Design and technologies / Year 5 and 6 / Design and Technologies Knowledge and Understanding

Curriculum content descriptions

Investigate characteristics and properties of a range of materials, systems, components, tools and equipment and evaluate the impact of their use (ACTDEK023)

Elaborations
  • identifying the properties of materials for the design and construction of a sustainable household item, for example a product for storing harvested water
  • evaluating the functional properties of a specific-purpose household system, for example a security system
  • examining the materials and systems used in a public use system that affect the way people live, for example a community exercise environment or arts facility, water treatment, garbage collection
  • comparing tools, equipment and techniques to select those most appropriate for a given purpose
  • evaluating the use of computer-aided manufacturing in terms of cost and impacts on local and regional designers, producers and enterprises
  • comparing the design and production of products, services and environments in Australia and a country in the Asia region
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
ScOT terms

Materials,  Fibres (Materials),  Engineering,  Tools

Interactive

Kitchen gardens – sustainability action process (Years 3–6)

This resource guides students through an extended school-based or local investigation focussed on kitchen gardens using the five-step sustainability action process. The resource supports the investigation of a real-world issue or problem. Students develop and implement a chosen sustainability action and then evaluate and ...

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I am an inventor lesson

In this lesson, students explore the life, work and times of Rube Goldberg. The lesson uses Rube Goldberg’s work to teach students about simple machines, how they function and their design principles. Working in groups, the students then design and create a Rube Goldberg machine that can complete a simple task. Students ...

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Engineering from farm to table lesson

In this lesson students are invited to become food and fibre engineers to research how wheat, the largest agricultural crop in Australia, gets from the farm to the table. Students take an in-depth look at the wheat industry in Australia exploring how wheat is grown, harvested, processed, utilised, and exported. Students ...