Digital technologies / Year 5 and 6 / Digital Technologies Processes and Production Skills

Curriculum content descriptions

Design, modify and follow simple algorithms involving sequences of steps, branching, and iteration (repetition) (ACTDIP019)

Elaborations
  • following a diagram of a simple method of sorting numbers or words
  • following, modifying and describing the design of a game involving simple algorithms represented diagrammatically or in English, for example creating a flowchart with software that uses symbols to show decisions, processes and inputs and outputs
  • experimenting with different ways of representing an instruction to make a choice, for example branches in a tree diagram or using an ‘IF’ statement (a common statement used to branch) to indicate making a choice between two different circumstances using a spreadsheet or a visual program
  • experimenting with different ways of representing an instruction to make a repetition, for example loops in a flowchart diagram or using a ‘REPEAT’ statement
  • designing the instructions for a robot, for example a robot vacuum cleaner to clean a room
  • using different design tools to record ways in which digital solutions will be developed, for example creating storyboards or flowcharts to record relationships or instructions about content or processes
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Numeracy Numeracy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
  • ICT capability Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability
ScOT terms

Decision making,  Design,  Algorithms

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Computational thinking poster

This infographic provides an overview overview of the concepts related to computational thinking.

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Computational thinking cut out cards

This set of printable cards provides definitions of six aspects of computational thinking.

Online

Programming for Water Management

This unit of work introduces students to the potential of digital technologies to manage and conserve water resources in Australian agriculture. It assumes that students and teachers have little or no prior programming experience and provides a series of introductory activities to build students' understanding of the basic ...

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Flow Chart

This resource is a web page containing a sample flow chart. The flow chart shows multiple pathways depending on the answer to questions identified as a decision (diamond shape). A printable resource is also available to support the task. This resource is an activity from the NRICH website.

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Classroom ideas: Choose your own adventure: years 3-6

This PDF provides a sequence of activities that allow students to view and create planning templates and algorithms when making 'Choose Your Own Adventure' stories. Older students can use the visual programming language Scratch to build their stories.

Video

Computational thinking in the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies

This video provides an overview of computational thinking and how it can be taught in the context of other learning areas.

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Visual programming with Scratch: years 3-6

This comprises a collection of sample activities that incorporate visual programming (Scratch) into teaching and learning programs. They show the possibilities Scratch offers for integration. The projects are incomplete and are designed to be used as samples for inspiration or modification by teachers.

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Scratch 2.0 tutorial

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions to support the learning of Scratch, a visual programming language. The tutorial is designed for educators who would like to learn how to use Scratch.

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Beautiful biomes

In this lesson students learn the features of the five main biomes, and use ClassVR headsets and CoSpaces to design and create a virtual biome to explore. They research and identify the features of a biome and then create their own virtual environment. The resource explores the human impacts on biodiversity and explore ...

Online

Water Water everywhere!

In this lesson, students are presented with the challenging problem of measuring a volume of water using containers that are not the exact measurement size. Students will decompose a complex problem into discrete steps, design an algorithm for solving the problem, and evaluate solution efficiencies and optimization in a ...

Assessment

BBC micro:bit project

The teacher assesses the student’s knowledge and skills using the student’s project log, self-reflection and think aloud.

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Visual to text coding: Lesson 12

This is the final in a series of lessons to transition from visual coding to text-based coding with a General Purpose Programming language. See next steps for suggested courses and learning sequences after this lesson. It builds on the coding concept of functions (by introducing the concept of return values. Functions are ...

Online

Visual to text coding: Lesson 8

This is the eighth in a series of lessons to transition from visual coding to text-based coding with a General Purpose Programming language. This lesson may take two to three 45-minute periods. It brings together skills from the previous lessons to design and develop a Higher Lower game, where the player tries to guess ...

Online

Home automation programming (yrs 5-6)

Investigate home automation systems, including those powered by artificial intelligence (AI) with speech recognition capability. These suggested activities provide a level of differentiation to cater for students’ range of programming skills. They were developed in collaboration with the Digital Technologies Institute.

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Storm survivor: Input, decision-making and loops

Students use a visual programming language to create a game or quiz to help members of a community prepare for a severe weather event.

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Visual to text coding: Lesson 10

This is the tenth in a series of lessons to transition from visual coding to text-based coding with a General Purpose Programming language. This lesson may take two to three 45-minute periods. It introduces the coding concept of functions. Functions can help organise code, reduce repetition and more to be explored later.

Online

Project Quantum: Online assessment system

Project Quantum helps computing teachers check their students’ understanding, and support their progress, by providing free access to an online multiple-choice assessment system and question bank. To use Project Quantum, you will need to create a free account.

Online

Describing an everyday object

In this lesson, students act like the inventor of an everyday object that does not yet exist. Students abstract the essential details, and describe what need would be fulfilled by the new object and how, specifically, it functions. They will then translate the description into a format appropriate for modeling the object ...

Online

Automated soil moisture sensor

The soil moisture sensor project integrates science understandings and computational thinking to solve a problem about sustainable watering practices. This lesson was devised by Trudy Ward, Clarendon Vale Primary School, Tasmania.

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Visual to text coding: Lesson 6

This is the sixth in a series of lessons to transition from visual coding to text-based coding with a General Purpose Programming language. This lesson may take two to three 45-minute periods. It builds on the previous introduction to arrays (also called lists) and brings in the length property.