Design and Technologies / Year 5 and 6 / Processes and production skills / Investigating and defining

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Curriculum content descriptions

investigate needs or opportunities for designing, and the materials, components, tools, equipment and processes needed to create designed solutions (AC9TDE6P01)

Elaborations
  • investigating First Nations Australians’ traditional fibre sources as potential commercial solutions for biodegradable string or rope, and researching the materials, systems, components, tools and equipment needed
  • surveying people in the school community about their needs in order to design an appropriate product, service or environment that addresses the need, for example planning the requirements for a community meal, creating more shade in the school by determining where trees could be planted or designing a security system for the community garden
  • investigating designed solutions from around the world to make suitable, quality decisions that meet needs or opportunities, for example locating information online about small-space gardening ideas from different countries and judging their suitability for the local environment
  • investigating the importance of complementary parts of working systems by deconstructing the components, structure and purpose of products, services or environments, for example labelling a diagram of a robotic weeder or vacuum cleaner and explaining the function of parts
  • testing a range of materials, components, tools and equipment to determine the appropriate technologies needed to make products, services or environments, for example the materials for a product such as a rubber-band-powered vehicle or item of protective clothing
  • investigating how to minimise material use and manage waste by comparing the environmental and social impacts of materials, components, tools and equipment, for example comparing the cost and environmental impact of repurposing an old item of clothing to create a carry bag with buying a new one, or using vegetable scraps to make a healthy soup versus buying takeaway soup
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and Creative Thinking
ScOT terms

Design thinking,  Materials,  Fibres (Materials),  Tools

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Thinking about the design process

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Watch as UNSW student and Blusat member William Frohlich talks about the design process. What are some of the important things to consider before you start to make a project? Why does William say it's important to be flexible with your designs? Design your own obstacle course for your family using objects from around your ...

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Design dilemma

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This series of lessons aims to develop awareness of the needs of diverse commuters on our public transport system. Students investigate the challenges involved in getting on and off public transport for users with additional needs, for example commuters in wheelchairs. They work collaboratively in teams to investigate possible ...

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Use your creative thinking skills!

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Ashwini Ranjithabalan from Women in Engineering and IT at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) sees engineering as the business of solving future problems. What are some of the challenges we (and our societies) might face in the future? Get some friends together and see if you can brainstorm a list. Now choose one ...

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Building spaghetti bridges

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Have you ever tried making a bridge out of dried spaghetti? What about a spaghetti bridge that can support a roadway and small car? Watch as teams of first-year university students reveal and test their designs. How did they decide what kind of bridges to build? Have a go at designing, testing and building your own spaghetti ...

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How to build a Mars rover

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Imagine if you were building a robot to help you explore Mars. That's exactly what these engineering students are doing. Watch this video to find out about their design process. How important do you think it is to test and review the final product after it has been built?

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And now to build the satellite!

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Once the design plan for a satellite is approved, it's important to identify the appropriate materials, tools and equipment needed to construct the new product. Watch this clip to find out what an engineer might do to select and test the components and techniques needed to build a satellite like NASA's MAVEN spacecraft. ...

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Interactive

Design thinking across the curriculum

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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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Waste and materials – sustainability action process (Years 3–6)

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This resource guides students through an extended school-based or local investigation focussed on waste and materials using the five-step sustainability action process. The resource supports the investigation of a real-world issue or problem. Students develop and implement a chosen sustainability action and then evaluate ...

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Thermal comfort – sustainability action process (Years 3–6)

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This thermal comfort learning resource will guide students through an extended school based investigation. Students will develop and implement a chosen sustainability action and then evaluate and reflect on their success and their learning.

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Kitchen gardens – sustainability action process (Years 3–6)

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This resource guides students through an extended school-based or local investigation focussed on kitchen gardens using the five-step sustainability action process. The resource supports the investigation of a real-world issue or problem. Students develop and implement a chosen sustainability action and then evaluate and ...

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In this lesson, students explore the life, work and times of Rube Goldberg. The lesson uses Rube Goldberg’s work to teach students about simple machines, how they function and their design principles. Working in groups, the students then design and create a Rube Goldberg machine that can complete a simple task. Students ...

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Voskoglou & Buckley review: Problem solving and computational thinking

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

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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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Expert webinar video: Dr Karen Joyce: Map my school

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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 article provides a literature review of how computational thinking fits into a school curriculum. The aim of the report is to provide educators with an overview of the current research in this field and the work that is being done in teaching computational thinking.

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