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

Curriculum content descriptions

Design, modify and follow simple algorithms involving sequences of steps, branching, and iteration (repetition) (ACTDIP019)

Elaborations
  • following a diagram of a simple method of sorting numbers or words
  • following, modifying and describing the design of a game involving simple algorithms represented diagrammatically or in English, for example creating a flowchart with software that uses symbols to show decisions, processes and inputs and outputs
  • experimenting with different ways of representing an instruction to make a choice, for example branches in a tree diagram or using an ‘IF’ statement (a common statement used to branch) to indicate making a choice between two different circumstances using a spreadsheet or a visual program
  • experimenting with different ways of representing an instruction to make a repetition, for example loops in a flowchart diagram or using a ‘REPEAT’ statement
  • designing the instructions for a robot, for example a robot vacuum cleaner to clean a room
  • using different design tools to record ways in which digital solutions will be developed, for example creating storyboards or flowcharts to record relationships or instructions about content or processes
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Numeracy Numeracy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
  • ICT capability Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability
ScOT terms

Decision making,  Design,  Algorithms

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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 ...

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Activities that promote Digital Technologies concepts and incorporate Numeracy: part 4: Tessellations

This video provides suggestions for ways in which Digital Technologies can be used to develop students' learning in the Numeracy Learning Progression.

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Algorithms

Find out about algorithms. 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.

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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.

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Scratch 2.0 tutorial

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions to support the learning of Scratch, a visual programming language. The tutorial is designed for educators who would like to learn how to use Scratch.

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Heads or tails

In this lesson we show how to transition from a visual based programming language to using a text-based programming language using the example of a heads or tails coin toss application.

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Sphero: Catch me if you can

By years 5 and 6 many students may have had some experience with a visual programming language such as Scratch or Blockly that is the basis of the Hour of Code. Sphero will take the screen based control of an image to the next level by introducing a robotic device controlled by a visual programming language. This lesson ...

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Programming for Water Management

This unit of work introduces students to the potential of digital technologies to manage and conserve water resources in Australian agriculture. It assumes that students and teachers have little or no prior programming experience and provides a series of introductory activities to build students' understanding of the basic ...

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Maker spaces

Find out about Maker spaces. 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.

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Computational thinking in the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies

This video provides an overview of computational thinking and how it can be taught in the context of other learning areas.

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Scratch 3.0 tutorial

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions to support the learning of Scratch, a visual programming language. The tutorial is designed for educators who would like to learn how to use Scratch.

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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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Problem solving process

This is a unit for Year 5 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 ...

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Computational thinking cut out cards

This set of printable cards provides definitions of six aspects of computational thinking.

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Flow Chart

This resource is a web page containing a sample flow chart. The flow chart shows multiple pathways depending on the answer to questions identified as a decision (diamond shape). A printable resource is also available to support the task. This resource is an activity from the NRICH website.

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Can a computer recognise your sentiment?

This lesson plan enables students to explore how Natural Language Processing (NLP), a subset of Artificial Intelligence (AI), is used to assess and categorise a user’s online comments. (AI is the ability of machines to mimic human capabilities in a way that we would consider 'smart'.)

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Fun projects with language translation

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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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.

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Classroom ideas: Micro:bit environmental measurement (visual programming): years 5-6

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 and visual programming.

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Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies key concepts mapping: years 5-6

This PDF uses colour coding to provide a line of sight between key concepts, content descriptions and achievement standards in the Digital Technologies subject in the Australian Curriculum.