Techtalk t1 2015 by NSW Department of Education

Term 1, 2015

TECHtalk

We l c o m e t o t h e T A S / Te c h n o l o g i e s e-Newsletter The TECHTalk e-Newsletter is designed to support teachers of all TAS/Technology subjects Years 7—12.

Inside this issue New Anaphylaxis Procedures Anaphylaxis training Safety Alerts Minor Amendment to Stage 6 D&T Examination Specifications Professional Development in Wagga Wagga ESIS and CSIS Webinars Community and Family Studies (CAFS) update Archibull Prizes 2014 Landcare in Your School Animals in Schools Churchill Fellowship Young ICT Explorers Computational Thinking Challenge NAP ICT Literacy

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Term 1, 2015! Welcome to another year! Hope you are all well rested after the holidays and ready for the challenges that will inevitably arise in 2015. The Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management within the Curriculum P-12 Procedures have been published for immediate implementation. This means we need to be vigilant and ensure we are not using peanuts, nuts or nut products in any curricular or extracurricular activities. I am planning some professional learning to support the new procedures, so please send me any questions or concerns so I can make sure we cover everything. Make sure you note the Minor Amendment to Examination Specifications for Stage 6 Design and Technology. While the amendment is minimal, it may change the way we prepare students for answering Section III of the written examination. STEM is still high on the agenda. We will be running a STEM project in Term 2 so keep your eyes open for the Expression of Interest. Transition programs to bridge the gap between Stage 3 and Stage 4 are another area we are working on to support teachers and students. We will run a pilot program for Science and Technology (Stage 3) into Technology (Stage 4) and Science (Stage 4) this term. Hopefully we will develop some great resources to share. Enjoy the term!

ÂŠ State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2015

Sandra McKee

New Anaphylaxis Procedures The Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management within the Curriculum P-12 Procedures were published in SchoolBiz on 5 December 2014 for immediate implementation. These procedures are mandatory for all NSW government schools and preschools and apply to all subjects in all KLAs. The main message of the new procedures is:

The procedures are designed to assist all teachers when planning activities which may involve students in the preparation and/or sharing of food, to protect the health and safety of students and to support the Anaphylaxis Procedures for Schools. Schools should review all curriculum materials to make sure that peanuts, tree nuts and nut products are eliminated. This does not include ingredients or products labelled as ‘may contain traces of nuts’. Schools should not claim to be peanut or nut free. The procedures do not ban peanuts or tree nuts from schools as this would be difficult to enforce and may produce a false sense of security for students diagnosed at risk of anaphylaxis. We can ask our communities not to send foods containing nuts, but we can never guarantee that this request is adhered to. We can, however, ensure that as part of our duty of care we do not provide peanuts, tree nuts and nut products to be used in any curriculum or extra curricular activity.

Anaphylaxis training The Department's new Anaphylaxis e-learning (APTSs) module was launched in October 2014. This e-safety module replaces the ASCIA e-training and is mandatory every 2 years for all permanent, temporary and casual school based employees. The e-learning modules have been developed to provide all staff working in NSW Department of Education and Communities with essential information about recognising symptoms and providing an emergency response to anaphylaxis, a life threatening condition, together with information about key departmental policies and strategies to manage and support students diagnosed as being at risk of anaphylaxis.

Specialist Anaphylaxis Training (face to face) The NSW Anaphylaxis Education Training Program is the training provider for specialist (face to face) anaphylaxis training. The training is a mandatory requirement for all schools with a student(s) diagnosed at risk of anaphylaxis. Requests for training need to be made using the application form and submitted to the Children’s Hospital, Westmead.

Anaphylaxis FAQs I have already had questions from teachers seeking clarification about the Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management within the Curriculum P-12 Procedures. Professional learning in the form of recorded Adobe Connect to unpack the procedures, a video conference to allow interaction and questions and development of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) will take place in the coming months. The most common questions so far are about existing nut trees in agriculture plots and whether coconut and nutmeg are classified as tree nuts. Please send through any queries or concerns that the new procedures have caused and I’ll make sure we use the appropriate expert advice when answering them.

Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management within the Curriculum P-12 Procedures Please read the two Safety Alerts relating to Anaphylaxis have been issued by the Work Health and Safety Directorate this year. Safety Alert 53 refers to the Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management within the Curriculum P-12 Procedures and Safety Alert 54 refers to changes to the ASCIA Action Plans. All other Safety alerts may be found here.

ÂŠ State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2015

ASCIA Anaphylaxis Action Plans ASCIA (Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy) has updated the ASCIA Action Plan for Anaphylaxis. These latest 2015 versions are available at http://www.allergy.org.au/healthprofessionals/anaphylaxis-resources/ascia-action-plan-for-anaphylaxis.

ÂŠ State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2015

Stage 6 Design and Technology Minor Amendment to Examination Specifications The examination specifications for the Stage 6 Design and Technology have been slightly amended. Implementation of the amended examination specifications will commence for the 2015 HSC and beyond. The amendments to the examination specifications are:  

Section III will consist of one extended response question worth 15 marks (instead of being a structured extended response) The question will have an expected length of response of around four pages of an examination writing booklet (approximately 600 words) in total. (This part of the specification has not changed).

The amended examination specifications are available to download from the HSC syllabus page of the BOSTES website. For more information, contact: Peter Thompson Inspector, Technology Education peter.thompson@bostes.nsw.edu.au (02) 9367 8454 or Helen Bristow Manager, Examining and Testing helen.bristow@bostes.nsw.edu.au (02) 9367 8095

Professional Development in Wagga Wagga An HSC Marking workshop covering Stage 6 TAS subjects that have both a practical and written examination component will be held at Kildare Catholic College, Wagga Wagga on 26 March 2015. The workshop is a cross-sectoral collaborative venture of the Catholic Schools Office, Wagga Wagga (CSO), the Department of Education and Communities (DEC), BOSTES, the Association of Independent schools (AIS) and the Institute of Industrial Arts and Technology Educators. Details of the workshop and how to register will be advertised in SchoolBiz.

ÂŠ State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2015

ESIS and CSIS Webinars In November 2014, a series of professional learning webinars focusing on ESIS (Equipment Safety in Schools) and CSIS (Chemical Safety in Schools), were presented by Alan Smith and Barry Ledsam from Assets Management. The sessions were recorded on Adobe Connect. Below are the links to the recording. These resources are recommended for professional learning within your faculty, and may be particularly useful for early career teachers. Session 1:

ESIS (Equipment Safety in Schools) – using the database, user groups, usage controls, machine controls, instruction, supervision, PPE

Session 2:

CSIS (Chemical safety in Schools) – review 2014, Curriculum Support Documents Volume 2 Section 3.3 Technological and Applied Studies (TAS)

Community and Family Studies (CAFS) update While Community and Family Studies (CAFS) is not a TAS subject (it sits within PDHPE) it is still frequently taught by TAS teachers. The following information, provided by the PDHPE Advisor 7-12, is included for those of you teaching Stage 6 CAFS.

HSC ONLINE - COMMUNITY AND FAMILY STUDIES (CAFS) The Community and Family Studies - HSC Online module has been updated to reflect syllabus amendments for the 2015 HSC cohort. The materials for Groups in Context and Parenting and Caring have now been published at http://hsc.csu.edu.au/cafs/

Reminder The Stage 6 Community and Family Studies Syllabus has been amended. Implementation of the amended syllabus commenced in 2014 for the Preliminary course, with the first Higher School Certificate (HSC) examination in 2015. The Department of Education and Communities has developed a series of presentations and fact sheets to provide more information for teachers planning for syllabus implementation in 2014 and beyond. These can be used individually or by faculties or networks. HSC Community and Family Studies syllabus amendments Preliminary Community and Family Studies syllabus amendments Overview of Stage 6 Community and Family Studies syllabus amendments

For more information visit Stage 6 CAFS on PDHPE page on Curriculum Support.

