Curriculm

The best hope for learning to live sustainably lies in schooling that is "smart by nature." It includes experiencing the natural world; learning how nature sustains life; nurturing healthy communities; recognizing the implications of the ways we feed and provision ourselves; and knowing well the places where we live, work, and learn. Teachers are in a prime position to be able to weave these basics throughout the curriculum at every grade level. Whether they start with an environmental issue or with fundamental ecological principles, teachers can nurture the knowledge, skills, and values essential to sustainable living.

A variety of teaching strategies are particularly appropriate for fostering sustainable living. We promote interdisciplinary instructional methods that are age-level appropriate; actively engage students in learning in and out of the classroom; involve them in long-term projects; and create an atmosphere of purposeful conversation and reflection about complex issues.

**Curriculum Documents **
Elements of the following curriculum documents have been highlighted to point out the areas of the curriculum which are covered when the wiki site is used as a learning activity.

(1) ICT Cross-curriculum priority by the end of Year 7, (2) SOSE Essential Learnings by the end of Year 7, and (3) Technology Essential Learnings by the end of Year 7.

__1. ICT Cross-curriculum priority by the end of Year 7__
**The following relates to the QCAR cross-curriculum priority: By Year 7** Students live in a technological world where information and communication technologies (ICTs) are integral to everyday situations. ICTs include the hardware, software, peripheral devices and digital systems that enable data and information to be managed, stored, processed and communicated. Students independently and collaboratively work in online and stand-alone environments across a range of learning contexts. Students make use of the potential of a range of ICT functions and applications. They develop the knowledge, skills and capacity to select and use ICTs to inquire, develop new understandings, transform information and construct new knowledge for a specific purpose or context. They communicate with others in an ethical, safe and responsible manner. They develop understandings of the impact of ICTs on society. Applying ICTs as a tool for learning assists students to become competent, discriminating, creative and productive users of ICTs. ICTs can be integrated in a variety of ways within and across all key learning areas to support thinking, learning, collaboration and communication.

**Inquiring with ICTs **
Students explore, select and use ICTs in the processes of inquiry and research across key learning areas. They: • Identify the inquiry focus, data and information requirements and possible digital information sources • Plan, conduct and manage structured searches and advanced searches for data and information in response to questions • Organise and analyse, experiment with and test data and information from a variety of sources <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Evaluate data and information gathered for usefulness, credibility, relevance, accuracy and completeness <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Reflect on, analyse and evaluate how ICTs have assisted in meeting the inquiry purposes and in developing new understandings.

**<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Creating with ICTs **
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students experiment with, select and use ICTs to create a range of responses to suit the purpose and audience. They use ICTs to develop understanding, demonstrate creativity, thinking, learning, collaboration and communication across key learning areas. They: <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Develop plans and proposals, considering common ICT design features <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Develop criteria to evaluate responses, plans and processes <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Express and creatively represent ideas, information and thinking <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Creatively document and present their planning, thinking and learning using a combination of media <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Reflect on their use of ICTs as creative tools and evaluate the quality of their ICT responses, plans and processes against criteria.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Communicating with ICTs**
Students experiment with, select and use ICTs across key learning areas to collaborate and enhance communication with individuals, groups or wider audiences in local and global contexts for an identified purpose and audience. They:

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Collaborate, develop, organise and present new ideas <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Consider how ICTs can be used to enhance interpersonal relationships and empathise with people in different social and cultural contexts <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Apply suitable or agreed communication conventions and protocols <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Select and apply a variety of digital media to improve communication <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Establish their own or a group image and identity in communication <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Reflect on their use of ICTs and consider feedback to improve collaboration and refine and communicate meaning.

