Scope and
Sequence (F-10)

Learning programs to support implementation

Filter Scope and Sequence by

Year Levels

Topics

Units

Connected via a network 10 hours Year 9
Examine different types of networks, protocols and the role of software and hardware plays.
Data: controlled and secured 10 hours Year 10
Explore how data can be secured through access controls, virus checking, and encryption.
Data-driven innovation 10 hours Year 9
Examine the way ‘big data’ is being used on a large scale to inform decision-making.
Organise, visualise and analyse 10 hours Year 10
Use tools to organise data and make sense of complex data to identify patterns and trends.
Creating a digital game 20 hours Year 9
A digital game can give students the opportunity to learn and refine their object-oriented programming (OOP) skills which is a requirement at years 9–10.
Robotics and embedded systems 10-20 hours Year 10
Choose from a selection of four projects to explore programming and designing a digital solution to suit an identified need or solve a problem.
Managing a group project: Augmented Reality (AR) 10-20 hours Year 9
Plan and manage a group project that uses an AR platform to create an AR experience in response to a problem.
Collaborative project 10 - 12hours Year 10
Students choose an issue that matters to them and, in collaborative teams, create a media plan and campaign and associated content.

Unit Connected via a network
Year Level: 9 Topic: Digital systems Time: 10 hours

Students should develop and understanding that digital systems must be robust and reliable. They understand that a computer network enables computers to exchange data and they explore protocols such as HTTP, TCP, IP and SMTP. Investigate the compression of files to reduce file size and the advantages of this process as well as compare the end quality. Investigate the potential of IOT and how it all works.

Topic Overview Topic Unit Map Unit Overview Unit SOLO Taxonomy

Flow of Activities

Activity Network protocols

How do computers communicate via networks?

Australian Curriculum Alignment

Digital Systems (ACTDIK034)

What's this about?

A computer network is a telecommunications network which allows computers to exchange data.

There are different types of networks including Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN).

The internet is a network of networks cooperating with each other to exchange information following a set of rules called protocols. Protocols are used to create an agreed process which all devices follow to be part of the internet.

All internet communications require IP addresses. Each computer has a unique IP address that allows other computers to find it and send data to it.

Transmission control protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP) work in tandem to transmit data across the internet. TCP is the protocol that ensures reliability of the data being transmitted. We need to ensure there is no loss of packets, that the packets are in the right order, that the delay is minimal, and that duplication of packets is avoided.

The HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the most common protocol in use on the internet. The protocol's job is to transfer HyperText (such as HTML) from a server to a computer.

Learning tasks

Define, investigate and compare Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN). Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of computer networks.
Relate the IP address to binary number system, for example, IP addresses are just 32-bit binary numbers. The address 255.253.253.0 in binary:
11111111.11111101.11111101.00000000
Explore Internet Protocols (IP) and how they relate to the hardware in the network. Explore the question: 'Why do we need an IP address?' and discuss potential security threats.
Discuss what students know about the different types of protocols. HTTP is one with which students may be most familiar. Ask students what HTTP stands for and where they have seen it. Refer to the way we are able to access website information, the browsers commonly used and the role search engines play in enabling users to locate information.
Students with knowledge of editing and running Python programs and setting up a programming board such as Raspberry Pi could build a simple network and use it to communicate via a network chat program. Central to this task is assigning an IP address for the device.

Supporting Resources

Learn about

'The Internet: IP Addresses & DNS'

This video can be used to explain the role of an IP address and how networks talk to each other.

'The Internet: HTTP & HTML'

This video provides a detailed description of how the Internet works using HTTP and HTML.

CS Unplugged: Field guide: Network Communication Protocols

Lesson ideas

Computer networks

This lesson plan is about defining network types.

Lesson 1 – How do computers communicate?

In this lesson students will build a simple network and use it to communicate, via a network chat program. The students will learn how to network two Raspberry Pis, and then write a small program in Python that allows them to send messages to each other.

Assessment

Achievement StandardExplain the control and management of networked digital systems and the security implications of the interaction between hardware, software and users.

Suggested approaches

Presentation or demonstration, Adapted worksheet, Artefact analysis, Labelling diagram, Text, Digital capture, Design plan.

Work samples

Investigation: Secure networks

Students created and presented a presentation to educate and inform users about data, network communication and security. They identified and described the purpose and components of two different networks, then selected one and created a network topology for it.