ÂŠ State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2015

Archibull Prizes 2014 The annual Archibull Prize is an innovative and engaging in-school program that traverses the boundaries between rural providers and city consumers. The program is an agricultural and environmentally themed art competition for primary and secondary student groups aimed at bringing the farm into the classroom. It provides students with opportunities to meet young farmers and to gain knowledge and skills about the production of the food they eat, the fibres they produce and use and the environment in which they work and live. It creates an opportunity for students to work together to create an amazing artwork that tells the story of farming as they understand it. It raises awareness of exciting career pathways. It promotes change and fosters two-way conversations. It builds relationships between schools, industry, business and the community as students progress through the different elements associated with the Archibull Prize program. Students from 40 participating schools from across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria were invited to decorate life-size, fibreglass cows to showcase the grain, cattle and sheep, wool, cotton or dairy industries. Organiser Lynne Strong called the works “extraordinary and inspired – a feast of colour and creativity”. On Friday 14 November at Sydney Olympic Park Hurlstone, Agricultural College was announced as the overall 2014 winner with its dairy industry-inspired artwork ‘Ni Cow’. Their entry celebrated the newly-forged connections between the Australian and Chinese dairy industries. To learn more about Art4Agriculture and programs like the Archibull Prize please visit www.art4agriculture.com.au or contact: Lynne Strong lynnestrong@art4agriculture.com.au

Landcare in Your School Landcare in the Curriculum, produced by the Primary Industries Education Foundation (PIEF) and Landcare Australia, was recently launched in time for the 2015 school year. The curriculum resources include full lessons comprising engaging and easy-to-understand teaching and learning sequences. Though initially aimed at primary schools, many of the teaching and learning ideas are scalable for secondary classes. Former governor-general, the national Advocate for Soil Health, and Landcare Australia Patron, General Jeffery — who would like to see every school have a food garden — launched the curriculum resources at Beauty Point Public School in Sydney. “It’s up to us to link the dots and excite the younger generation about things that sustain us all, such as soil health and science – it can be fun!” General Jeffery said. Renowned chef and restaurateur Matt Moran, who was a keynote speaker at the 2014 National Landcare Conference, said: “There’s a growing interest in food and where it comes from. Food is not only a great source of pleasure but a great conversation starter too and through gardens and dining experiences it’s a great way of building communities.” “I think educating kids about food and its journey from the farm to the kitchen is a really positive thing – getting kids to think about how we can sustainably grow and enjoy the produce we all rely on and will continue to rely on into the future is an educational and really rewarding experience.” The Landcare in Your School Teachers Resource Guide is an excellent resource, providing practical ideas for adapting to individual school contexts. Real case studies of how other schools have used incorporated Landcare activities into their curriculum are provided. Landcare and the High School Curriculum (page 21) provides a series of lesson plans focused on Sustainable Agriculture that cover a range Stage 5 Agricultural Technology Syllabus Outcomes using practical activities and well developed worksheets.

Animals in Schools As of 2015 there will be a new Animals in schools website.

What does this mean for NSW teachers who use animals for educational purposes? It means: There are some changes to the categories of activities. These are limited and hopefully are more consistent and up to date with animal husbandry practices. There are no longer hard copy guidelines. All of the information that was once in the guidelines is now integrated into the new website. The notes for each species now include standards and guidelines. The standards are presented in a box at the beginning of each species section, and must be met by schools, in accordance with the requirements of the Animal Research Act. The guidelines are the desirable practices to achieve best practice. The species notes have been expanded. This will hopefully provide more information and references to assist teachers to not be compliant but achieve best practice in animal welfare. On-line application form submission. All application forms must be completed on-line and will be automatically submitted via email. The inclusion of a Latest Info facility. This will take the form of a moderated blog allowing teachers to post relevant current information that can be screened and made available to all users of the site. A more attractive and engaging website. The site includes many images, diagrams and videos that may be used as a teaching resource. The new address is: http://nswschoolanimals.com/ There will be redirect placed on the old site so that you will automatically be sent to the new site.

