Rationale
This rationale complements and extends the rationale for the Technologies learning area.In a world that is increasingly digitised and automated, it is critical to the wellbeing and sustainability of the economy, the environment and society, that the benefits of information systems are exploited ethically.
Aims
In addition to the overarching aims for the Australian Curriculum: Technologies, Digital Technologies more specifically aims to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to ensure that, individually and collaboratively, students:design, create, manage and evaluate sustainable and innovative digital solutions to meet and redefine current and future needs
Structure
The Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies (F–10) comprises two related strands:Digital Technologies knowledge and understanding – the information system components of data, and digital systems (hardware, software and networks)
PDF documents
Resources and support materials for the Australian Curriculum: Technologies are available as PDF documents.Digital Technologies: Sequence of content
Technologies: Sequence of achievement
Years 5 and 6
Years 5 and 6 Band Description
Learning in Digital Technologies focuses on further developing understanding and skills in computational thinking such as identifying similarities in different problems and describing smaller components of complex systems. It also focuses on the sustainability of information systems for current and future uses.
By the end of Year 6, students will have had opportunities to create a range of digital solutions, such as games or quizzes and interactive stories and animations.
In Year 5 and 6, students develop an understanding of the role individual components of digital systems play in the processing and representation of data. They acquire, validate, interpret, track and manage various types of data and are introduced to the concept of data states in digital systems and how data are transferred between systems.
They learn to further develop abstractions by identifying common elements across similar problems and systems and develop an understanding of the relationship between models and the real-world systems they represent.
When creating solutions, students define problems clearly by identifying appropriate data and requirements. When designing, they consider how users will interact with the solutions, and check and validate their designs to increase the likelihood of creating working solutions. Students increase the sophistication of their algorithms by identifying repetition and incorporate repeat instructions or structures when implementing their solutions through visual programming, such as reading user input until an answer is guessed correctly in a quiz. They evaluate their solutions and examine the sustainability of their own and existing information systems.
Students progress from managing the creation of their own ideas and information for sharing to working collaboratively. In doing so, they learn to negotiate and develop plans to complete tasks. When engaging with others, they take personal and physical safety into account, applying social and ethical protocols that acknowledge factors such as social differences and privacy of personal information. They also develop their skills in applying technical protocols such as devising file naming conventions that are meaningful and determining safe storage locations to protect data and information.
Years 5 and 6 Content Descriptions
Years 5 and 6 Achievement Standards
By the end of Year 6, students explain how social, ethical, technical and sustainability considerations influence the design of solutions to meet a range of present and future needs. They explain how the features of technologies influence design decisions and how digital systems are connected to form networks.
Students describe a range of needs, opportunities or problems and define them in terms of functional requirements. They collect and validate data from a range of sources to assist in making judgements. Students generate and record design ideas for specified audiences using appropriate technical terms, and graphical and non-graphical representation techniques including algorithms. They plan, design, test, modify and create digital solutions that meet intended purposes including user interfaces and a visual program. Students plan and document processes and resources and safely produce designed solutions for each of the prescribed technologies contexts. They negotiate criteria for success, including sustainability considerations, and use these to judge the suitability of their ideas, solutions and processes. Students use ethical, social and technical protocols when collaborating, and creating and communicating ideas, information and solutions face-to-face and online.
By the end of Year 6, students explain the fundamentals of digital system components (hardware, software and networks) and how digital systems are connected to form networks. They explain how digital systems use whole numbers as a basis for representing a variety of data types.
Students define problems in terms of data and functional requirements and design solutions by developing algorithms to address the problems. They incorporate decision-making, repetition and user interface design into their designs and implement their digital solutions, including a visual program. They explain how information systems and their solutions meet needs and consider sustainability. Students manage the creation and communication of ideas and information in collaborative digital projects using validated data and agreed protocols.