Question 1

What is NCEA AS 91361 about?

Accepted Answer

This internal standard is worth 4 credits and is assessed by your teacher (not an external exam). You study a real area of technology — like medical devices, transport, food, or sports gear — and show that you understand how social and cultural forces shape how technology develops, and how people in that field juggle conflicting demands (like cost vs. quality, or innovation vs. public acceptance). You need to know specific real-world examples well enough to describe, explain, or discuss them in depth.

Question 2

What do students need to do for AS 91361?

Accepted Answer

1. Choose a field of technology (e.g. medical technology, food technology, transport, communication) and research how it has developed. 2. Identify sociocultural factors — things like economic pressures, political decisions, environmental concerns, cultural values, or social attitudes — and show how they have shaped what gets made and how. 3. Identify competing priorities in that field — for example, budget constraints vs. using the best materials, or fast production vs. ethical practices — and explain how those tensions were dealt with. 4. Show how decisions made during a real technological development balanced those competing priorities (e.g. how a company chose between cheaper non-renewable materials and more expensive sustainable ones). 5. Write up your understanding clearly, moving from describing what happened, to explaining why, to discussing the decisions that were made and their consequences.

Question 3

What's the difference between Achieved, Merit, and Excellence for AS 91361?

Accepted Answer

Achieved: You can describe how sociocultural factors interact with technology in your chosen field, and describe the competing priorities that exist and how they relate to technological practice. You identify what the tensions are and what happened, but without fully unpacking the reasons or consequences. Merit: You explain — not just describe — how sociocultural factors and competing priorities interact. You show the links between cause and effect: why certain priorities clashed, and how they were managed within a specific development. There is clear reasoning behind your points. Excellence: You discuss in depth both the sociocultural interactions and the decisions made to manage competing priorities. This means weighing up different viewpoints, considering consequences, and showing a thorough, nuanced understanding of why decisions were made the way they were — not just what happened.

Question 4

What mistakes do students typically make in AS 91361?

Accepted Answer

1. Describing sociocultural factors in isolation without linking them to the actual technological development — you need to show the interaction, not just list factors. 2. Listing competing priorities without explaining how they were actually managed or balanced in a real example. 3. Using vague or generic examples instead of specific, well-researched ones from a clearly defined field of technology. 4. Confusing 'describing' with 'explaining' — just saying what happened is not enough for Merit; you need to say why and how. 5. Not addressing all three required areas: some students cover sociocultural factors well but ignore the competing priorities aspect, or vice versa. 6. Writing about technology in general terms rather than focusing on a specific field and a specific development within it.

Sociocultural factors

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