Glossary (Version 8.4)

All steps in the growing, processing and preparation of food.

An impression made by foods. The foods may be acceptable or agreeable to the palate or taste.

A design approach that uses natural elements – often sunlight – to heat, cool or light a building. Systems that employ passive design require very little maintenance and reduce a building’s energy consumption by minimising or eliminating mechanical systems used to regulate indoor temperature and lighting.

A digital component that can be connected to a digital system but are not essential to the system, for example, printer, scanner, digital camera.

Equipment used or worn by a person to minimise risk to the person’s health or safety, for example, goggles, ear muffs, face shield, hard hat, apron, gloves.

A drawing that represents the way objects appear to be smaller and closer together, the further away they are. Perspective drawings may be one-, two- or three-point perspective and have the corresponding number of vanishing points. A one-point perspective drawing has a single vanishing point (VP). Perspective drawings are often used in building, interior and architectural design.

perspective drawings

A map that shows illustrated (rather than technical style) cartography. The area shown may be the representation of a view of a landscape from above on an oblique angle. Pictorial maps are not drawn to scale.

pictorial map of a landscape

A physical point in a bitmap image or on a display device that corresponds to the smallest amount of information that can be stored and accessed. Also see bitmap.

An imaginary situation and the exploration of objects and actions for a specific purpose, where meaning and sense of objects, actions and social situation can change for individual and collective needs to create something new.

Preferences for the future identified by a student to inform the creation and evaluation of solutions.

The processes of tillage, addition of organic matter and fertilisers, and drainage prior to establishing a food or fibre crop.

Actively realising (making) designed solutions, using appropriate resources and means of production.

One of the outputs of technologies processes, the end result of processes and production. Products are the tangible end results of natural, human, mechanical, manufacturing, electronic or digital processes to meet a need or want.

A presentation of a product’s features and interface generated by capturing the screen of a computer while the product is in use. Usually recorded using video, then annotated using text or voice to provide explanatory notes about the actions occurring on screen.

A working drawing that details requirements for the manufacture and assembly of a product and environment.

production drawings for a chair

In Design and Technologies, a technologies context-specific process used to transform technologies into a product, service or environment, for example, the steps used for producing a product.

A set of activities undertaken by students to address specified content, involving understanding the nature of a problem, situation or need; creating, designing and producing a solution to the project task; and documenting the process. Project work has a benefit, purpose and use; a user or audience, which can provide feedback on the success of the solution; limitations to work within; and a real-world technologies context influenced by social, ethical and environmental issues. Criteria for success are used to judge a project’s success.

A responsibility for planning, organising, controlling resources, monitoring timelines and activities, and completing a project to achieve a goal that meets identified criteria for judging success.

A distinctive quality of a material that can be tested and used to help people select the most suitable one for a particular use.

Mechanical properties are determined when a force is applied to a material, for example, to test its strength, hardness, wear resistance, machinability/workability, stretch and elasticity.

Thermal properties are determined when varying temperatures (for example, cold or heat) are applied to test whether a material expands, melts, conducts or absorbs heat (warms up), find its boiling point, and whether its colour changes.

Chemical properties relate to the chemicals a material is made of (its composition) and how it may change because of its surrounding environment, for example, how it ages or taints; develops an odour; deteriorates; resists stains, corrosion or cracks due to heat; or is flammable.

Electrical properties relate to the way a material responds if a current is passed through it or if it is placed in an electrical field, for example, whether the material conducts or resists electricity or acts as an insulator.

Optical properties relate to how light reacts with a material, for example, opaqueness, transparency and reflectiveness.

A set of generally accepted standards or 'rules' that govern relationships and interactions between and within information systems. Also see file transfer protocol and hypertext transfer protocol.

A trial product or model built to test an idea or process to inform further design development. A prototype can be developed in the fields of service, design, electronics or software programming. Its purpose is to see if and how well the design works and is tested by users and systems analysts. It can be used to provide specifications for a real, working product or system rather than a virtual or theoretical one. Prototype is derived from Greek terms that, when translated, mean ‘primitive form’, ‘first’ and ‘impression’. Also see working models.