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

Curriculum content descriptions

Explain how student solutions and existing information systems are sustainable and meet current and future local community needs (ACTDIP021)

Elaborations
  • using sustainability criteria to explain how well students solutions meet requirements, for example personal data are secured (social) and the solution can only be viewed on screen to avoid printing (environmental)
  • explaining why people interact so readily with touch systems, for example touch input requires less dexterity to issue instructions and is designed to be accessible to users through the use of icons
  • imagining how the functioning of one type of information system could be applied in a new way to meet a community or national need, for example considering how an electronic tracking system such as a global positioning system (GPS) could be used to find people who are lost
  • comparing past and present information systems in terms of economic, environmental and social sustainability, including those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
  • exploring the ethics and impact of management practices on the use of communication networks, for example internet censorship from a local, national and global perspective and the impact on freedom of access and expression
  • considering opportunities and consequences of decisions for future applications, for example practices to save energy and other resources when using information systems, such as switching off when not in use, ensuring electronic devices are in energy-saving mode
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
  • Personal and social capability Personal and social capability
  • ICT capability Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability
  • Ethical understanding Ethical understanding
ScOT terms

Social relations,  Communities,  Information management

Online

Creating a digital game

This is a unit for Year 6 from the Scope and sequence resources from the DT Hub. The topic of creating a digital solution is organised into four key elements. Use this flow of activities to plan and assess students against the relevant achievement standards. Students follow the problem solving process to design and create ...

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.

Online

Sustainable travel

In this sequence of learning, students design and pitch ideas for an app that informs users of the cost associated with various forms of transport. They investigate the costs and environmental impact of forms of transport, including public transport. They then explore ideas for designing an app to allow commuters to track ...

Online

Collaborative project

This is a unit for Year 6 from the Scope and sequence resources from the DT Hub. The topic of collaboration and protocols is organised into four key elements. Use this flow of activities to plan and assess students against the relevant achievement standards. Using a relevant context such as disaster management, students ...

Online

Home/school communications

In this lesson sequence, students use big data sets and school surveys, to design (and as an extension activity, make) a new digital communication solution for the school.

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Computational thinking poster

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

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Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies: years 5-6

This PDF provides a line of sight from content descriptions to achievement standards.

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Exploring digital systems unplugged: networks: years 5-6

This PDF provides activities in which students identify features of digital systems, and create models to demonstrate their operations. Students are encouraged to demonstrate their understanding of Domain Name Servers (DNS), routing, and transmission control and internet protocols (TCP/IP).

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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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Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies years 5-6 Digital Systems assessment task: Staying fit, healthy and sun-safe: Teacher booklet

This document provides suggestions for using digital systems to encourage fit and healthy activity. It is the second in a series of four resources.

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Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies years 5-6 Digital Systems assessment task: Staying fit, healthy and sun-safe: student task portfolio

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

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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 ...

Online

AI image recognition - exploring limitations and bias

A hands-on activity to practise training and testing an artificial intelligence (AI) model, using cartoon faces, including a discussion about sources of potential algorithmic bias and how to respond to these sources.

Online

Anti-bullying AI

Sometimes we write and post things on social media in a hurry. Such posts can hurt people and even make them feel bullied. Wouldn't it be great if an Artificial Intelligence application could check our posts as we write them, and warn us if they were potentially hurtful?

Video

Artificial Intelligence Explainers: Video 2: AI in our everyday life | Digital Technologies Hub

In this video we look at the ways AI is making decisions that can affect your daily life. Discover some AI applications that are designed to make our lives easier. See how a machine can be considered smart as it performs human-like behaviours such as recognising speech, text, images and being able to reason. This is the ...

Online

Learning to loop

Students create algorithms with a condition that tells the computer to repeat a sequence of instructions.

Online

Data bias in AI

Artificial intelligence can sometimes be biased to certain shapes or colours. When such AI systems are applied to situations that involve people, then this bias can manifest itself as bias against skin colour or gender. This lesson explores bias in AI, where it comes from and what can be done to prevent it.

Online

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.

Downloadable

DT Challenge - 5/6 Blockly - Intro to Micro:Bit

Learn how to program a BBC micro:bit using Blockly. No experience required. Learn the basics of programming in Blockly with our full BBC micro:bit simulator.

Video

An introduction to artificial intelligence and machine learning

This video is the first of a series of 5 explainers on artificial intelligence. It discusses why it is a challenge for a computer to easily recognise one object from another. Discover how a machine learns using labelled images rather than following a specific set of rules and how AI connects with human learning.