Australian Curriculum achievement standards
Whilst the Australian Curriculum achievement standards describe all learning expected at the end of year level bands, it is possible to view each achievement standard as a number of smaller statements or elements within the two strands, knowledge and understanding and processes and production skills. The elements can provide a starting point when designing assessment tasks.
Digital Technologies: Achievement Standard
By the end of Foundation students:
- show familiarity with digital systems and use them for a purpose. They represent data using objects, pictures and symbols and identify examples of data that is owned by them.
Content descriptions
Knowledge and understanding
Digital systems: recognise and explore digital systems (hardware and software) for a purpose
Representation of data: Represent data using objects, pictures, and symbols.
Processes and Production Skills
Investigating and defining: Not a requirement at this level.
Generating and designing: Not a requirement at this level.
Producing and implementing: Not a requirement at this level.
Evaluating: Not a requirement at this level.
Collaborating and managing: Not a requirement at this level.
Privacy and security: identify some data that is personal and owned by them
Digital Technologies: Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 2, students:
- show how simple digital solutions meet a need for known users. Students represent and process data in different ways. They follow and describe basic algorithms involving a sequence of steps and branching. With assistance, students access and use digital systems for a purpose. They use the basic features of common digital tools to create, locate and share content, and to collaborate, following agreed behaviours. Students recognise that digital tools may store their personal data online.
Content descriptions
Knowledge and understanding
Digital systems: identify and explore digital systems and their components for a purpose
Representation of data: represent data as pictures, symbols, numbers and words
Processes and production skills
Collecting, managing, and analysing data: Collect familiar data and display them to convey meaning.
Investigating and defining: investigate simple problems for known users that can be solved with digital systems
Generating and designing: follow and describe algorithms involving a sequence of steps, branching (decisions) and iteration (repetition)
Producing and implementing: Not a requirement at this level.
Evaluating: discuss how existing digital systems satisfy identified needs for known users
Collaborating and managing:
- use the basic features of common digital tools to create, locate and communicate content
- use the basic features of common digital tools to share content and collaborate demonstrating agreed behaviours, guided by trusted adults
Privacy and security
- access their school account with a recorded username and password
- discuss that some websites and apps store their personal data online
Digital Technologies: Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 4, students:
- create simple digital solutions and use provided design criteria to check if solutions meet user needs. They process and represent data for different purposes. They follow and describe simple algorithms involving branching and iteration and implement them as visual programs. Students securely access and use digital systems and their peripherals for a range of purposes, including transmitting data. They use the core features of common digital tools to plan, create, locate, and share content, and to collaborate, following agreed behaviours. Students identify their personal data stored online and recognise the risks.
Content descriptions
Knowledge and understanding
Digital systems:
- explore and describe a range of digital systems and their peripherals for a variety of purposes
- explore transmitting different types of data between digital systems
Data representation: recognise different types of data and explore how the same data can be represented differently depending on the purpose
Processes and production skills
Investigating and defining: define problems with given design criteria and by co-creating user stories
Generating and designing:
- follow and describe algorithms involving sequencing, comparison operators (branching) and iteration
- generate, communicate and compare designs
Producing and implementing: implement simple algorithms as visual programs involving control structures and input
Evaluating: discuss how existing and student solutions satisfy the design criteria and user stories
Collaborating and managing:
- use the core features of common digital tools to create, locate and communicate content, following agreed conventions
- use the core features of common digital tools to share content, plan tasks, and collaborate, following agreed behaviours, supported by trusted adults
Privacy and security:
- access their school account using a memorised password and explain why it should be easy to remember, but hard for others to guess
- identify what personal data is stored and shared in their online accounts and discuss any associated risks
Digital Technologies: Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 6 students: develop and modify digital solutions, and define problems and evaluate solutions using user stories and design criteria. They process data and show how digital systems represent data. Students design algorithms involving complex branching and iteration and implement them as visual programs including variables. They securely access and use multiple digital systems and describe their components and how they interact to process and transmit data. Students select and use appropriate digital tools effectively to plan, create, locate and share content, and to collaborate, applying agreed conventions and behaviours. They identify their digital footprint and recognise its permanence.
