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Digital technologies / Year 9 and 10 / Digital Technologies Processes and Production Skills

Curriculum content descriptions

Define and decompose real-world problems precisely, taking into account functional and non-functional requirements and including interviewing stakeholders to identify needs (ACTDIP038)

Elaborations
  • developing a preliminary specification for an opportunity or a need that typically contains a problem statement, a set of solution needs expressed as functional and non-functional requirements, any assumptions or constraints to be considered and the scope or boundaries of the solution
  • investigating different types of functional requirements for solutions, for example increasing the speed of processing, calculating new results, improving the quality of reports
  • investigating different types of non-functional requirements for solutions, for example considering how the requirements of reliability, user-friendliness, portability and robustness could affect the way people use solutions
  • identifying the range of stakeholders who are associated with solutions but are not direct users and using techniques such as interviewing and reinterviewing to clarify needs
  • using software such as graphic organisers to determine a fundamental cause of a problem or to represent related elements of a problem that need to be jointly addressed in the digital solution
  • testing a range of text and graphical user interface designs with clients who have different needs on the basis of time taken to complete the task and the number of errors made
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
  • Personal and social capability Personal and social capability
  • ICT capability Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability
ScOT terms

Information and communication technologies,  Problem solving,  Functionality

Online

Coding a sentimental chatbot in Python

Incorporating 11 tutorial videos and two informative lecture videos, this learning sequence explores natural language processing, a significant application of artificial intelligence. Teachers and students are led through the coding in Python of a chatbot, a conversational program capable of responding in varied ways to ...

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Book analysis with AI techniques

This learning sequence explores text analysis through Natural Language Processing, a significant application of Artificial Intelligence. Teachers and students are led through a series of video tutorials to develop a Python program that can break down and analyse the content of a complete text and use smart sentiment analysis ...

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Seven seasons

In this lesson sequence students investigate the CSIRO indigenous seasons calendars and produce a searchable database that will capture data using two data sources.

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Hot or not?

This lesson sequence focuses on the incremental or Agile approach to development and encourages students to follow the evolution of a temperature conversion tool for a Food Technology teacher. It uses an Excel spreadsheet application as the prototyping tool.

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Data driven innovation

This is a unit for Year 9 from the Scope and sequence resources from the DT Hub. The topic of data is organised into four key elements. Use this flow of activities to plan and assess students against the relevant achievement standards. Students examine ways data from individuals and connected technologies is used to inform ...

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Organise, visualise and analyse

This is a unit for Year 10 from the Scope and sequence resources from the DT Hub. The topic of data is organised into four key elements. Use this flow of activities to plan and assess students against the relevant achievement standards. Students use tools to organise data and make sense of complex data to identify patterns ...

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Managing a group project: Augmented Reality

This is a unit for Year 9 from the Scope and sequence resources from the DT Hub. In this collaborative project, students plan, implement and monitor an AR project. They develop project management skills, collaborate with others and undertake a specific role. Use this flow of activities to plan and assess students against ...

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Robotics and embedded systems

This is a unit for Year 10 from the Scope and sequence resources from the DT Hub. A selection of four projects is presented to accommodate a range of student skill levels and interest, teacher background and school resources. Select the relevant project for your students or allow them to choose a project that appeals to ...

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Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies: years 9-10

This PDF provides a line of sight from content descriptions to achievement standards in the Digital Technologies subject in the Australian Curriculum.

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Faith Lutheran College – Project proposal

This PDF outlines Faith Lutheran College's proposal to participate in the Digital Technologies in Focus project.

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Expert Webinar video: Professor Stephen Heppel: The impact of environmental factors on learning

In this video Professor Stephen Heppell, discusses the aggregation of marginal gains in learning environments. He provides examples from the Learnometer project, designed to help students monitor their classroom environment for factors that may hinder learning.

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Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies key concepts mapping - Years 9 and 10

This PDF uses colour coding to provide a line of sight between key concepts, content descriptions and achievement standards in the Digital Technologies subject in the Australian Curriculum.

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Expert webinar video: Andrew Harris - Lead Teacher, Agricultural Education, Hagley Farm Primary School

Andrew Harris from the Hagley Farm School in Tasmania shares ways in which the school is teaching Digital Technologies and its meaningful use in agriculture . For example, Andrew provides examples of ways students learn about digital systems and data collection.

