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

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Learn how to code the micro:bit to use the radio! In this DT Mini Challenge, you can create wireless networks to send pictures and messages around the room! You'll start by sending simple messages, but work up to making your own interactive games with your friends! Dive on in and you'll be sending secret messages in no time!

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Control a turtle and draw amazing pictures with code. In this challenge you'll learn the fundamentals of programming by using instructions to position a turtle on the screen, drawing lines, patterns and shapes in the same way computers draw images. Computers use the input from users and the environment to give us feedback ...

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This brief lesson provides an introduction to coding MakerBots (mBots) using a block language. It provides introductory information about the robot's sensors, motors and microcontroller so students can control the mBot.

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This sequence of lessons explores how conditions in the environment can impact on learning. Through investigating the environmental influences on our classroom, and learning environments such as light, noise and temperature, students collect data and identify the optimal learning environment.

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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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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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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.

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We can program a computer to play music. Conventionally this is done by hard coding, which is the process of coding all possible expected behaviours. Alternatively, we can train an artificial intelligence (AI) computer about what notes go well with others, so it can play a duet with a human musician. Students can make their ...

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Ever wondered how your photos, emails and messages get sent between devices? Watch as software engineer Tess Winlock explains what binary information is, and how it gets from one place to another. Can you explain what 'bits' are? How about 'bytes'? In the past, binary information was sent using physical systems like semaphore ...

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Students explore aspects of animal adaptation prior to applying their knowledge to construct their own digital creature using littleBits electronic sets.

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

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

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

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This video explains the progress that Bethany Christian School has made in the Digital Technologies in Focus project. It is the first in a series of four.

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This video explains the progress that Bethany Christian School has made in the Digital Technologies in Focus project. It is the last in a series of three.

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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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This webpage features archived newsletters from the Digital Technologies in Focus project. The newsletters include information about schools' projects, assessment tasks, the Australian Curriculum and resources.

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This video is a summary of a progress report into the implementation of Digital Technologies in the Alyangula Area School.

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This report provides details of St James Catholic 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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This podcast includes information about the aims, challenges, insights and accomplishments of Green Hill Public School's participation in the Digital Technologies in Focus project.

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St Mary’s Primary School, Moruya, is a small school on the south coast of New South Wales on the Traditional Lands of the Yuin Peoples. Established in 1847, it has about 250 students enrolled, 15 per cent of whom identify as Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander. Kim Vernon is the curriculum officer who works with the ...

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

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This unit plan outlines how digital systems can be used to encourage fit and healthy activity. It is the first in a series of four resources.

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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 first in a series of three.

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This newsletter from the Digital Technologies in Focus project includes information about schools' projects, visual programming, the Australian Curriculum, and useful resources.

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Mossman State School is a government school located in Mossman, Queensland, on the Traditional Lands of the Kuku Yalanji Peoples. Beth Claydon is the curriculum officer who works directly with the school to support the implementation of the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies. Teachers at the school have chosen ...

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Bethany Christian School is an independent school just north of Adelaide located in Paralowie, South Australia on the Traditional Lands of the Kaurna People. It is an F-6 school, with 543 students, and of those, approximately 48% are EAL/D. Steve Grant is the curriculum officer who works with the school to support implementation ...

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This video explains the progress that Bethany Christian School has made in the Digital Technologies in Focus project. It is the second in a series of three.

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This document illustrates the network of people and resources that make up South Kalgoorlie Primary School's Professional Learning ecosystem.

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This document illustrates the network of people and resources that make up St Mary's Primary School's Professional Learning ecosystem.

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The Leading Curriculum Change Using an Ecosystem Approach: Digital Technologies in focus: Supporting implementation of Digital Technologies evaluation report (June 2021) reports on ACARA’s National Innovation and Science Agenda funded project for the period June 2016 to June 2021. This report is highly relevant to those ...

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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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This PowerPoint supports the assessment task, Staying fit, healthy and sun-safe. It is the last in a series of four resources.

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This PDF suggests board and card games that are useful for exploring Digital Technologies key concepts and key ideas.

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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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This newsletter from the Digital Technologies in Focus project includes information about schools' projects, assessment tasks, the Australian Curriculum, useful links, and resources.

