Techtalk t3 2013 by NSW Department of Education

Term 3, 2013

TECHtalk

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

Inside this issue Contents and Welcome

Draft Australian Curriculum: Technologies - Where to from here?

The Australian Curriculum: Technologies—a NSW perspective

Improving Food and Agriculture Education

National Computer Science School (NCSS) Challenge

Inspirational…

Resources: AFEA, Cool Australia, Gamemaker

Resources: Seeing Machines, Australian Dress Register

Design Thinking

“Recycled Resources”—Culture and Design Virtual Gallery

11-12

Resources

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 informed about next year’s event. On a quieter note, the Australian Curriculum: Technologies is now in it’s final stages of development. 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!

Draft Australian Curriculum: Technologies Where to from here? The draft Australian Curriculum: Technologies consultation concluded in May. ACARA analysed the results 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 Curriculum: Technologies, outlining the development process, the roles of ACARA and NSW Board of Studies, unpacking the organisational and structural features, providing feedback on our consultation process 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:

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

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

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

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Read the draft Australian Curriculum: Technologies and start to identify areas in your own professional learning that need updating. Digital Technologies will prove challenging 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.

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 reminded 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 Education 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 syllabus 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

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, careers 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 understanding 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 Forestry , 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 cover primary and secondary subjects, including science, geography, technologies and health and physical education. The goals of the initiative are to: 

Enhance the teaching of agriculture

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

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Increase the profile of agriculture among teachers, career advisers and students

The initiative will fund: 

Online and printed curriculum resources

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Professional development seminars for existing and trainee teachers

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

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Networking of agriculture teachers currently employed in schools “

National Computer Science School (NCSS) Challenge 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 teacher—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. 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 Sunday the 8th of September. Enrolments 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 significant programming experience, or who have completed the Intermediate 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 Challenge 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.

Inspirational... 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 enormous potential. Caine's Arcade has inspired millions, and launched a movement to foster creativity 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 social 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!

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

Resources 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 excellent resources from CoolAustralia.org with a focus on energy production and sustainability. Developed to support the Australian Curriculum—be careful to ensure you pick and choose in line with NSW syllabus content.

Looking to expand your Digital Technologies skills and knowledge? Or perhaps engaging student activities to introduce aspects of Digital Technologies? 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.

Resources SeeingMachines—great for innovation case study. Products include DSS (Driver Safety System) eye-tracking fatigue management system and advanced eye-tracking software powering Toshiba world’s first glasses-free 3D laptop. On May 28, 2013, Caterpillar Global Mining announced an alliance agreement with Seeing Machines to deliver and support operator fatigue monitoring technology using patented cuttingedge eye tracking technology to detect operator fatigue and distraction and to alert the mine controller and the machine operator.

The Australian Dress Register is a collaborative online database initiative by the Powerhouse Museum. Originally only covering entries 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 access 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 museums and collectors share information about significant garments in their collections with the wider community.

Design Thinking A 90 minute online design challenge that takes you step by step through a process of Design Thinking. Great application of a design process, focussing on identification of needs, iterative development, collaboration and prototyping. 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 atâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;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.

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

“Recycled” Resources Sometimes we forget about amazing resources 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 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 considerable cultural significance to them and their family. Discover the world through soft furnishings features 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 contemporary influences of a particular culture for a room in a new international hotel.

The Culture and Design Virtual Gallery was a joint project between the Technology Curriculum 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.

Soft sculptured dolls exploring cultural stories encouraged students to investigate the influence of culture on design and to develop an appreciation of cultural diversity by analysing designed objects and artefacts of cultural significance. It features a soft sculptured textile art doll designed by students reflecting the cultural, historical and contemporary influences of a particular culture.

“Recycled” Resources (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 people of significance and develop an appreciation of the cultural diversity of others within their cohort. The project provided opportunities to extend 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 There are sample teaching and learning sequences provided for each of the units in the Student and using the film design process. 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.

2013 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS TECHNOLOGY COMPETITIONS In 2013, the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Wollongong is offering the following Technology Competitions. All competitions are based on work done by the students 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 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 Development Workshop When: Saturday 27 July. Where: Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, 1 Powerhouse Rd, Casula Time: 10am – 4pm. Cost: $70. Info and Bookings

We would love you to join us on our Facebook page:

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, 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 readerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s discretion. The inclusion of product and event information is not an endorsement by the DEC.

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