICAL QUESTIONS Design challenge 6 asks that a menu be created using only local resources and ingredients. If this were to be completed in a classroom of Year 4’s, certain aspects would need to be altered to ensure that students understand the importance of the issue and are safe when completing the task. According to the Australian Curriculum, students in Year 3 and 4 begin to develop a sense of self and ownership of their ideas and thinking about their peers and communities as consumers through different approaches to design products, services and environments (2017). To complete this design challenge in a classroom with Year 4 students, it is important that students are made aware of the ingredients available locally, the importance of food safety and what this entails as well as safely handling kitchen utensils and equipment. From this challenge, students will begin to understand different impacts on the community and the environment while learning about sustainability, safety and the future of our local resources.
Critical Question One – What implications and issues may teachers face with regards to teaching this design challenge in the classroom? In all classrooms, there are different issues and implications that change the path and sometimes, the outcome of the lesson. For this particular design challenge, students will create a three-course menu that has been designed to showcase local resources and ingredients. Unfortunately, due to the resources and time available in classrooms, students will not be able to physically cook each of their menu items in school time or in the school. However, if the equipment is available in the school, the teacher may be able to organise for the class to have a cooking day. This way, the class can create a menu together and be actively involved in the actual creation of the three-course meal menu. Before being able to create each meal, it is important that the teacher and the students are aware of allergies to ensure that all students are safe and to reduce the risk of anyone having an allergic reaction. Food allergies are common in school communities and it has been found that 1 in 20 children have an allergy to food (ASCIA, 2016). Reducing this risk can be done by sending home notes to explain to parents what will be happening during the completion of the task and that it is in the teachers best interest to keep all students safe. This way, teachers will be aware of the foods that need to be avoided for this task.
Another aspect that may cause issues with this design challenge is addressing food safety. As stated by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), ‘care must be taken with regard to food safety and specific food allergies that may result in anaphylactic reactions’ (2017). This means that teachers need to discuss the importance of cleanliness and hygiene, preparing and handling food as well as storing it correctly. This can be done in technology lessons leading up to the production of the menu items to ensure that students are aware of the importance of food safety. Some things that may need to be discussed include properly washing your hands, having long hair tied back, wearing enclosed shoes, cross contamination and the use of clean utensils and kitchen equipment (Kraft, 2017). While working through food safety and completing the design challenge, the intent of the curriculum can be lost. The particular aspect of the curriculum that links in with this challenge states that its intent is to ‘investigate food and fibre production and food technologies in modern and traditional societies (ACTDEK012)’ (ACARA, 2017). While it is important that students learn about food safety, it is also important that teachers and educators are not straying away from the curriculum, and the intended outcomes are achieved.
Critical Question Two – How will students be engaged through the duration of the design process? In all lessons, it is important to keep all students engaged and intrigued for the duration of any lesson to ensure the learning outcomes are achieved. As stated by Justin Chando, ‘A more engaged student = better learning outcomes’ (2013). With this specific design challenge, the initial interest of students can be gained by explaining that they will be creating the meals from the class menu at the end of the term and eating them. When designing a lesson, it is always important to think about what the students in your classroom will be interested in. This way, you are more likely able to reach the learning objectives for the lesson in the set time rather than having to stop and re-engage students in the lesson. Therefore, it is important for teachers to keep students engaged and interested in the lesson topic, otherwise, students will lose interest and will begin to disturb other students in the classroom. ‘The more students think about their course material, the more they practice and study (directly and indirectly), the more they tend to learn about it’ (Chando, 2013). To keep students engaged, one specific approach stood out. This is known as ‘thinking like a kid’, where teachers release their inner child and think of a ‘fun and interactive’ way to teach the lesson so that students do not get ‘bored’ (Student Wellbeing Strategy, 2009). However, due to the amount of content that needs to be covered in regards to food safety and the use of kitchen equipment students may become uninterested. This is why it is important to use different resources and activities that students are able to interact with, continually building student interest in the topic. This can be done using different videos and interactive quizzes on YouTube and Teach Beside Me, both valuable teaching resources used in many classrooms across Australia. Not only does this keep students interested in the topic, but it teaches them about the importance of food safety and how to correctly use utensils in the kitchen. This also aligns with the curriculum as students are investigating the production and design of food products.
PART C – ONE CRITICAL QUESTION Critical Question – How will you address the future and safety for this particular design challenge in the classroom? While working through different technology topics in the classroom, there are four key aspects that need to be discussed. These include sustainability, ethics, safety and the future of the design in the classroom, in the community and in the environment. By doing this, students will gain an understanding of how things we do today can impact the future. In terms of safety, this design process will teach students about food and kitchen safety. While students are designing their menu, students will also learn about needing to be considerate of allergies and different dietary options. This way, they learn about how to reduce the risk of causing allergic reactions, how to properly prepare certain types of food, how to store them and how to correctly use various types of kitchen equipment in a safe manner. In the classroom, this can be done by having specific lessons dedicated to the different areas that need to be addressed before students are allowed to prepare and produce the menu items as a class. Having this as a pre-requisite before cooking the class menu allows the teacher to determine who has learnt about the importance of food safety and who needs to cover this topic before moving into the kitchen.
It is also important to address the aspect of the sustainability and the future of local farms and resources. In the Rockhampton Regions, there are various farmers and local producers that are impacted due to the number large supermarket chains that sell produce from overseas sources. Unfortunately, these local farmers lose income due to the fact that many people continue to buy from the larger supermarket chains. This can have a negative impact on our local farmers and cause them to lose their business. In the classroom, this can be addressed by inviting local farmers in to talk about the crops that they grow, and other influencing factors that have both a negative and positive impact on their farms. These factors could include wildlife, natural disasters (flooding, bush fires, droughts etc.), climate, financial factors and many others. Currently in Rockhampton, many of our local farms have lots cattle in the floods following Cyclone Debbie. The town of Rockhampton is well known for their cattle and unfortunately, ‘Central Queensland cattle producers have experienced major livestock losses in the wake of ex-Cyclone Debbie’ (Zhanae Conway-Dodd, 2017). This impacts the future of the farming industry as locals will begin to sell farms and discontinue to grow crops as farmers cannot afford to constantly rebuild after flooding, bush fires and other major impacts on their farms and their produce. In Design and Technology, it is important that students begin to think about the sustainability, safety, ethics and the future of their design. Bringing in outside resources and community members encourages students to think about what they are doing, and how it may impact those around them, their community and the environment. This also encourages students to think about different materials that can be used, the cost of their design and the future and sustainability of their design.