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This video explains the progress that South Kalgoorlie Primary School has made in the Digital Technologies in Focus project. It is the first in a series of four.

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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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This newsletter from the Digital Technologies in Focus project includes information about schools' projects, information for parents and teachers, the Australian Curriculum, and useful resources.

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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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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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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.

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This article explores how children’s innate understanding of systems can be developed through deliberate educational programs that support systems thinking. This can happen by encouraging students to identify patterns, consequences and feedback (loops) associated with social, environmental and economic problems; and by ...

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

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

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This newsletter from the Digital Technologies in Focus project includes information about schools projects, the Australian Curriculum, and useful resources.

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This podcast includes information about the aims, challenges, insights and accomplishments of Mossman State School's participation in the Digital Technologies in Focus project.

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This video explains the progress that Bethany Christian School has made in the Digital Technologies in Focus project. It is the final in a series of four.

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This video explains the progress that South Kalgoorlie Primary School has made in the Digital Technologies in Focus project. It is the last in a series of four.

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In this audio file teachers from Casino West PS share their experiences in developing a Digital Technologies program in the school, They chose to focus on creative and critical thinking.

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This newsletter from the Digital Technologies in Focus project includes information about schools projects, the Australian Curriculum, and useful resources.

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This video explains the progress that Wodonga South Primary School has made in the Digital Technologies in Focus project. It is the last in a series of four.

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This document presents the milestones in St James Catholic College's participation in the Digital Technologies in Focus project.

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This video explains the progress that South Kalgoorlie Primary School has made in the Digital Technologies in Focus project. It is the third in a series of four.

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This video explains the progress that St Mary's Primary School, Moruya, has made in the Digital Technologies in Focus project. It is the third in a series of four.

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This article explores how the relationship between systems thinking and computational thinking would provide a conceptual basis for transformational change – change that considers the social and environmental impact of technology.

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This newsletter from the Digital Technologies in Focus project includes information about schools' projects, workshops, computational thinking, the Australian Curriculum, and useful resources.

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This report reviews recent research literature in the areas of teacher capacity, integration of STEM disciplines, active learning and student engagement and participation to help inform the world of practice. The literature review was restricted to STEM practices in primary schools.

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Green Hill Public School is a small school located in Kempsey, New South Wales, on the Traditional Lands of the Djangadi/Dhangatti Peoples. It has recently expanded from a K–4 to a K–6 school. It has 28 students, 96 per cent of whom identify as Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander. Green Hill Public School was a finalist ...

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This report provides details of South Kalgoorlie Primary School'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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This report provides details of St Mary's Primary School'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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This video explains the progress that Wodonga South Primary School has made in the Digital Technologies in Focus project. It is the first in a series of four.

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This document presents the milestones in Mossman State School's participation in the Digital Technologies in Focus project.

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This document illustrates the network of people and resources that make up Green Hill Public Hill's Professional Learning ecosystem.

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This video explains the progress that Wodonga South Primary School has made in the Digital Technologies in Focus project. It is the third in a series of four.

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This PDF provides ideas for using QR codes in classrooms to generate discussion about data representation and digital systems: how they work, who uses them and for what purposes. The resource also includes a simple tutorial on creating and using QR codes.

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This PowerPoint supports the years 5-6 assessment task, How do digital systems represent data?

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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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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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This newsletter from the Digital Technologies in Focus project includes information about school projects, data representation, the Australian Curriculum, and useful resources.

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This document illustrates the network of people and resources that make up Mossman State School's Professional Learning ecosystem.

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This video explains the progress that Bethany Christian School has made in the Digital Technologies in Focus project. It is the second in a series of four.

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This PDF outlines Green Hill Public School's proposal to participate in the Digital Technologies in Focus project.

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This document presents the milestones in South Kalgoorlie Primary School's participation in the Digital Technologies in Focus project.

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This document presents the milestones in St Mary's Primary School's participation in the Digital Technologies in Focus project.

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This webpage provides details of ten workshops that focus on understanding and implementing the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies. The workshops are provided for Digital Technologies in Focus project schools and, where possible, schools not involved in the project.

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

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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.