Overview
Syllabus overview
Organisation of Science and Technology K–6
Figure 1 shows the organisation of Science and Technology K–6, highlighting the common practices of science, design and digital technologies. The organisation of interrelated practices across content reflects the role of these practices in developing scientific, design and technological knowledge.
Image long description: The diagram has 2 columns headed Science and Technologies. Listed under the heading Science are the 4 focus areas: Observations and questions spark curiosity; Investigations of changes provide knowledge and understanding; Physical and living systems depend on energy; and Knowledge of our world and beyond inspires sustainable solutions. The 4 focus areas for Technologies are: Observations and questions initiate design and digital solutions; Design and digital solutions are created through knowledge and understanding; Design processes and digital systems are used to create solutions; and Design and digital technologies engineer sustainable solutions. Both subject areas are circled by a line labelled Applying knowledge, understanding and skills through interrelated practices.
Protocols for collaborating with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities and engaging with Cultural and heritage works
NESA is committed to working in partnership with Aboriginal Communities and supporting teachers, schools and schooling sectors to improve educational outcomes for young people.
It is important to respect appropriate ways of interacting with Aboriginal Communities and Cultural material when teachers plan, program and implement Science and Technology learning experiences that focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Priorities.
Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) protocols need to be followed. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ ICIP protocols include Cultural Knowledges, Cultural Expression and Cultural Property and documentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Identities and lived experiences. It is important to recognise the diversity and complexity of different Cultural groups in NSW, as protocols may differ between local Aboriginal Communities.
Teachers should work in partnership with Elders, parents, Community members, Cultural Knowledge Holders, or a local, regional or state Aboriginal Education Consultative Group. It is important that respect for Elders and for the roles of men and women is shown. Local Aboriginal Peoples should be invited to share their Cultural Knowledges with students and staff when engaging with Aboriginal Histories and Cultural Practices.
Access content points
Access content points have been developed to support students with significant intellectual disability who are working towards Early Stage 1 outcomes. These students may communicate using verbal and/or nonverbal forms.
For each of the Early Stage 1 outcomes, access content points are provided to indicate content that students with significant intellectual disability may access as they work towards the outcomes. Teachers will use the access content points on their own, or in combination with the content for each outcome.
Decisions regarding curriculum options for students with disability should be made in the context of collaborative curriculum planning.
The importance of knowledge and vocabulary in the primary curriculum
The attainment of knowledge is a key goal of education. There is accumulated knowledge and wisdom of our world that all students have a right to learn. The curriculum plays a key role in identifying shared knowledge that provides opportunities to foster belonging and cross-cultural understanding in our society.
Knowledge underpins our ability to think and do. Students learn new ideas with reference to their existing knowledge. In each learning area, background knowledge committed to long-term memory is vital to literacy development and underpins the ability to think critically and creatively.
When learning to read, it is the development of broad knowledge, alongside vocabulary, which supports students to build mental models from the texts they engage with, secure schemas of increasing depth and complexity, and make connections with their world. Learning opportunities within the primary curriculum are coherent, intentional and designed to build knowledge and vocabulary of the learning area and support literacy development.
Creating written texts supports learning
The Science and Technology K–6 Syllabus follows Recommendation 2: ‘Clarify and strengthen writing content in syllabus documents’ from Teaching Writing: Report of the Thematic Review of Writing (NESA 2018).
Creating written texts is a way of organising thoughts, explaining thinking, and making connections within and across learning areas. The learning areas provide meaningful content for writing beyond the subject of English. ‘When writing instruction prompts students to think deeply and/or make decisions about content, learning is improved’ (AERO 2022). Creating written texts in learning areas develops students’ critical understandings and voice.
Creating written texts content in the primary curriculum includes:
- systematic development of expectations for creating written texts, which aligns with the English K–10 Syllabus (2022)
- explicit writing content to support students to become fluent creators of texts, to deepen their understanding of the learning areas
- opportunities to practise the process of creating written texts to develop and communicate knowledge, understanding and ideas
- a focus on vocabulary and sentence construction.
Creating written texts refers to the act of composing and constructing a text for a particular purpose, audience and context.
Various methods of transcription may be employed, and a student’s preferred communication form(s) should be considered when teaching writing.
Image long description: Four horizontal rows labelled Creative Arts, PDHPE, HSIE and Science and Technology. Above these rows are 4 headings: Early Stage 1, Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3. In the rows labelled Creative Arts and PDHPE, a box with a dotted outline spans Early Stage 1 to Stage 1. This box contains the text ‘Using vocabulary and language to communicate in Creative Arts or PDHPE respectively’. Under Stage 2 for Creative Arts and PDHPE there is a box containing the text ‘Embedded within content’. Under Stage 3 for Creative Arts and PDHPE there is a box containing the text ‘Outcome’. In the rows labelled HSIE and Science and Technology, a box containing the text ‘Content group’ is listed for each of Early Stage 1, Stage 1 and Stage 2. Under Stage 3 there is a box containing the text ‘Outcome’. In all 4 rows the text boxes are linked by arrows showing the progression from Early Stage 1 to Stage 3. Surrounding the whole diagram is a line labelled ‘“Creating written texts” content in the syllabuses aligns with the corresponding stage expectations of the English K–10 Syllabus (2022)’.