Australian Curriculum on Design and Digital Technologies
Introduction
With the emergence of digital technologies, the learning needs of children have greatly modified and thus teaching of design and technologies and digital technologies has been considered as mandatory for all learning communities. Clearwater Primary School is also beginning to realize the importance of 21st century learning practices and thus teaching of design and technologies and digital technologies is considered crucial for all learning communities. The underlying report has chosen to focus on middle learning community which encompasses years 3 and 4. The needed resources for supporting learning of middle learning community are divided into two categories; design and technologies and digital technologies. The two resources are ipad and Interactive whiteboards (IWB) respectively.
Identification and Justification of Resources
iPad for learning of middle learning community in design and technologies
ipad is widely used as a learning resource within schools and it is recommended to be used in Clearwater primary school. Ipad offers an opportunity of collaborative learning to the children, whereby learning no more remains confined to the school (Burnett et al., 2017). The learning resources are accessible for students all the time. It allows enhanced ownership to children regarding their learning and thus they are more likely to invest in their own learning prospects (Walsh, & Farren, 2018). Additionally, the peer collaboration is also an important feature which allows grade 3 to 4 years students to make learning fun by engaging with their friends, either they are at school or at home.
Justification of using ipad for design and technologies
As per the guidelines of Australian Curriculum, students in years 3 and 4 are required to create designed solutions with the aid of digital tools, whereby harnessing of creative ideas is carried out to achieve designed solutions. Ipad is likely to offer enhanced level of autonomy to these students, such that they can practically harness their ideas using different applications and can implement their ideas for production of any designed solution (Burnett et al., 2017). For instance, students can learn about modeling of objects and creation of three dimensional images using ipad. As furthered by Australian curriculum (AC), learning in design and technology for years 3 and 4 students allows them to reflect on their actions, and to develop their decision making skills (Australian Curriculum, 2020c). Through digital creation of designs by using ipad, students can modify their design, for example three dimensional image, and can make decision regarding their desired design. In similar way, features of graphical representation of ipad can also be used by students to express their ideas in clear manner (Burnett, 2017). Likewise, documentation of design can also be learned by students, such as by recognizing the use of drawing symbols and by learning to use flow diagrams (Walsh, & Farren, 2018). All these learning objectives are well aligned with the description of AC and thus ipad, as a resource, is suitable for helping achieve the design and technologies learning objectives for junior level learning community.
IWB for learning of middle learning community in digital technologies
IWB is also known as smart board that is an appealing interactive display and can either be used in the form of standalone computer screen or a connectable system which manages different projecting screens (Aflalo, Zana & Huri, 2018). Through IWB standards lessons can be converted into interactive experience, where learning becomes enjoyable and reflection of learning is easy (Mariz, Stephenson & Carter, 2017). Additionally, high level of flexibility is offered by IWB and material can be displayed in the form of photos, graphs, illustrations or videos.
Justification of using IWB for Digital technologies
The use of peripheral devices to display information to students is highly way of enhancing skills and knowledge of students regarding digital technologies. Interactive whiteboard is an important instance of resource which practically shows the use of digital technology to students and thus they can practically view the importance of digital technologies in their education and school (Aflalo, Zana & Huri, 2018). As per AC, skills in digital technologies for 3 and 4 years students are concerned with development of computational thinking and recognizing the use of digital systems within schools and community (Australian Curriculum, 2020b). The creation of interactional adventures is focused in digital technologies curriculum, which can be well supported through use of IWB. A simple interactive experience using IWB can contribute in developing the digital skills of students (Mariz, Stephenson & Carter, 2017). The students can design their solutions through text, diagrams or in any other form. The sharing of ideas and extension of communication in online environment is also an important area of learning in digital technologies and it can also be supported by allowing students to interact with class mates through IWB (Gosain, 2016). The data collection and representation is also allowed through IWB and understanding of students regarding the usage of data can be enhanced. In conclusion, IWB is the most effective resources which can support digital technologies curriculum for junior level learning community and can help accomplish the learning goals of AC.
Pedagogical Process for implementing chosen resources
In order to support authentic learning of students in domain of design and technologies and digital technologies, reliance will be maintained on inquiry based pedagogical approaches. The reason for choosing this pedagogy is based on the notion that teaching of technological curriculum requires an open investigation which has closer ties with real world issues and that can encourage students to design solutions around real world issues (Kokotsaki, Menzies & Wiggins, 2016). Among inquiry based pedagogies, project based learning will be most widely used, as it allows open inquiry in real world context and allows continuous reflection of students to carry out sustained inquiry (Cintang, Setyowati & Handayani, 2017). However, in order to extend learning of students to higher level, other forms of inquiry based pedagogies will also be used, encompassing; problem based learning, challenge based learning and design based learning (Kaldi, Filippatou & Govaris, 2011). The inquiry based pedagogies allow greater autonomy to students and can serve the purpose of enhancing skills of students in technologies domain. (Leat, 2017) Additionally, the teacher’s role will mainly be to facilitate and scaffold the students’ learning. Likewise, students will be able to experience the 21st century realities and thus will be motivated to use technology for development of sustained and authentic solutions. This pedagogical approach is highly aligned with the stated learning goals of technologies curriculum.
Learning Activities
The learning activities are being formulated for two chosen resources, which are aligned with learning outcomes of design and technologies and digital technologies curriculum for junior level learning community.
Resource 1: Example learning activity that will make use of iPad
- The students will be asked to identify the process and to make a flow diagram of the process through which their favorite food item is delivered to them, by using their ipad. They will be given one week to collect data with the help of teacher.
- Followed by collection of data and understanding of the process with help of teacher, they will be required to design the flow diagram of the process.
- Each student will have discretion to add steps in the process which they think are most suited to the food production process for their favorite food item.
- This activity will be helpful in allowing the children to reflect their thoughts in the form of visual diagram. They will also learn the use of different symbols and their graphic skills will also improve. This activity is expected to enhance the creativity of students and will offer an opportunity to harness their thoughts in visual form.
Resource 2: Example learning activity through Interactive Whiteboard
- The interactive whiteboard activity will be comprised of assigning a designated area to students in school and they will be asked to observe the number of technological devices in that area.
- Followed by the collection of data, students will be required to make list of the technological devices.
- The students will be required to recognize two uses of each technological device and to prepare the map of it. They can use different symbols, pictures and labels with an aim of enhancing the presentation of their map.
- In the next step, they will be needed to represent same data in the form of table, where they can enlist devices in one column and can write down its uses in another column.
- This activity will enhance understanding of the student that same data can be represented in different forms. Likewise, the collection of data and its representation through use of different hardware and software systems as well as with peripheral devices.
