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MYP Technology focuses on solving problems in an effort to stimulate students’ ingenuity and to encourage them to combine intellectual talents and practical skills.
A minimum of fifty hours of instruction are required each year between the three key areas of technology:
Information
Collecting, organizing and analyzing of data to develop and communicate ideas
Materials
Identifying, handling, shaping, experimenting, disposing and recycling of various natural or synthetic objects
Systems
Recognizing the role of each component linked together in an organized network to achieve a purpose
The Design Cycle
MYP students are encouraged to display ingenuity and creativity in devising practical solutions to given tasks. The design cycle is the process by which students are taught to systematically develop and refine ideas and solutions.
Students use the design cycle to:
Investigate and analyze specific problems or needs, product-design, various information and potential social significance of the product /solution
Plan on resources, alternative ideas, time and priorities
Create an object or solve problems by following design specifications, monitoring the quality, respecting safety rules, making modifications and keeping a process journal
Evaluate the product/solution, the process and self-performance
This subject area is valuable for reinforcing and integrating skills learned in other disciplines, especially in the presentation and handling of data and the processes involved in the design and manufacture of a product. At the same time, it fosters awareness of the social and ethical implications of technological development.
West Hills employs the latest instructional technology to achieve these goals. Students are instructed in and have ready access to three PC labs, Mac laptops and all of the necessary supporting hardware and software.
Students also receive direct instruction in using practical design and fabrication tools through the Unified Arts program. Digital art tools and techniques are also an important part of the technology experience at West Hills.
Definitions are from the “Technology MYP Workbook” by Dilip Dutta. |