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© 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!
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© 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.
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© 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 “
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© 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.
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© 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!
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© 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.
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© 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.
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© 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.
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© 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.
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© 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.
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© 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
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© 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
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
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