It is essential to educate our kids about Digital Technology in the digital era in which we live. Technology is one of the eight key learning areas of the Australian curriculum. When our students leave school and enter the workforce the types of jobs that will be available to them will be vastly different from those of today. The ever increasing pace of technological advancements means that we need to prepare and empower students to be the informed, discerning and creative users, designers and creators of tomorrow.

How do we do this at Living Faith?

Digital Technology is not taught in isolation at Living Faith. It is embedded and taught alongside other key concepts in PBL, Maths, English, Christian Studies and Specialist subjects. A key part of integrating technology into the curriculum is to teach students responsibility and safe practice. We use Digital Technology to share and distribute information with students, create digital portfolios and as an educational tool to support and facilitate a differentiated curriculum. In addition, we specifically teach skills such as coding, data analysis, computational skills and design digital solutions.

• Prep students are introduced to safe technology practices that are also progressively built upon in later years. Prep students are slowly introduced to app features to occasionally practice letter formation, number recognition and to build foundational skills
• Year 1 students are introduced to coding and computational thinking as part of their Maths unit. Students code their own interactive stories and games and at the same time develop skills in location, positional language and geometry concepts.
• Year 2 students are introduced to a wider range of programs and app features such as green screen and video editing capabilities. Students also use technology to create stop motion animation films in Art and Design.
• Year 3 students integrate Digital Technology into Maths as they design and build a city for their Blue-Bot robots. Students then program their Blue-Bots to navigate the city, undertaking multiplication, location, fractions and measurement challenges. Students learn about the components and features of the robotic system.
• Year 4 students integrate Digital Technologies into all subject areas. They learn about and program virtual and augmented reality experiences throughout PBL by designing a virtual prototype for a waste management system. They also program a virtual reality game to share their understanding of the settlement of the First Fleet and the impacts on indigenous people.
• Year 5 students participate in the Sphero Olympics. This is a robotics programming unit integrated with Maths. Students use code to program a Sphero through their designed obstacle course. To do this, students need to have a deep understanding of 360-degree angles, measurement and number concepts.
• Year 6 students design and develop an app to demonstrate their understanding of Natural Disasters. Students need to code their app’s design and functionality features to make it usable and easy for the user.

The digital era requires us to be lifelong learners and creative problem solvers, able to make connections and drive innovation. Digital Technology provides students with authentic learning opportunities that foster curiosity, resilience, innovation, creativity and cooperation.

- Bianca Ravi, Director of Learning