The learning continuum

From The Australian Curriculum: Technologies. Technologies across Foundation to Year 10

The Early Years

In the early years students are curious about their world and are interested in exploring it. In Technologies, students have opportunities to learn through purposeful and directed play to develop attitudes of care about the places and resources they use. Through these processes they identify relationships between imagined and virtual worlds and the real world, between people and products, and between resources and environments (systems thinking). They explore materials, tools and equipment and use drawing and modelling to communicate their design ideas. Students learn about and experience connections between technologies and the designed world (design thinking). They begin to learn the importance of preparing precise instructions when solving problems using digital systems (computational thinking), creating ideas and information and sharing them online with known people.

Middle-Primary

 During these years of schooling, students’ thought processes become more complex and consistent, and they gradually become more independent. Students also develop their capacity to work in teams. They develop a sense of social, ethical and environmental responsibility and are interested in and concerned about the future (systems thinking). Students may share changes in their own thinking and making, giving reasons for their actions and explaining and demonstrating their organisation and sequence of ideas. They begin to recognise and appreciate the different ways in which others think and respond to problems and situations, including those with a regional perspective. They respond resourcefully to a range of design and computing problems and situations using creative and innovative ideas to realise solutions. They communicate and record their ideas in diagrams and drawings using a range of technologies. They explain the main functions of their solutions and the systems, materials, tools and equipment which could be used.