Design and technologies / Year 5 and 6 / Design and Technologies Knowledge and Understanding

Curriculum content descriptions

Investigate how and why food and fibre are produced in managed environments and prepared to enable people to grow and be healthy (ACTDEK021)

Elaborations
  • investigating and experimenting with different tools, equipment and methods of preparing soil and the effect on soil quality and sustainability including conserving and recycling nutrients, for example when designing a sustainable school vegetable garden or cropping area
  • describing the relationship between plant types and animal breeds and their environmental suitability when selecting suitable plants or animals for an environment
  • sequencing the process of converting ‘on-farm’ food or fibre products into a product suitable for retail sale, that is, the ‘paddock to plate’ supply chain, or when making yarn or fabric from fibre
  • using current food guides and government-endorsed food policies to plan food choices
  • experimenting with tools, equipment, combining ingredients and techniques to design and make food products or meals for selected groups for healthy eating taking into consideration environmental impacts and nutritional benefits
  • considering traditional and contemporary methods of food preparation used in a variety of cultures, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander methods
  • identifying work practices that show an understanding of nutrition, environmental considerations, hygiene and food safety when designing and making a food product, for example washing fruit and vegetables carefully to remove residues, safe disposal of cooking oils to avoid environmental damage, refrigerated storage of highly perishable foods
General capabilities
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
ScOT terms

Agriculture,  Farming systems,  Food miles,  Fibres (Materials)

Online

Exploring farms that produce our meat and wool

This is a teacher resource containing a sequence of activities relating to meat and wool production in Australia. It contains material to assist planning and implementing a study of where farmers live, where our meat and wool comes from, technologies used in production and resource management, and how farm environment and ...

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Engineering from farm to table lesson

In this lesson students are invited to become food and fibre engineers to research how wheat, the largest agricultural crop in Australia, gets from the farm to the table. Students take an in-depth look at the wheat industry in Australia exploring how wheat is grown, harvested, processed, utilised, and exported. Students ...

Online

Growing healthy plants using natural pesticides

Plants are vulnerable to pests and diseases. This learning activity is designed for children to: understand how to cultivate healthy plants using organic gardening methods; look to natural ingredients as a solution to ridding plants of unwanted pests and diseases; and know how to make a natural pesticide and evaluate the ...

Online

Untold education project: The invisible farmer

Invisible Farmer is the largest ever study of Australian women on the land. The project collects oral histories of women by creating interview-based video content. This website provides videos ,interview questions and suggestions to support teachers to guide students to create their own multimodal stories of women on the land.

Online

Future foods: Science and sustainability Years 5-6

This study guide explores the modern practices in sustainable farming and its role in the future of food production. It investigates the challenges Australian cattle and sheep farmers’ face and how science can help them to meet the challenge of sustainably feeding the world with a growing population and climate variability. ...

Online

Finding Farms

This is a teacher resource containing a series of inquiry teaching sequences about life on farms in Australia. It contains material to assist the planning, implementing and assessing a study of five primary industry sectors involved in food and fibre production. The tasks in this resource are based around illustrated maps ...

Online

Exploring sustainable practices in food and fibre production

This is a teacher resource containing a series of inquiry teaching sequences relating to sustainable management practices in food and fibre production. It contains material to assist planning, implementing and assessing a study of the sustainability of Australian primary industries. This resource includes links to a large ...

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Design and Make a Financial Plan for a Market Garden

This is a teacher guide providing suggestions for Maths activities based on designing a sustainable market garden and developing a budget for creating and maintaining the market garden as a profitable enterprise. It highlights the need for researching factors such as crop growing conditions and sales potential, and provides ...

Online

ThinkKind lesson plan archive

This is a collection of lesson plans addressing the ethical treatment of animals and animal welfare. The archive includes lessons focusing the on animal welfare in food production, the treatment of animals in horse racing and the animal needs. Each lesson contains teacher notes and student resources and is aligned to the ...

Online

Investigating technologies in agriculture

This is a teacher resource containing a series of inquiry teaching sequences about the role that technologies play in the production of food and fibre in Australia. It contains material to assist the planning, implementing and assessing a study of a range of primary industries and the innovative methods and equipment they ...

Online

Discovering past methods of food and fibre production

This is a teacher resource containing a sequence of activities for investigating the production of food and fibre in Australia’s past. It contains material to assist planning, implementing and assessing a study of past methods of food and fibre production in Australia including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Peoples’ ...