ÂŠ State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2015

Churchill Fellowship The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust is a company limited by guarantee that was established in 1965 after the death of Sir Winston Churchill. A Churchill Fellowship offers talented individuals the opportunity to travel to the far edges of the globe to conduct valuable research in their field and bring back knowledge, experience, ideas and innovation for the betterment of their industry and Australia. Applications opened on 3 November and close on 16 February 2015 for travel between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016. Download the Fellowship Application Package and apply online through the website at www.churchilltrust.com.au/apply.

Congratulations to Alesha Bleakley! In 2014, Alesha Bleakley, Cherrybrook Technology High School, was awarded the Northern Districts Education Centre (Sydney) Churchill Fellowship to study the dichotomy in technology education of the future, the role of hand skills and the role of CAD/CAM technology in the production of designed solutions - USA, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Finland.

ÂŠ State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2015

Young ICT Explorers Young ICT Explorers is a non-profit competition, which aims to encourage school students to create their best Information and Communication Technology (ICT) related projects. The competition’s alignment with the school curriculum enables students to apply what they learn in their ICT classroom to develop a technology related project of their choice. At the judging event, students have the opportunity to present their project to a judging panel of academia, industry partners and ICT professionals. Each project is assessed on the criteria of creativity, uniqueness, quality, level of difficulty and project documentation. In 2015 the NSW Competition will be held at the University of New South Wales in Kensington at the Scientia conference centre.

You can register your school from the 2nd of February 2015 with an approximate number of teams using our on-line registration tool. Please note the last day for registration is the 26th June 2015. Once your school is registered, teachers can then nominate their school teams, upload their project details and any attachments up until submission deadline – 24th July 2015.

Computational Thinking Challenge Bebras is an international initiative whose goal is to promote computational thinking for students in Year 3 - Year 12.

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Bebras is aligned with and supports the new Australian Curriculum Digital Technologies . The challenge is run by NICTA under the Digital Careers program, funded by the Australian Government. The challenges are made of a set of short questions called Bebras tasks and are delivered via the cloud. The tasks can be answered without prior knowledge about computational thinking, but are clearly related to computational thinking concepts. To solve the tasks, students are required to think in and about information, discrete structures, computation, data processing, and algorithmic concepts. Each Bebras task can both demonstrate an aspect of computational thinking and test the talent of the participant. Tasks are pitched at Stage levels. View sample tasks here. See Information for Teachers here. The Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge will be held from 16 - 27 March 2015 Register at www.bebras.edu.au

ÂŠ State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2015

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NAP ICT Literacy Between 13 October and 14 November 2014 approximately 12,000 students from in Year 6 and Year 10 representing 653 schools across Australia, participated in the fourth cycle of the National Assessment Program - ICT literacy (NAP-ICTL) sample assessment. NAP-ICTL was delivered in schools via online modules comprising purpose-built software applications carefully designed to reflect 'real world' ICT contexts that are familiar to students. The value of students becoming ICT-literate, global citizens who are creative and productive users of ICT forms the basis of the NAP-ICTL assessment domain and the development process. ACARA have produced a short video explaining the purpose of the NAP-ICTL sample assessment.

ÂŠ State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2015

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www.facebook.com/technologies.curriculum

TAS/Technologies curriculum contact: Sandra McKee TAS Advisor Years 7-12 Secondary Education Directorate Learning and Leadership Portfolio Level 3, 1 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, 2010, NSW T: (02) 9266 8514

sandra.mckee4@det.nsw.edu.au If you would like to be added to our TAS/Technology communication network please send me your details. If you do not want to receive future communications please send remove from communication network If you have feedback or suggestions for professional development or future articles please send me an email.

The non-DEC products and events listed in this e-Newsletter are to be used at the readerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s discretion. The inclusion of product and event information is not an endorsement by the Department.

ÂŠ State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2015