Year 8 Technologies – Term 4 (WA Curriculum): Sustainable Design and Production Systems

What this unit covers

In Term 4, Year 8 Technologies in the WA Curriculum centres on the unit “Sustainable Design and Production Systems”.

Students explore ethical and sustainable considerations in food production, materials technologies, and design solutions while developing critical thinking skills about technologies and society.

Lesson sequence (20 lessons)

The unit breaks down into the following lesson-by-lesson sequence — each title below is a teachable lesson, in order:

1. Investigating Local Food and Fibre Production Systems
2. Analysing Sustainable vs Unsustainable Production Processes
3. Exploring Economic Factors in Food and Fibre Selection
4. Mapping Regional Supply Chains for Food Products
5. Designing Waste Management Systems for Food Production
6. Understanding Nutritious Diet Components and Food Processing
7. Evaluating Consumer Food Choices and Wellbeing Impacts
8. Creating Sustainable Menu Plans Using Local Produce
9. Investigating Food Waste Management Strategies
10. Analysing Regional Food Processing Systems
11. Selecting Materials for Specialised Technology Products
12. Using Specialised Tools and Equipment Safely
13. Implementing 'Measure Twice, Cut Once' Production Methods
14. Designing Products with Locally Sourced Materials
15. Evaluating Material Properties for Specific Applications
16. Exploring How Technologies Drive Social Change
17. Incorporating Circular Economy Principles in Design
18. Conducting Risk Assessment for Technology Solutions
19. Designing for Reuse and Product Longevity
20. Creating Collaborative Technology Solutions for Community Needs

Curriculum codes in this unit

Content codes:

Skills codes:

Reading the codes: WA codes (the ones starting with WA) pack the year level, learning area, strand and content number into one string, while the national Australian Curriculum v9 uses a different anatomy that starts with AC9 — same content family, different labels. Our complete WA Curriculum guide decodes both, character by character.

Planning notes for Term 4

WA terms run roughly 9–11 weeks, and in 2026 Term 4 runs from Monday 12 October to Thursday 17 December — 10 weeks for WA public schools. With 20 lessons in this unit, that leaves breathing room for assessment, moderation and the weeks that disappear to carnivals, camps and public holidays — plan the assessable work to land two to three weeks before the end of term rather than in the final week.