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Faith Lutheran School

Faith Lutheran College is a secondary co-educational independent school in Plainland, Queensland. It has more than 700 students and was established in 1999. Sarah Atkins is the curriculum officer who works with the school to support implementation of the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies. Teachers at the school ...

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Activities that promote Digital Technologies concepts and incorporate Numeracy: part 1: Introduction and overview: accessing the Australian Curriculum National Numeracy Learning progression

This video provides an introduction to the ways in which Digital Technologies can be used to develop students' learning in the Numeracy Learning Progression.

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Expert webinar video: Martin Richards: AI, AR and VR F–10 and links to the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies

Martin Richards manages the Digital Technologies Hub. He discusses the relationship between artificial intelligence and the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies. Martin also shows some useful resources for teachers.

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Expert webinar video: Jennifer Hemer: Tasmanian Smart Seafood Partnership

Jennifer Hemer from Natural Resource Management Tasmania explains what's happening in the seafood industry in her state and how digital technologies are used to make the industry more sustainable.

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Faith Lutheran College – – Final report

This report provides details of Faith Lutheran College's participation in the Digital Technologies in Focus project, including a Research question, criteria for success, data collection, resources, challenges, milestones and next steps.

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Expert webinar video: Dr Karen Joyce: Map my school

Dr Karen Joyce from STEM education provider She Maps discusses geospatial mapping and methods for teaching underpinning concepts to primary, secondary and tertiary students. Her presentation provides opportunities to think about how we might teach digital systems, data collection and interpretation to our students in context.

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Expert webinar video: Professor Tim Bell – Computational thinking

In this video, Professor Tim Bell discusses helpful ways of understanding and teaching computational thinking, a key idea of the Australian Curriculum: Technologies.

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DTiF Classroom Exploring AI in the Classroom: Activity discussion

Digital Technologies in Focus curriculum officers discuss a lesson about Artificial Intelligence with Simon Collier and a student.

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Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies Years 7–10 achievement standards and aligned content descriptions on a page

This PDF presents content descriptions and achievement standards for the Digital Technologies subject in the Australian Curriculum

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Expert webinar video: In conversation with Paul Mead from She Maps: A wide-ranging discussion from women in Technology and unconscious bias to digital systems and the ethical and safety considerations of using drone technologies

Paul Mead, from STEM education provider She Maps, discusses unconscious bias in young students and how She Maps is spreading the word about women who work with technologies in the field. He discusses digital systems and explains how geospatial systems and geographical information systems are used to collect, analyse and ...

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Faith Lutheran College – Podcast

This podcast includes information about the aims, challenges, insights and accomplishments of Faith Lutheran College's participation in the Digital Technologies in Focus project.

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Voskoglou & Buckley review: Problem solving and computational thinking

This article explores the relationship between computational and critical thinking as it applies to solving technological problems. Research evidence derived from classroom experiments strongly suggests that using computers to solve problems enhances students’ abilities in solving real-world problems involving mathematical ...

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DTiF in conversation with Kevin Bradley and Cassandra Arkinstall from Save the Bilby Fund – Using Digital Technologies to help save bilbies

Kevin Bradley, CEO of Save the Bilby Fund, and Cassandra Arkinstall, a researcher and volunteer at Save the Bilby Fund explain how important digital technologies are in the campaign to save the bilby from extinction. The video explains how digital systems are used to collect and visualise data and help eradicate threats ...

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Faith Lutheran College – Timeline

This document presents the milestones in Faith Lutheran College's participation in the Digital Technologies in Focus project.

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ACARA sample assessment task: years 9-10

This resource provides strategies for assessing students' ability to interpret, process, analyse and represent data using spreadsheets, pivot tables, plotting data and scripting activities. A link to a data set from a koala hospital provides extensive data for students to use. The resource includes maps, graphs and charts, ...

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Lockwood & Mooney review: Computational thinking

This article provides a literature review of how computational thinking fits into a school curriculum. The aim of the report is to provide educators with an overview of the current research in this field and the work that is being done in teaching computational thinking.

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DTiF in conversation with Save the Bilby Fund – Background information on the Save the Bilby Fund

Kevin Bradley, CEO of Save the Bilby Fund, and Cassandra Arkinstall, a researcher and volunteer at Save the Bilby Fund, explain why the bilby is an important indicator of the health of an ecosystem, and how their decline impacts other wildlife. This video gives an overview of what the Save the Bilby Fund does as they work ...

