Digital Technologies Nsw Syllabus

This year I have returned to work part time having taking maternity leave to look after my daughter. I am currently working two days a week as Primary School Innovation Teacher at Emanuel School. My role is two fold. Firstly I am teaching visual coding and secondly I am working with teachers to integrate engaging technologies into their teaching programs. I felt the first step in this role was to gain a better understanding of the new Science and Technology syllabus for NSW schools, in particular the Digital Technologies content strand. So this post is a brief overview of the syllabus.

The new Science and Technology syllabus is being implemented across all schools this year. The syllabus fosters a sense of curiosity and wondering about the world and how it operates. It encourages big picture thinking for the scientific and design processes. Through the new syllabus students will develop skills to pose problems, answer questions and develop innovative design solutions.

The new syllabus includes a content strand called Digital Technologies. This strand has an emphasis on design and production of digital solutions. Digital Technologies gives students the power to create technology based solutions to problems. Students explore automated tasks and then develop solutions by creating their own software using visual coding.

Digital Technologies is different to integrations of Information Computer Technologies (ICTs). When students use ICTs effectively they are able to select which tool is the most suitable for a task, for example using GarageBand to create a podcast. Digital technologies involves grappling with how ICTs work and understanding literacy in coding that allows the technology or digital system to be created. The focus is on an approach to thinking that generates solutions.

Central to Digital Technologies is computational thinking. Computational thinking is about creative ways to find a better solution to doing something. It is a problem solving process where the goal is to produce a systematic solution to a problem. The process of computational thinking involves using strategies to organise data logically, break down a problem, interpret patterns and then create and implement solutions.

Design Thinking is also a key to the Digital Technologies syllabus outcomes. This is a process where a need is identified and a design solution is developed. Design Thinking requires consideration of social, environmental and economic impacts of potential solutions. The process involves exploring the problem, generating ideas and honing a design based on testing and evaluation.

The NSW syllabus outcomes are arranged using the following codes:

• Science and Technology
• Stage number
• Outcome number
• Skill or strand
• Science or technology

The strand code for Digital Technologies is DI. Below are listed the outcomes in the NSW Digital Technologies Syllabus:

• Kindergarten: A student identifies digital systems and explores how instructions are used to control digital devices (STe-7DI-T)
• Years 1-2: A student identifies the components of digital systems and explores how data is represented (ST1-11DI-T)
• Years 3-4: describes how digital systems represent and transmit data (ST2-11DI-T)
• Years 5-6: explains how digital systems represent data, connect together to form networks and transmit data (ST3-11DI-T)

Perhaps the most daunting element of the new Digital Technologies syllabus is visual coding. This falls under the content strand ‘Digital systems and their components’. The underlying concept of visual coding is recording sequences and instructions. Below is the progression in the Primary School years:

Kindergarten:

• Follow and describe a sequence of steps.
• Design a process to solve an identified problem.

Years 1-2:

• Follow and represent sequences of steps and decisions (algorithms) to solve problems, for example follow and represent sequences of steps and decisions (algorithms).
• Test and evaluate the effectiveness of steps and decisions (algorithms) in solving a problem.

Year 3-4:

• Describe and follow a sequence of steps and decisions (algorithms) to solve defined problems involving branching and user input.
• Design and produce digital solutions using a visual programming language.

Years 5-6:

• Design a user interface for a digital system, for example developing a storyboard for a game.
• Define problems, and plan and implement digital solutions, using an appropriate visual programming language involving branching and iteration, and requiring user input.