Design and technologies / Year 9 and 10 / Design and Technologies Knowledge and Understanding

Curriculum content descriptions

Explain how products, services and environments evolve with consideration of preferred futures and the impact of emerging technologies on design decisions (ACTDEK041)

Elaborations
  • considering how creativity, innovation and enterprise contribute to how products, services and environments evolve, for example how designers use biomimicry, the ways plant and animal adaptations can be copied to solve human challenges, such as the Japanese building Sendai Mediatheque based on seaweed-like tubes
  • exploring the ways commercial enterprises respond to the challenges and opportunities of technological change, for example e-commerce, and carbon footprint
  • explaining the consequences of social, ethical and sustainability decisions for products, services and environments, for example a managed public environment such as a theme park
  • predicting the impact of emerging technologies for preferred futures
  • constructing scenarios of how the future may unfold (forecasting) and what impacts there may be for society and particular groups, and back casting from preferred futures
  • recognising real-world problems and understanding basic needs when considering designed solutions, for example Engineers Without Borders High School Outreach Program allows students to design solutions to problems in a country in Asia
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
Cross-curriculum priorities
ScOT terms

Inventions,  Designers,  Futures education,  Design,  Enterprise (Behaviour)

Video

Precision Sheep Management: video

This is a video (4:09 min) about the University of New England’s Kirby Research Station and how its work with sheep has been transformed by technology, particularly the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag. The video is presented by members of the Enhanced sheep wellbeing and productivity research program and includes ...

Video

Why become an engineer?

Are you interested in improving the way people live? What are some of the other reasons Ashwini Ranjithabalan gives for wanting to be an engineer?

Video

Growing carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes are a very tiny but super strong material used in manufacturing to create strong, lightweight products. Besides sporting equipment, find out what other kinds of products are made using these tiny molecules. What other qualities (besides size and strength) do carbon nanotubes have that makes them even more ...

Video

Engineering clean rivers

Figuring out how to clean up contaminated rivers is a big challenge. It's also tricky to work out where the most contaminated parts of a river system are and whether its fish are safe to eat. Watch this video and learn how engineering has helped to solve these problems. Why do you think engineers looked to the bottom of ...

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Computing turns 60

This is a collection of eight articles that mark the 60th anniversary of the first computer in an Australian university. The series covers topics from the history of computing, its role in studying global health or species conservation, and how computers can help understand the brain.

Interactive

Thermal comfort – sustainability action process (Years 7–10)

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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Travel Times

Life would be very different today if we did not have modern transport. In this activity, students calculate the time it would take for humans to travel long distances through different modes of transport. They then analyse the impact of these technological developments.

Video

CERES Environment Park

This is a video about the sustainable not-for-profit agribusiness operated by the Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies (CERES) in inner Melbourne. CERES Environment Park runs an organic farm, fruit and vegetable delivery business, and delivers educational programs to schools. Presented by the ...

Video

Growing exotic fruit - a niche market enterprise

This is a video(3:15 min) about John and Lyndall Piccone’s exotic fruit orchard at Tyagarah in New South Wales. The resource describes how the property produces more than 200 different tropical and sub-tropical fruits with the harvest beginning in early spring. Successive harvests serve to maintain customer interest in ...

Interactive

Kitchen gardens – sustainability action process (Years 7–10)

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 ...

Video

Expert webinar video: Dr Rebecca Vivian - The CSER Digital Technologies Education Program

Dr Rebecca Vivian provides an overview of the CSER Digital Technologies Education Project from The University of Adelaide. The project includes free professional learning, a digital equipment lending library and a range of resources designed to support teachers in the implementation of the Australian Curriculum: Digital ...

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Supporting Digital Technologies curriculum in schools

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

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Digital Technolodgies in Focus: external evaluation - findings on a page

This PDF is a one-page summary of the key findings of an external evalation of the Digital Technologies in Focus project in Australia’s most disadvantaged schools.

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Supporting Implementation of Digital Technologies: Progress report – Focus on curriculum and pedagogy and learning outcomes (2019)

This PDF is an extensive report on the success of the Digital Technologies in Focus (DTiF) project, with a focus on curriculum and pedagogy and learning outcomes. The evaluation gathered qualitative data to create rich case study accounts of six schools' engagement in the project and its impacts and outcomes.

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Effective DTiF strategies

This PDF lists eight ways in which Digital Technologies in Focus (DTiF) supported the implementation of Digital Technologies in disadvantaged schools.

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Miller & Boix-Mansilla review: Thinking across perspectives and disciplines

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 ...

Audio

Faith Lutheran College – Podcast

This podcast includes information about the aims, challenges, insights and accomplishments of Faith Lutheran College's participation in the Digital Technologies in Focus project.

Online

MoneySmart: How teachers can use MoneySmart

This MoneySmart web page is designed to enable teachers to get the most out of ASIC's MoneySmart Teaching program and resources. It guides teachers on where to find information on being a MoneySmart teacher, professional development for teachers, primary and secondary teaching resources, and tips and tools to help with ...

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Supporting the Implementation of Digital Technologies in Disadvantaged Schools: Case study of impact, outcomes and sustainability (2020)

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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Good teaching practice with Digital Technologies

This PDF lists seven characteristics of good teaching practice in the Digital Technologies curriculum.