**Ethics, Issues and ICTs**
Students understand the role and impact of ICTs in society. They develop and apply ethical, safe and responsible practices when working with ICTs in online and stand-alone environments. They:

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Apply codes of practice for safe, secure and responsible use of ICTs <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Review the use of ICTs in terms of safety, ethical practice, legality and responsibility <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Apply values and codes of practice of the ICT environment that respect individual rights and cultural differences when accessing and delivering information online <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Apply protocols to acknowledge the owner(s)/creators(s) of digital information sources and develop an awareness of legislation relating to digital theft and plagiarism <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Apply a range of preventative strategies to address issues relating to health and safety when using ICTs <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Develop and apply strategies for securing and protecting digital information, including personal Information <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Evaluate how their use of ICTs meets ethical and legal criteria <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Reflect on, analyse and evaluate the use of ICTs, assess their impact in the workplace and society, and consider future needs.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Operating ICTs**
Students use a range of advanced ICT functions and applications across key learning areas to inquire, create, collaborate and communicate, and to manage information and data. They:

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Develop operational skills and begin to use the extended functionality of a range of ICT devices <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Investigate the main uses and processes of some input, output, processing and storage devices <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Describe various ICT devices and processes using ICT-specific terminology <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Apply operational conventions when using ICTs <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Develop strategies for learning new ICT operations and consider different ways to perform tasks <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Identify operational advantages to manage personal ICT resources and customise interfaces <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Apply agreed processes for personal management of digital content and identify the advantages of customisation <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Reflect on, analyse and evaluate their operational skills to meet the requirements of system resources, processes and conventions.

**Knowledge and Understanding**
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Place and Space** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">· Interactions between people and places affect the physical features of the land, biodiversity, water and atmosphere <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">· Sustainability of local natural, social and built environments can be influenced by positive and negative attitudes and behaviours

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Ways of working**
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students are able to: <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">· Plan investigations based on questions and inquiry models <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">· Collect and organise information and evidence <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">· Evaluate sources of information and evidence to determine different perspectives, and distinguish facts from options <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">· Draw and justify conclusions based on information and evidence <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">· Share opinions, identify possibilities and propose actions to respond to findings

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__3. Technology Essential Learnings by the end of Year 7__
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Learning and assessment focus** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students use their understandings of the relationships between technology and society to consider the roles people play in shaping products and processes. They use their imagination and creativity to investigate and identify needs, wants, design specifications and constraints. They understand the characteristics of a range of resources (information, materials and/or systems) and assess their suitability for a specific purpose and context. They compare and describe the characteristics of Australian and imported resources, investigating their impact on Australian technological processes and products. They investigate design challenges and consider the roles that people play in shaping technologies to meet changing needs and wants and preferred futures. They recognise the many different fields of technology and the people who work in occupations that use technology to design solutions for community needs.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students use the essential processes of Ways of working to develop and demonstrate their Knowledge and understanding. They individually and collaboratively develop their ability to work technologically by generating, assessing and communicating design ideas and by selecting and using resources, tools and techniques, to design and make products to meet specifications. They analyse and respond to decisions about technology and its impact on people, their environments and their communities. They reflect on their learning and evaluate the suitability of products and processes and recommend improvements.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students select and use tools and technologies, including information and communication technologies (ICTs), in purposeful ways. They make use of the potential that ICTs provide to inquire, create and communicate within technology contexts. Students demonstrate evidence of their learning over time in relation to the following assessable elements: <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Knowledge and understanding <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Investigating and designing <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Producing <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Evaluating <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Reflecting

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Knowledge and Understanding
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Technology as a human endeavour <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Design and development of products are influenced by societies’ changing needs and wants, and include artefacts, systems, environments and services practices. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• Product design and production decisions are influenced by specifications, constraints and aspects of appropriateness including functions, aesthetics, ethics, culture, available finances and resources, and sustainability

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Ways of Working
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students are able to: <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• investigate and analyse the purpose, context, specifications and constraints for design ideas <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• generate and evaluate design ideas and determine suitability based on purpose, specifications and constraints <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• select resources, techniques and tools to make products that meet specifications <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• plan and manage production procedures and modify as necessary <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• make products to meet specifications by manipulating and processing resources <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">• reflect on and identify the impacts of products and processes on people, their communities and environments