1

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

TE

CH

TE

CHtalktalk

Welcome to the TAS/Technologies

e -Newsletter The TECHTalk e-Newsletter is designed to support

teachers of all TAS/Technology subjects Years 7 — 12.

Term 3, 2013

2

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

Inside this issueInside this issue

Contents and Welcome 2

Draft Australian Curriculum: Technologies - Where to from here? 3

The Australian Curriculum: Technologies—a NSW perspective 4

Improving Food and Agriculture Education 5

National Computer Science School (NCSS) Challenge 6

Inspirational… 7

Resources: AFEA, Cool Australia, Gamemaker 8

Resources: Seeing Machines, Australian Dress Register 9

Design Thinking 10

“Recycled Resources”—Culture and Design Virtual Gallery 11-12

Resources 13

Contact us 14

Welcome back to Term 3!

While every term is busy, Term 3 is probably the busiest for many TAS teachers! With HSC Trials

fast approaching, Year 12s madly finishing off their MDP/MTP/MP and HSC Itinerant Practical

Marking for many teachers, then End of Preliminary Exams - things get really hectic—and that’s

just thinking about Stage 6!

In the first week of the holidays Yvonne Hughes (SciTech K-6 Advisor) and I attended the CS4HS

Workshop run by the School of IT at Sydney Uni. This Google sponsored educational incentive was

fantastic, both as an introduction to programming and for the excellent networking opportunities .

Best of all, it was free! I only found out about it at the last moment, but promise to keep you in-

formed about next year’s event.

On a quieter note, the Australian Curriculum: Technologies is now in it’s final stages of develop-

ment. We should get a look at the next draft in July, have one last National Panel consultation

meeting, a few more tweaks to get it right, up for viewing on the ACARA website mid-September

and then hopefully see a finalized curriculum in December 2013. Where we in NSW go from there

will be up to the Minister and the NSW Board of Studies, but I’ll keep you posted!

3

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

Draft Australian Curriculum: Technologies

Where to from here?

The draft Australian Curriculum: Technologies consultation concluded in May. ACARA analysed the re-

sults of it’s national consultation process, identified areas that needed review and the final stages of

writing are now underway. We hope to see the curriculum released in December. But what will that

mean for TAS teachers in NSW?

We recently produced a recorded Adobe Connect

session to update teachers about the Australian Cur-

riculum: Technologies, outlining the development

process, the roles of ACARA and NSW Board of Stud-

ies, unpacking the organisational and structural fea-

tures, providing feedback on our consultation pro-

cess and, finally, suggesting a possible course for

NSW.

While we still have a long way to go there are some

important points to take on board now:

Do not use the draft Australian Curriculum: Technologies document for planning and programming.

Continue to use the existing syllabuses for all TAS/Technology subjects until otherwise informed by

the BOS

Use this time wisely to evaluate your current teaching and learning programs

Read the draft Australian Curriculum: Technologies and start to identify areas in your own profes-

sional learning that need updating. Digital Technologies will prove chal-

lenging for many of us!

We should see a final draft of the Australian Curriculum: Technologies F-10 in

September. It will be available on the ACARA website for viewing.

4

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

The Australian Curriculum

Technologies—a NSW perspective

Just in case you missed this important information in last term’s edition...

There has been much confusion amongst teachers and school leaders about the draft Australian

Curriculum: Technologies—when and how will it be implemented in NSW?.

In the memorandum to principals issued by the Board of Studies on 31 July 2012 we were re-

minded that for all subjects other than the four Phase 1 subjects (English, Mathematics, Science,

History) it was “business as usual” until otherwise advised by the BOS. This includes all TAS/

Technology subjects.

In NSW we will not use the Australian Curriculum directly. We must wait until syllabuses incorporating

the Australian Curriculum content are developed by the Board of Studies and approved by the Minister

for implementation in NSW schools. That is because The Board of Studies is responsible under the Educa-

tion Act 1990 for developing the curriculum for Kindergarten to Year 12 in NSW.

