1

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

SciTechSciTechSciTech

We l c o m e t o t h e We l c o m e t o t h e We l c o m e t o t h e S c i e n c e a n d Te c h n o l o g y KS c i e n c e a n d Te c h n o l o g y KS c i e n c e a n d Te c h n o l o g y K ——— 6 6 6

eee --- n e w s l e t t e rn e w s l e t t e rn e w s l e t t e r This e-newsletter is designed to inform and support K—6 teachers in the area of

Science and Technology.

2

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

Inside this issueInside this issue

Contents and Welcome 2

Australian Curriculum: Technologies Where to from here? 3

The Australian Curriculum: Technologies—a NSW perspective 4

Improving Food and Agriculture Education 5

Electricity Safety Week 6

enviroweek 6

National Computer Science School (NCSS) Challenge 7

Teacher workshop CUSP 8

Resources 9

Contact us 10

Welcome back to Term 3!

In the first week of the holidays Sandra McKee (TAS Advisor 7-12) 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 net-

working opportunities . Best of all, it was free! Although particularly pitched at high school

it was good to gain insight into what will be expected of our year 6 students as they transi-

tion into year 7. We only found out about it at the last minute 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, there is one last National

Panel consultation meeting and a few more tweaks to get it right before it is up for viewing

on the ACARA website mid-September. Hopefully we will see a finalised curriculum in De-

cember 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.

The draft Australian Curriculum: Technologies was released for na-

tional consultation on 20 February 2013. It is available for viewing

or downloading from the Australian Curriculum consultation web-

site.

The NSW Department of Education and Communities conducted

extensive consultation with teachers, school leaders, regions, and

professional associations. This included a series of videoconfer-

ences and focus groups and an on-line survey. In addition, a Power-

Point presentation outlining the main features of the draft curricu-

lum was produced and is still available for use on the Curriculum

Support website.

The Department’s survey is now closed and the responses have

been collated and analysed. Feedback from all sources were incor-

porated in the Department’s response. The Board of Studies will

incorporate our response as part of the final combined NSW re-

sponse and present this to ACARA in May.

Technologies including a timeline of the writing and implementation schedule, can be found on the

ACARA website.

4

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

Draft Australian Curriculum: Technologies

Where to from here?

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 Aus-

tralian 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.

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

In the meantime, we must become familiar with the four new syllabuses through the opportunities

offered on the NSW syllabuses for the Australian Curriculum website where you will find courses and re-

sources to support your teaching.

5

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

Improving Food and Agriculture Education

The Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER) survey results found 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 Feder-

al 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 education

resources which will be linked to the Australian curriculum aimed at informing students of food produc-

tion, 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, cloth-

ing 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 For-

estry , 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 help make available new food, fibre and agriculture- related education re-

sources. 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

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

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

The initiative will fund:

Online and printed curriculum resources

Professional development seminars for existing

and trainee teachers

6

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

Electricity Safety Week

Registrations are now open to NSW primary schools to receive a free interac-tive prize pack to help engage their students in Electricity Safety Week (ESW) from

9-13 September 2013.

ESW is a state-wide program designed to teach students how to be safe around electricity by raising awareness of the hazards associated with it.

Developed with the Department of Education and Communities, the resources offered by Aus-grid, Endeavour Energy and Essential Energy are designed to help teachers meet the Science & Technology and PDHPE curriculums for years K-6.

Register your school before Friday, 23 August and you will receive the following items in the in-teractive prize pack:

Activity booklet – electricity safety activities for years K-6 Student prizes – rechargeable torches and electricity safety stickers Electricity safety posters – display these around your school and classrooms Certificate of achievement – photocopy and distribute this to your students Additional items – other exciting teaching and learning resources

To complete your registration, please email your name, school, address and preferred email ad-dress to esw@primary-pr.com or call 02 9212 3888.

enviroweek 25-31 August

This is a great opportunity to promote positive choices for

building a sustainable future. See the enviroweek website for information about the chal-lenge.

Regis

trati

ons n

ow

open

for

Ele

ctr

icity S

afe

ty

7

© 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. (There are a number of primary school students

from stage 3 who have previously joined the challenge and have been very successful.)

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.

Visit the website—there are some excellent teaching resources and ideas and access to the software

you’ll need to get you started.

8

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

R e s o u r c e sR e s o u r c e s

Workshop for teachers

When: Saturday 27 July.

Where: Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre,

1 Powerhouse Rd, Casula

Time: 10am – 4pm. Cost: $70.

Information and bookings.

9

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

R e s o u r c e sR e s o u r c e s

Some great activities, resources and

teaching ideas from Australian For-

est Education Alliance (AFEA) focus-

sing on Australian forests and forest-

based

This is definitely worth a look! Some

excellent resources from

CoolAustralia.org with a focus on ener-

gy production and sustainability. De-

veloped to support the Australian Cur-

riculum—be careful to ensure you pick

and choose in line with NSW syllabus

content.

10

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

Science and Technology curriculum contacts:

Tanya Coli Yvonne Hughes

tanya.coli@det.nsw.edu.au yvonne.hughes@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