Download - Scitechtalk t3 2013
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© 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.
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© 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!
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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.
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.
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© 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.
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© 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
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© 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 [email protected] 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
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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. (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.
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© 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.
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© 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.
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© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2013
Science and Technology curriculum contacts:
Tanya Coli Yvonne Hughes
[email protected] [email protected]
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.
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