Courses of study in a key learning area are to be based on, and taught in accordance with, a sylla-

bus developed or endorsed by the Board and approved by the Minister. Education Act 1990 – Part 3

Division 1

Any syllabus developed or endorsed by the Board for a particular course of study is to indicate the

aims, objectives and desired outcomes in terms of knowledge and skills that should be acquired

by children at various levels of achievement by the end of specified stages in the course, and any

practical experience that children should acquire by the end of any such stage. Education Act 1990 -

Sect 14

At this stage NSW has made no commitment to the implementation of the Australian Curriculum for

Phase 2 and Phase 3 subjects.

The Board of Studies will follow its regular cycle of curriculum evaluation and review which will

identify priorities for curriculum renewal. When a current syllabus or learning area is identified for

renewal the Board will take the opportunity to incorporate Australian curriculum content. NSW

BOS Memorandum To Principals July 2012

Unlike the Phase 1 subjects this may occur over a period of time rather than as

one rollout.

So while many of your work colleagues are busy familiarising themselves with the

new NSW syllabuses for the Australian Curriculum to be implemented in 2014

(English, Mathematics, Science, History) all TAS/Technology subjects will continue

5

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

Improving Food and Agriculture Education

We’ve all heard about the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER) survey results where 75% of

students thought cotton socks were an animal product and 45% of students could not identify that everyday

lunchbox items such as a banana, bread and cheese originated from farms. To help rectify this situation the

Federal Government recently committed $1.5 million to agricultural education as part of the National Food

Plan to ensure Australian students learn about where their food comes from.

The Government program, Food in the Australian Curriculum, will involve the development of educational

resources which will be linked to the Australian curriculum aimed at informing students of food production,

increasing the profile of agriculture among teachers, ca-

reers advisors and students, and helping to attract a new

generation of young people into agriculture.

“Our young students do not have enough of a basic un-

derstanding of where their food, clothing and building

materials come from.” Primary Industries Education

Foundation (PIEF) Chair, Cameron Archer said.

On 24 June 2013 The Hon Sid Sidebottom MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forest-

ry , spoke at the AgriFood Skills Environmental Scan Launch in Canberra and stated:

“This Food in the Australian Curriculum initiative will help Australian students understand better where their

food and fibre comes from, how it is produced and the important role of food and fibre producers.

The initiative will help make available new food, fibre and agriculture- related education resources. It will cov-

er primary and secondary subjects, including science, geography, technologies and health and physical educa-

tion.

The goals of the initiative are to:

Enhance the teaching of agriculture

Attract a new generation of young people into agriculture and related careers

Increase the profile of agriculture among teach-

ers, career advisers and students

The initiative will fund:

Online and printed curriculum resources

Professional development seminars for existing

and trainee teachers

Career advice materials based on local, food-related labour market opportunities

Networking of agriculture teachers currently employed in schools “

6

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

National Computer Science

School (NCSS) Challenge

The NCSS Challenge is an online

programming competition for high

school students, run by the School

of Information Technologies at the

University of Sydney.

The NCSS Challenge will run from

Monday the 5th of August to Sun-

day the 8th of September. Enrol-

ments are now open.

The Challenge is unlike any other

programming competition because

it teaches you how to program as

you compete rather than expecting

you to be a coder already.

In 2013, there are three streams to the Challenge:

Beginners stream - for students with no prior experience at programming;

Intermediate stream - for students who have completed the Beginners stream, and those who have

some experience in programming;

Advanced stream - for students who know Python and have signifi-

cant programming experience, or who have completed the Inter-

mediate stream in previous years.

For 5 weeks starting on 5th August, 2013, you will be emailed a short

tutorial containing the information you needed to complete the week's

programming challenges.

You will have until Sunday night to submit your solutions to the Chal-

lenge website, where they will be marked automatically. A full set of

correct solutions, hints and commentary about each challenge will be

sent out the following week.

