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

Video

Unplugged Activity: What is computer science?

Do you know what a computer programmer does? Watch as some experts in the field explain. For more information on the activities introduced in this video, visit http://learn.code.org/s/1/level/1

Video

Hour of Code: Chris Bosh teaches Repeat Until statements

The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics. In this video, basketball star Chris Bosh explains the difference between a Repeat Until command and a Repeat Loop command. This is the third of seven clips in the Hour of Code tutorial. ...

Video

Unplugged Activity: Computational Thinking

This video introduces one of code.org's unplugged activities. It discusses a lesson on Computational Thinking, designed to show you how to take a big difficult problem and turn it into several simpler problems. The goal of the lesson is for a group of students to write a set of instructions for another group of students ...

Video

Hour of Code: Bill Gates explains If statements

The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics. In this video, Bill Gates, creator of Microsoft introduces the If statement. He explains that the If statement is a fundamental concept in computer programming. By demonstrating the use ...

Video

Hour of Code: Introduction

The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics.  This video explains what computer science is and what a computer programmer does. This is the first of seven clips in the Hour of Code tutorial. To try your hand at coding visit learn.code.org

Video

MathXplosion, Ep 46: Can you solve the Three Cups Problem?

Find three cups, place them in a line and turn one cup facing down. Can you get all three cups facing down after making exactly three moves? The one rule is: for every move, two cups must be flipped simultaneously. Since the goal is to get all three cups facing down (an odd number) and you start with one cup facing down ...

Online

Game-based learning

Find out about Game-based learning. Use this topic from the Digital Technologies Hub to learn more, get ideas about how to teach about it, find out what other schools are doing and use the applications and games in the classroom.

Online

Robotics

Find out about robotics. Use this topic from the Digital Technologies Hub to learn more, get ideas about how to teach about it, find out what other schools are doing and use the applications and games in the classroom.

Interactive

Design thinking across the curriculum

This cross-curriculum resource is designed to introduce Stage 2, 3 and 4 students to the design thinking process through a series of videos and interactive activities. This resource is also downloadable as a SCORM file: the downloaded version will only work if you upload it to a webserver, such as Moodle or Canvas.

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Collecting data about litter in the community: years 3-4

This PDF provides activities for collecting, analysing and representing data about litter in the local community. It prompts students to consider the implications of rubbish in the local environment, and suggests actions students can take in order to reduce litter.

Text

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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Makey Makey interactive poster: years 3-4

This PDF provides instructions for students to create an interactive poster using a Makey Makey and the visual programming language Scratch. A Makey Makey is an electronic circuit board, which, when connected to a computer, allows everyday objects to function as keyboards.

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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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Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies years 3-4 Digital Systems sample assessment task: Cooling the school

This document provides a scaffold to teach and assess students’ understanding of how digital systems can be used to monitor and collect information used for mapping and making judgements about the environment. Students record information using digital systems to investigate a school need, then design solutions to improve ...

Video

Expert webinar video: Professor Tim Bell – Computational thinking

In this video, Professor Tim Bell discusses helpful ways of understanding and teaching computational thinking, a key idea of the Australian Curriculum: Technologies.

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Computational thinking poster

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

Video

Expert webinar video: Nathan Alison, Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria (DLTV): Focus on systems thinking. How do we teach it well?

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.

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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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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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Mossman State School – Project proposal

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