The technological areas provide contexts for learning. At primary school, teachers will generally take a cross-curricular approach, with students learning in the technological areas as part of a topic or theme that encompasses several curriculum learning areas. This approach can also be applied in years 9 and 10, before students begin to specialise in particular technological areas.
Digital technologies
The first two of the five technological areas focus on developing students’ capability to create digital technologies for specific purposes. In years 1–8, these two areas are usually implemented within other curriculum learning areas, integrating technology outcomes with the learning area outcomes. These two areas also significantly contribute to students developing the knowledge and skills they need as digital citizens and as users of digital technologies across the curriculum. They also provide opportunities to further develop their key competencies.
By the end of year 10, students’ digital technological knowledge and skills enable them to follow a predetermined process to design, develop, store, test and evaluate digital content to address a given issue. Throughout this process, students take into account immediate social and end-user considerations. They can independently decompose a computational problem into an algorithm that they use to create a program incorporating inputs, outputs, sequence, selection and iteration. They understand the role of systems in managing digital devices, security and application software, and they are able to apply file management conventions using a range of storage devices.
By the end of year 13, students who have specialised in digital technologies will design and develop fit-for-purpose digital outcomes, drawing on their knowledge of a range of digital applications and systems and taking into account a synthesis of social, ethical and end-user considerations. They understand how areas of computer science such as network communication protocols and artificial intelligence are underpinned by algorithms, data representation and programming, and they analyse how these are synthesised in real world applications. They use accepted software engineering methodologies to design, develop, document and test complex computer programs.
Computational thinking for digital technologies
Computational thinking enables students to express problems and formulate solutions in ways that means a computer (an information processing agent) can be used to solve them.
In this area, students develop algorithmic thinking skills and an understanding of the computer science principles that underpin all digital technologies. They become aware of what is and isn’t possible with computing, allowing them to make judgments and informed decisions as citizens of the digital world.
Students learn core programming concepts and how to take advantage of the capabilities of computers, so that they can become creators of digital technologies, not just users. They develop an understanding of how computer data is stored, how all the information within a computer system is presented using digits, and the impact that different data representations have on the nature and use of this information.
Designing and developing digital outcomes
In this area, students understand that digital applications and systems are created for humans by humans. They develop increasingly sophisticated understandings and skills for designing and producing quality, fit-for-purpose, digital outcomes. They develop their understanding of the technologies people need in order to locate, analyse, evaluate and present digital information efficiently, effectively and ethically.
Students become more expert in manipulating and combining data, using information management tools to create an outcome. They become aware of the unique intellectual property issues that arise in digital systems, particularly with approaches to copyright and patents. They also develop understandings of how to build, install, and maintain computers, networks and systems so that they are secure and efficient.
Students develop knowledge and skills in using different technologies to create digital content for the web, interactive digital platforms and print. They construct digital media outcomes that integrate media types and incorporate original content. They also learn how electronic components and techniques are used to design digital devices and integrated to assemble and test an electronic environment.
Designing and developing materials outcomes
In this area, students develop knowledge and skills that enable them to form, transform and work with resistant materials, textiles and fashion. This allows them to create both conceptual and prototypic technological outcomes that solve problems and satisfy needs and opportunities. They develop knowledge about the systems, structures, machines and techniques used in manufacturing products, and they use manufacturing and quality assurance processes to produce prototypes and batches of a product.
Students’ thinking becomes more and more reflective, critical and creative as they assess and critique materials outcomes in terms of quality of design, fitness for purpose, and impact and influence on society and the environment. Students become increasingly skilled in applying their knowledge of design principles to create innovative outcomes that realise opportunities and solve real-world problems.
Designing and developing processed outcomes
In this area, students develop knowledge of the materials and ingredients used to formulate food, chemical and biotechnological products. They form, transform and manipulate materials or ingredients to develop conceptual, prototypic and final technological outcomes that will meet the needs of an increasingly complex society.
Students engage in a range of processes related to food technology, biotechnology, chemical technology and agricultural technologies. They explore the impact of different economic and cultural concepts on the development of processed products, including their application in product preservation, packaging and storage. They also develop understandings of the systems, processes and techniques used in manufacturing products and gain experience from using these, along with related quality assurance procedures, to produce prototypes or multiple copies of a product.
Students demonstrate increasingly critical, reflective and creative thinking as they evaluate and critique technological outcomes in terms of the quality of their design, their fitness for purpose and their wider impacts. They become more and more skilled in applying their knowledge of design principles to create desired, feasible outcomes that resolve real-world issues.
Design and visual communication
In this area, students learn to apply design thinking. They develop an awareness of design by using visual communication to conceptualise and develop design ideas in response to a brief. In doing so, they develop visual literacy: the ability to make sense of images and the ability to make images that make sense. They apply their visual literacy through using sketching, digital modes and other modelling techniques to effectively communicate and present design ideas.
Students learn that designers identify the qualities and potential of design ideas in terms of the broad principles of design (aesthetics and function) and of sustainability. They also understand that designers are influenced by human, societal, environmental, historical and technological factors.