If you teach IST, IPT or SDD you probably already know about this excellent challenge! If you're looking

for ways to develop skills and knowledge in Digital Technologies, for both teachers and students, this

could be for you. If you’re not ready to commit a whole class to the challenge, enrol and do it as a teach-

er—you’ll learn to code using Python - a general purpose programming language. If the 5 week period of

the Challenge doesn’t suit your school context, go to the website and investigate the full year access to

the materials available for $30.

Visit the website—there are some excellent teaching resources and ideas as well as free access to the

software you’ll need to get you started.

7

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

Inspirational...

But the story doesn’t end there… Caine’s Arcade 2: From a

Movie to a Movement looks at what has happened one year on,

and the Global Cardboard Challenge inspired by one little boy.

Caine’s story sparked a school pilot program to teach kids STEM

(Maths, Technology, Engineering and Science) through project

based learning.

“The idea is to not only give kids the tools to build the things

that they could imagine, but to also imagine the world that they

could build.”

If you ever doubted that what you do is important, watch the following feel good video Caine’s Arcade:

This is the story of 9 year old Caine, who

spent his summer building an elaborate

cardboard games arcade inside his dad's

used auto parts store.

Most people saw a little boy with a

bunch of cardboard boxes, but one man

saw a child with imagination and enor-

mous potential.

Caine's Arcade has inspired millions, and

launched a movement to foster creativi-

ty and entrepreneurship in kids, via the

Imagination Foundation

If you enjoyed that, check out the interview Beyond

Caine’s Arcade on TEDx. It explores the power of so-

cial networking and the almost contagious desire to

make something using nothing more than cardboard

and your imagination.

The idea of fostering creativity and entrepreneurship

is nothing new to us—that’s what we do! But it’s nice

to see it being valued and appreciated by others

around the world!

8

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

ResourcesResources

Some great activities, resources and

teaching ideas from Australian Forest

Education Alliance (AFEA) focussing on

Australian forests and forest-based

products.

This is definitely worth a look! Some ex-

cellent resources from CoolAustralia.org

with a focus on energy production and

sustainability. Developed to support the

Australian Curriculum—be careful to en-

sure you pick and choose in line with

NSW syllabus content.

Looking to expand your Digital Tech-

nologies skills and knowledge? Or

perhaps engaging student activities to

introduce aspects of Digital Technolo-

gies? This one is fun—watch out you

can waste a lot of time on this site—

but learn lots too!

Download GameMaker:Studio and try

the tutorials if you’re not sure where

to start.

9

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

ResourcesResources

SeeingMachines—great for innovation

case study. Products include DSS

(Driver Safety System) eye-tracking

fatigue management system and ad-

vanced eye-tracking software power-

ing Toshiba world’s first glasses-free

3D laptop.

On May 28, 2013, Caterpillar Global

Mining announced an alliance agree-

ment with Seeing Machines to deliver

and support operator fatigue monitor-

ing technology using patented cutting-

edge eye tracking technology to de-

tect operator fatigue and distraction

and to alert the mine controller and

the machine operator.

The Australian Dress Register is a collabora-

tive online database initiative by the Power-

house Museum. Originally only covering en-

tries with NSW provenance and with a cut-off

date of 1945, it has recently been expanded

to include all Australian states and territories

and extend to 1975. It provides students ac-

cess to real life stories and historical contexts

surrounding the design, production and use

of textile items in Australia. The user’s guide

is fantastic! This resource will only continue

to grow and improve as more Australian mu-

seums and collectors share information about

significant garments in their collections with

the wider community.

10

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

Design ThinkingDesign Thinking

A 90 minute online design challenge

that takes you step by step through a

process of Design Thinking. Great ap-

plication of a design process, focussing

on identification of needs, iterative

development, collaboration and pro-

totyping. Adapt the task to suit your

context and students. A great way to

introduce design thinking to students.

The preview to this documentary on

Design and Thinking is worth viewing.