Content descriptions
Knowledge and understanding
Digital systems:
- investigate the main internal components of common digital systems and their function
- examine how digital systems form networks to transmit data
Data representation:
- explain how digital systems represent all data using numbers
- explore how data can be represented by off and on states (zeros and ones in binary)
Processes and production skills
Investigating and defining: define problems with given or co-developed design criteria and by creating user stories
Generating and designing:
- design algorithms involving multiple alternatives (branching) and iteration
- design a user interface for a digital system
- generate, modify, communicate and compare designs
Producing and implementing: implement algorithms as visual programs involving control structures, variables and input
Evaluating: evaluate existing and student solutions against the design criteria and user stories and their broader community impact
Collaborating and managing:
- select and use appropriate digital tools effectively to create, locate and communicate content, applying common conventions
- select and use appropriate digital tools effectively to share content online, plan tasks and collaborate on projects, demonstrating agreed behaviours
Privacy and security
- access multiple personal accounts using unique passphrases and explain the risks of password re-use
- explain the creation and permanence of their digital footprint and consider privacy when collecting user data
Digital Technologies: Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 8, students:
- develop and modify creative digital solutions, decompose real-world problems, and evaluate alternative solutions against user stories and design criteria. Students acquire, interpret and model data with spreadsheets and represent data with integers and binary. They design and trace algorithms and implement them in a general-purpose programming language. Students select appropriate hardware for particular tasks, explain how data is transmitted and secured in networks, and identify cyber security threats. They select and use a range of digital tools efficiently and responsibly to create, locate and share content; and to plan, collaborate on and manage projects. Students manage their digital footprint.
Content descriptions
Knowledge and understanding
Digital systems:
- explain how hardware specifications affect performance and select appropriate hardware for particular tasks and workloads
- investigate how data is transmitted and secured in wired and wireless networks including the internet
Data representation:
- investigate how digital systems represent text, image and audio data using integers
- explain how and why digital systems represent integers in binary
Processes and production skills
Acquiring, managing and analysing data:
- acquire, store and validate data from a range of sources using software, including spreadsheets and databases
- analyse and visualise data using a range of software, including spreadsheets and databases, to draw conclusions and make predictions by identifying trends
- model and query the attributes of objects and events using structured data
Investigating and defining: define and decompose real-world problems with design criteria and by creating user stories
Generating and designing:
- design algorithms involving nested control structures and represent them using flowcharts and pseudocode
- trace algorithms to predict output for a given input and to identify errors
- design the user experience of a digital system
- generate, modify, communicate and evaluate alternative designs
Producing and implementing: implement, modify and debug programs involving control structures and functions in a general-purpose programming language
Evaluating: evaluate existing and student solutions against the design criteria, user stories and possible future impact
Collaborating and managing:
- select and use a range of digital tools efficiently, including unfamiliar features, to create, locate and communicate content, consistently applying common conventions
- select and use a range of digital tools efficiently and responsibly to share content online, and plan and manage individual and collaborative agile projects
Privacy and security:
- explain how multi-factor authentication protects an account when the password is compromised and identify phishing and other cyber security threats
- investigate and manage the digital footprint existing systems and student solutions collect and assess if the data is essential to their purpose
Digital Technologies: Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 10, students:
- develop and modify innovative digital solutions, decompose real-world problems, and critically evaluate alternative solutions against stakeholder elicited user stories. Students acquire, interpret and model complex data with databases and represent documents as content, structure and presentation. They design and validate algorithms and implement them, including in an object-oriented programming language. Students explain how digital systems manage, control and secure access to data; and model cyber security threats and explore a vulnerability. They use advanced features of digital tools to create interactive content, and to plan, collaborate on, and manage agile projects. Students apply privacy principles to manage digital footprints.
Content descriptions
Knowledge and understanding
Digital systems: investigate how hardware and software manage, control and secure access to data in networked digital systems
Data representation:
- represent documents online as content (text), structure (markup) and presentation (styling) and explain why such representations are important
- investigate simple data compression techniques
Processes and production skills
Acquiring, managing and analysing data:
- develop techniques to acquire, store and validate data from a range of sources using software, including spreadsheets and databases
- analyse and visualise data interactively using a range of software, including spreadsheets and databases, to draw conclusions and make predictions by identifying trends and outliers
- model and query entities and their relationships using structured data
Investigating and defining: define and decompose real-world problems with design criteria and by interviewing stakeholders to create user stories
Generating and designing:
- design algorithms involving logical operators and represent them as flowcharts and pseudocode
- validate algorithms and programs by comparing their output against a range of test cases
- design and prototype the user experience of a digital system
- generate, modify, communicate and critically evaluate alternative designs
Producing and implementing: implement, modify and debug modular programs, applying selected algorithms and data structures, including in an object-oriented programming language
Evaluating: evaluate existing and student solutions against the design criteria, user stories and possible future impact
Collaborating and managing:
- select and use emerging digital tools and advanced features to create and communicate interactive content for a diverse audience
- use simple project management tools to plan and manage individual and collaborative agile projects, accounting for risks and responsibilities
Privacy and security:
- develop cyber security threat models, and explore a software, user or software supply chain vulnerability
- apply the Australian Privacy Principles to critique and manage the digital footprint that existing systems and student solutions collect