Designing and Developing

When looking at the progress outcomes within Designing and Developing for Years 1-6 (Grades K-5), there is only one! I know, crazy. The main reason for this is that it isn’t fully introduced to children until Year 3 (2nd Grade), and from there students don’t fully grasp its potential until Year 5 (4th Grade). But let’s take a look nonetheless.

Progress Outcome 1: In authentic contexts and taking account of end-users, students participate in teacher-led activities to develop, manipulate, store, retrieve and share digital content in order to meet technological challenges. In doing so, they identify digital devices and their purposes and understand that humans make them. They know how to use some applications, they can identify the inputs and outputs of a system, and they understand that digital devices store content, which can be retrieved later.

So, for me atleast, this progress outcome is a bit back to front. Yes the key idea is to develop, manipulate, store, retrieve, and share digital content. But before that they need to understand the key components of digital devices. Which is where computer peripherals come to the scene. So in terms of a process I would begin with digital devices. Unpacking the range of digital devices that we have, what the purpose for them is. The different inputs and outputs of a device. For example, a computer has a keyboard that inputs data. But it also has a printer that outputs data. This sort of learning can start from Year 2 (1st Grade), and it can all be unplugged. We have a great resource where students have cards with different devices on them and they can separate them physically and then place the different inputs and outputs used for each device. It doesn’t have to be on a device.

From here, they can focus on how each device has a purpose and with that, devices have different file types. For example, a digital camera saves photos as .jpeg, whereas a video camera saves files as .mpeg. Computers themselves have a range of different file types and they all serve a purpose. This is important because soon students will need to develop, manipulate, store, retrieve and share digital content. So it’s important they have a good grasp of file types and digital devices before they get into this.
Nearing the end of Year 4 (3rd Grade) students begin to head into the first stage of this progress outcome. Develop, manipulate, store, retrieve, and share digital content in order to meet technological challenges. Honestly, this is one of the funner areas of the digital curriculum, because this is like the part that really brings out children’s creativity. Imagine your school had a problem with how children were safely leaving school. Maybe some kids weren’t looking before they crossed the road. Maybe they didn’t cross the road in safe places. Maybe parents were parking on the footpath. So some children decide they need to solve this problem and they decide to make a movie. They choose the appropriate devices, and they develop (create) a movie. They then put it in some editing software and they manipulate it. Once that is done, they store it appropriately, whether in the cloud or on a USB device – so that it can be retrieved later to then share with the school or on social media. Now that is cool. But it doesn’t have to be a movie. It could be music in Garageband, or a website on Wix. There are so many ways that children can be creative in this area.

This is only a brief introduction into what designing and developing involves and looks like for students in Elementary/Primary Schools. For more in depth learning, stay tuned! For practical resources, try our HTML Website booklet, or our Stop Motion Animation resource.