Digital technologies / Year 3 and 4 / Digital Technologies Processes and Production Skills

Curriculum content descriptions

Define simple problems, and describe and follow a sequence of steps and decisions (algorithms) needed to solve them (ACTDIP010)

Elaborations
  • explaining what the problem is and some features of the problem, such as what need is associated with the problem, who has the problem and why
  • describing, using drawings, pictures and text, the sequence of steps and decisions in a solution, for example to show the order of events in a game and the decisions that a player must make
  • experimenting with different ways of describing a set of instructions, for example writing two versions of the same simple set of instructions for a programmable robotic device
  • explaining to others how to follow technical instructions, for example how to capture and download images from a mobile device
  • defining and describing the sequence of steps needed to incorporate multiple types of data in a solution, for example sequencing the steps in selecting and downloading images and audio to create a book trailer
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Numeracy Numeracy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
  • ICT capability Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability
ScOT terms

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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Classroom ideas: exploring digital technologies through shopping: years 3-6

This PDF demonstrates how using concepts derived from age-appropriate content, combined with multiple points of entry to and exit from a shopping-related task might remove barriers to learning. Students engage in purposeful and authentic open-ended explorations that require critical and creative thinking and incorporate ...

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Scratch 3.0 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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Bee Bot Balloon Pop

During this lesson, students will be required to consider the functions of the Bee-Bot and how a user can interact with this device. Students are asked to design a course challenge for another user which will result in the Bee-Bot, with a pin attached, reversing into a balloon to pop it. This lesson idea was created by ...

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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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Plan a 'choose your own adventure' story

Students create a storyboard to plan a ‘choose your own adventure' story, where the reader is provided with a number of decisions that lead to alternative endings.

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Scratch Creative Computing Guide

There is also a series of units comprising learning activities, paired with assessment activities and templates that can be used to support use of the Scratch (MIT) platform. The Scratch Creative Computing Guide supports assessment activities with visual programming environments.

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Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies Years F-6 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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Teaching and supporting project management in the F-6 classroom

This PDF gives educators an overview of what project management is and ideas on how they can implement project management skills in the F-6 classroom.

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Sphero and the chocolate factory

This activity allows students to use the visual programming software Lightning Lab to control Sphero to act out the role of a fictional character. This activity uses Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl as an example. This lesson idea was created by Steven Payne.

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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 ...

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Ciphering a sentence

A cipher is a message that has been written in such a way (encoded) that it is unreadable by others. In this lesson, students will use mapping to encode a sentence. Students will work with a partner to create an algorithm that describes the encryption process. They will also examine encoded and decoded messages to recognize ...

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Have fun with flowcharts

Create a flowchart to represent a sequence of (branching) steps and decisions needed to solve a mathematical problem.

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Fun projects with language translation

Natural language processing is growing in importance. We often converse with automatic chatbots for customer service without even knowing. We also use online translation services or mobile apps. But how do these services work? Is there artificial intelligence (AI) in them? Three projects are offered to cater for student ...

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Can AI guess your emotion?

Discuss emotions as a class, and introduce the idea of artificial intelligence (AI). This lesson can also be used to introduce image classification – a key application of AI. Developed in collaboration with Digital Technologies Institute.

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ACARA sample assessment task: years 3-4: Classifying living or non-living things

This resource provides strategies for assessing aspects of the Digital Technologies subject in the Australian Curriculum that relate to data using contexts from other learning areas and General Capabilities, including Science, Mathematics, Numeracy and Literacy. The resource includes an assessment planner and rubric, as ...

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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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Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies Years 3–4 assessment task: Living and non-living things booklet

This PDF is a booklet that accompanies the years 3-4 assessment task, Classifying living and non-living things.

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Mossman State School – Project proposal

This PDF outlines Mossman State School's proposal to participate in the Digital Technologies in Focus project.

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Computational thinking cut out cards

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