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

Curriculum content descriptions

Acquire, store and validate different types of data, and use a range of software to interpret and visualise data to create information (ACTDIP016)

Elaborations
  • using digital systems to validate data, for example setting data types in a spreadsheet to make sure a date is input correctly
  • selecting and using peripheral devices suitable to the data, for example using a data probe to collect data about changing soil temperatures for plants, interpreting the data and sharing the results as a digital graph
  • recognising the difference between numerical, text and date formats in spreadsheets
  • using software to automate calculations to help with interpreting data, for example using functions to make arithmetic calculations using multiple cells and summing cell ranges
  • acquiring data from online sources by narrowing the focus, for example filtering data using provided options or performing queries using advanced search functions
  • using data visualisation software to help in interpreting trends, for example uploading data to a web application and building a visualisation of the dataset
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Numeracy Numeracy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
  • ICT capability Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability
ScOT terms

Data representation,  Information management,  Collation,  Data storage

Video

Data knowledge and skills tutorial: part 3 - structuring data in a spreadsheet

This video demonstrates ways in which data can be structured in spreadsheets. It is the third in a series of four.

Online

Home energy use

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions and sustainable energy use and are two of the major issues facing the world today. This project explores energy use in homes, and compares individual energy use with the class average and calculate and graph CO2 emissions.

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Supporting implementation of Digital Technologies and the ICT Capability: part 3

This video explains ways in which the Digital Technologies curriculum and the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) General Capability can be implemented in schools. This video is the last in a series of three.

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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.

Video

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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Books for exploring digital technologies concepts

This PDF provides a list of books that are useful for exploring key concepts and ideas in Digital Technologies.

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A–Z Digital Technologies vocabulary F–6

This PDF assists teachers in thinking about when and how to introduce Digital Technologies discipline-specific vocabulary.

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Digital Technologies resource types and resource mapping template

This three-page document gives suggestions for selecting and organising Digital Technologies resources, including physical equipment, unplugged activities and online links. It includes a simple template that may be helpful in documenting these.

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Classroom ideas: Micro:bit environmental measurement (visual and general-purpose programming): years 5-8

This tutorial shows ways in which environmental factors such as lighting and temperature can be measured and improved using micro:bits and sensor boards, and programmed using pseudocode, visual programming and general-purpose programming.

Online

Makey Makey boards

In this sequence of lessons students explore how electrical energy can be transferred and transformed in electrical circuits, using Makey Makey boards as the basis for experimentation and recoding of data.

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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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Supporting Digital Technologies curriculum in schools

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

Video

DTiF Classroom Exploring AI in the Classroom: Activity

Simon Collier, Digital Technologies in Focus Curriculum Officer, takes viewers though a lesson from the Digital Technologies Hub exploring how machine learning can be used to organise photographs.

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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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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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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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Planning an action research project to facilitate implementation of Digital Technologies

This PowerPoint presentation includes ideas for planning and developing action research projects to facilitate implementation of digital technologies.

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Digital Technologies in the Australian Curriculum: overview and key links

This PDF gives an overview of the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies. It includes key points from the rationale and a step-by-step process for becoming familiar with the structure of the curriculum to assist planning. The document also provides links to key documents and sections of the Australian Curriculum as ...

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Technologies: sequence of achievement in the Australian Curriculum

This Word document provides sequences of achievement standards for the Technologies learning area in the Australian Curriculum

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Micro:bit missions: Take a chance on me (Integrating Mathematics): years 6-8

This resource comprises two activities that allow students to explore the concept of chance in Mathematics. Students use computational thinking while using a micro:bit as a digital system to generate and collect data. Students implement programs involving branching and iteration in visual and general-purpose programming languages.