Student Samples
Activity 1
Assessment type: Formative assessment for learning, with an initial diagnostic element. Teacher feedback is used to refine the brief and criteria before ideation.
The response triangulates site observations, measurements, anonymous user data and material tests. It converts evidence into measurable criteria, acknowledges competing needs such as privacy and supervision, and considers ethical data collection, safety, accessibility, cost and sustainability. The design brief is specific enough to guide later decision-making without prescribing one solution.
Learning outcomes demonstrated:
✅ investigate users' needs and the physical and sensory context
✅ explain how material properties affect design decisions
✅ develop evidence-based criteria for a successful solution
✅ plan tasks, roles and resources collaboratively
✅ justify early design directions using evidence
This corresponds with the following content descriptors:
AC9TDE6K01: Explains competing design factors, including user wellbeing, supervision, cost and sustainability.
AC9TDE6K05: Explains how material characteristics and properties affect their use in the calm-space solution.
AC9TDE6P01: Investigates the need, site, users, materials, tools, equipment and processes required for the solution.
AC9TDE6P04: Negotiates design criteria, including sustainability, for later evaluation.
AC9TDE6P05: Begins a project plan that considers roles, time and resources for collaborative work.
Activity 2
Assessment type: Formative assessment as learning and for learning. Peer critique, self-assessment and a teacher-team conference guide revision before production.
The sample presents three genuinely different solutions, not minor variations. It responds to an authentic user perspective and an unexpected budget and sustainability constraint, then applies a correctly weighted decision matrix. The selected design is communicated at scale with measurements, annotations and technical vocabulary. Peer feedback leads to traceable changes, and the production plan connects resources, roles, safety and quality checks.
Learning outcomes demonstrated:
✅ create and compare different design ideas
✅communicate ideas using measurements, labels and annotated drawings
✅ justify decisions using user evidence, criteria and feedback
✅ plan production tasks and manage materials and responsibilities
✅ work collaboratively and give specific, constructive feedback
This corresponds with the following content descriptors:
AC9TDE6P02: Generates, iterates and communicates design ideas and decisions using technical terms, annotations, measurements and a scale plan.
AC9TDE6P04: Uses negotiated criteria, including sustainability, to evaluate and select a preferred solution.
AC9TDE6P05: Develops a collaborative project plan that identifies resources, production steps and responsibilities.
AC9TDE6K05: Connects material characteristics and properties to function, safety and environmental impact.
AC9TDE6K01: Explains competing considerations such as privacy, supervision, accessibility, cost and sustainability.
Activity 3
Assessment type: Formative assessment during production, testing and feedback, followed by summative assessment of the completed evidence, justification and design pitch.
The sample demonstrates safe and purposeful production, systematic testing against every agreed criterion and evidence-based evaluation
It records the source of feedback, identifies three specific limitations, makes purposeful improvements and retests them
The pitch integrates user data, material choices, competing considerations, sustainability and testing evidence for an authentic audience
The reflection evaluates both learning and individual contribution rather than merely describing events
Learning outcomes demonstrated:
✅ select and use materials, tools and techniques safely
✅ plan tasks and manage resources during production
✅ test and improve a prototype against agreed criteria
✅ justify decisions using research, test data and feedback
✅ work collaboratively and communicate persuasively with an audience
This corresponds with the following content descriptors:
AC9TDE6P03: Selects and uses suitable materials, tools, equipment and techniques to safely make the prototype.
AC9TDE6P04: Evaluates the prototype against negotiated criteria, including sustainability, and uses evidence to improve it.
AC9TDE6P05: Implements and monitors a collaborative project plan, resources and team responsibilities.
AC9TDE6P02: Documents iterations and communicates the proposed solution using technical terms and graphical representation.
AC9TDE6K05: Explains how selected material characteristics and properties affect function, durability, safety and sustainability.