Another excellent site for Design Thinking and

another design process to explore. The

Toolkit is free to download and definitely

worth looking at—the Designers workbook

walks you through a process of design and

prompts students to question, test, elaborate,

sketch, refine ideas , prototype, modify . Be

selective and use the bits that suit.

11

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

“Recycled” Resources“Recycled” Resources

Sometimes we forget about amazing re-

sources we’ve seen in the past. Sometimes

we need inspiration in the form of seeing

what others are doing just to kick start an

idea.

The Culture and Design Virtual Gallery was a

joint project between the Technology Curricu-

lum unit, the Multicultural Programs unit and

the staff and students of St George Girls High

School, Kiama High School and Northern

Beaches Secondary College: Manly Selective

Campus. The gallery is divided into two rooms:

In the Textiles Technology room we see three

culturally inspired units of learning:

Threads of Culture features video-recorded

presentations where students relate personal

stories about textile items that hold considera-

ble cultural significance to them and their family.

Discover the world through soft furnishings fea-

tures the research findings and finished products

of a furnishings project. Students were asked to

design and construct two cushions or a wall

hanging reflecting the cultural, historical and con-

temporary influences of a particular culture for a

room in a new international hotel.

Soft sculptured dolls exploring cultural stories

encouraged students to investigate the influ-

ence of culture on design and to develop an

appreciation of cultural diversity by analysing

designed objects and artefacts of cultural sig-

nificance. It features a soft sculptured textile

art doll designed by students reflecting the

cultural, historical and contemporary influ-

ences of a particular culture.

12

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

“Recycled” Resources “Recycled” Resources (cont.)(cont.)

In the “Design and Technology Room” we find

Micro documentary: culture and design. Students

develop an understanding of individual cultural

heritage by identifying objects, artefacts and peo-

ple of significance and develop an appreciation of

the cultural diversity of others within their co-

hort. The project provided opportunities to ex-

tend ICT skills through use of industry standard

software; develop writing skills and use industry

standard production templates and use a range

of project management methods while providing

insight into the cultural life of students from

across the state. The short videos analyse

objects or artefacts and reveal the stories

behind them, or examine the influence of

a chosen culture on a student’s life,

identifying and exploring cultural links

using the film design process.

There are sample teaching and learning sequences

provided for each of the units in the Student and

Teacher Resources section :

Use and modify a unit of work provided on this

site or write your own unit of work to incorporate

the exhibition task in your teaching.

Use the resources on this site for independent or

group research by students about a culture.

Use the resources on this site as a teacher directed

supplement to a unit of work.

13

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

2013 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 2013 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS

TECHNOLOGY COMPETITIONSTECHNOLOGY COMPETITIONS

In 2013, the Faculty of Engineering at the University of

Wollongong is offering the following Technology Competi-

tions. All competitions are based on work done by the stu-

dents as part of their planned assessment. Follow the

links below for Registration

details and Closing Dates for

entries:

NSW Engineering Studies Competition Year 11 & 12

NSW Design & Technology Competition Year 11 & 12

NSW Industrial Technology Competition Year 11 & 12

NSW Industrial Technology Competition Year 9 & 10

Secondary Student Design Study LabSecondary Student Design Study Lab

When: Thursday 8 August

Where: Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, 1 Powerhouse Rd, Casula

Time: 9:30am–2:15pm. Cost: $10 Info and Bookings

Teachers Design Professional Develop-Teachers Design Professional Develop-

ment Workshopment Workshop

When: Saturday 27 July.

Where: Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, 1 Powerhouse Rd, Casula

Time: 10am – 4pm. Cost: $70. Info and Bookings

14

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013

TAS/Technologies curriculum contact:

Sandra McKee

TAS Advisor Years 7-12 Secondary Education Directorate Learning and Leadership Portfolio Level 3, Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, 2010, NSW T: (02) 9266 8514

sandra.mckee4@det.nsw.edu.au

The non-DEC products and events listed in this eNewsletter are to be used at the reader’s discretion. The inclusion of product and event information is not an

endorsement by the DEC.

We would love you to join us on our

Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/technologies.curriculum