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Expert webinar video: Nathan Alison, Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria (DLTV): Focus on systems thinking. How do we teach it well?

Nathan Alison from Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria (DLTV) explains what systems thinking is and how it is used in the context of Digital Technologies. Nathan explains what we need to consider when teaching digital systems, covering topics such as networks, hardware and software protocols, people and processes.

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Faith Lutheran College – PL ecosystem

This document illustrates the network of people and resources that make up Faith Lutheran College's Professional Learning ecosystem.

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Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies Years 9-10 Sample Assessment Task: Digital Systems - Activity Guide

The Years 9-10 assessment task focuses on digital systems (integrating Digital Technologies and Science). The digital systems activity guide provides a scaffold to teach about and assess students’ understanding of how digital systems can be used to monitor the school environment. Students learn how to create environmental ...

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Literature reviews: what, why and how

This PowerPoint explains the benefits and techniques of literature reviews.

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Supporting the Implementation of Digital Technologies in Disadvantaged Schools: Case study of impact, outcomes and sustainability (2020)

This PDF is an extensive report on the success of the Digital Technologies in Focus (DTiF) project, with a focus on supporting the Implementation of Digital Technologies in disadvantaged schools. The evaluation gathered qualitative data to create rich case study accounts of six schools' engagement in the project and its ...

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Kim review: Systems thinking

This article explores the types of systems in our world, their characteristics and how our behaviour can initiate and respond to changes in their performance. The author differentiates between systems thinking and a system and elaborates on those factors that contribute to systemic behaviour.

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Miller & Boix-Mansilla review: Thinking across perspectives and disciplines

This article explores the challenges associated with using knowledge from different domains (and people) to work on a common problem, issue or puzzle. It acknowledges that the differences in how disciplines structure their knowledge raise challenges when working across disciplinary boundaries. The article identifies these ...

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Expert webinar video: Russell Scott - Vortals: Augmented reality, virtual reality, 2D, 3D and game design lessons

Russell Scott, Co-Founder of multimedia design company Vortals, demonstrates some of the ways he teaches students about augmented reality, virtual reality, 2D, 3D and game design.

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Effective DTiF strategies

This PDF lists eight ways in which Digital Technologies in Focus (DTiF) supported the implementation of Digital Technologies in disadvantaged schools.

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Kelley & Knowles review: STEM integration

This article explores ways of building integrated STEM programs so that students have opportunities to make connections to crosscutting concepts and real-world problems. This is proposed through the lens of a framework.

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Good teaching practice with Digital Technologies

This PDF lists seven characteristics of good teaching practice in the Digital Technologies curriculum.

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Expert webinar video: Dr Rebecca Vivian - The CSER Digital Technologies Education Program

Dr Rebecca Vivian provides an overview of the CSER Digital Technologies Education Project from The University of Adelaide. The project includes free professional learning, a digital equipment lending library and a range of resources designed to support teachers in the implementation of the Australian Curriculum: Digital ...

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Curzon & Bell et al. review: Computational thinking

This article explores the concept of computational thinking within computer science learning and in relation to other learning areas. The authors assert that because of its focus on analysis, computational thinking is not only suitable for computation but also the development of systems-based on computation.

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Supporting Digital Technologies curriculum in schools

This PDF lists seven ways in which schools can support the Digital Technologies curriculum

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Volmert et al. review: STEM learning

This report examines the similarities and differences in the understandings about STEM education between experts and the general public in some American states. The authors contend that one of the most interesting findings is the role of Science: the general public equates STEM as Science, whereas the experts view all STEM ...

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Digital Technolodgies in Focus: external evaluation - findings on a page

This PDF is a one-page summary of the key findings of an external evalation of the Digital Technologies in Focus project in Australia’s most disadvantaged schools.

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Asunda review: STEM integration

This article explores the benefits of an interdisciplinary STEM program in the quest for providing students with a holistic approach to problem-solving that reflects real-world practice. This is supported by a conceptual framework that comprises four constructs: systems thinking, situation learning theory, constructivism ...

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Supporting Implementation of Digital Technologies: Progress report – Focus on curriculum and pedagogy and learning outcomes (2019)

This PDF is an extensive report on the success of the Digital Technologies in Focus (DTiF) project, with a focus on curriculum and pedagogy and learning outcomes. The evaluation gathered qualitative data to create rich case study accounts of six schools' engagement in the project and its impacts and outcomes.