Digital technologies / Year 7 and 8 / Digital Technologies Knowledge and Understanding

Curriculum content descriptions

Investigate how data is transmitted and secured in wired, wireless and mobile networks, and how the specifications affect performance (ACTDIK023)

Elaborations
  • explaining that networks have components that control the movement of data, for example routers, hubs, switches and bridges manage data traffic and that the characteristics of these components impact on the operation (speed and security) of networks
  • explaining how cellular radio towers (transceivers) and mobile phones work together to create mobile networks
  • comparing the reliability and speed of transmitting data through wireless, wired and mobile networks
  • recognising that there are different communications protocols for transmitting data in networks, for example hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) is used for transferring web page files in a browser, file transfer protocol (FTP) is used for sending and receiving any files over a network and transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) is used for controlling file transfers over the internet
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
  • ICT capability Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability
ScOT terms

User interfaces,  Computers,  Transmission control protocols,  Internet,  Data security

Video

How do computers get hacked?

What are some examples of cyber crime? Watch this clip to find out how viruses, denial of service attacks (DDoS) and phishing scams work. What is a botnet? And how are they used by hackers to bring down websites? Most of the time computers get hacked because of simple mistakes users make. What can users do to better protect ...

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How 'binary information' is communicated via the internet

Ever wondered how your photos, emails and messages get sent between devices? Watch as software engineer Tess Winlock explains what binary information is, and how it gets from one place to another. Can you explain what 'bits' are? How about 'bytes'? In the past, binary information was sent using physical systems like semaphore ...

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Learning about computer languages

What happens when you type a web address or url into your computer and press enter? Watch this clip to find out! Computers and servers talk to each other in a language called HTTP. What are the messages they send and recieve mostly about? HTML is another language, one that tells a web browser how to make a web page look. ...

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Systems thinking

Find out about Systems thinking. 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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Digital systems

Find out about Digital systems. 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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Get connected

This is a unit for Year 7 from the Scope and sequence resources from the DT Hub. The topic of digital systems is organised into four key elements. Use this flow of activities to plan and assess students against the relevant achievement standards. Students develop an understanding of the properties of networked systems and ...

Video

What makes the internet run reliably?

Watch this clip to see software engineer Lynn Root and co-creator of the internet Vint Cerf explain what keeps the internet running reliably. When information is sent on the internet, it is broken down into packets that are able to take a number of routes to get from one computer to another. Why might this be important? ...

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User interface

Find out about User interface. 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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Good teaching practice with Digital Technologies

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

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Newsletter – October 2020

This newsletter from the Digital Technologies in Focus project includes information about schools' projects, the Australian Curriculum, and useful resources.

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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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Faith Lutheran School

Faith Lutheran College is a secondary co-educational independent school in Plainland, Queensland. It has more than 700 students and was established in 1999. Sarah Atkins is the curriculum officer who works with the school to support implementation of the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies. Teachers at the school ...

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Newsletter – July 2020

This newsletter from the Digital Technologies in Focus project includes information about schools' projects, assessment tasks, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, the Australian Curriculum, and useful resources.

Audio

St James Catholic College – Podcast

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

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Networks and performance

This is a unit for Year 8 from the Scope and sequence resources from the DT Hub. The topic of digital systems is organised into four key elements. Use this flow of activities to plan and assess students against the relevant achievement standards. Students develop a basic understanding of the terms speed, bandwidth, throughput ...

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St James Catholic College – Final report

This report provides details of St James Catholic College's participation in the Digital Technologies in Focus project, including a Research question, criteria for success, data collection, resources, challenges, milestones and next steps.

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Computer chatter 2: Network performance

In this lesson sequence students build on and extend their knowledge of networks and discuss an inquiry question about Wi-Fi speeds and handling bulk of data transfer needs.

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Creating a digital start line and finish line with micro:bits: years 7-8

This PDF provides a sequence of activities in which students create algorithms to measure the time taken for a vehicle to travel from a starting line to a finish line. Students connect micro:bits and laser receiver sensors to measure time, then create programs to undertake the timing using visual and general-purpose programming.

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Planning an action research project to facilitate implementation of Digital Technologies

This document includes ideas for planning and developing action research projects to facilitate implementation of digital technologies.