Pīkau / toolkits for English medium

How much do young people actually know about Digital Technologies?

Pīkau means “backpack”. We’re hoping that you’ll soon have a pīkau of resources to use for teaching and learning the new digital technologies content.

The term “computational thinking” comes up a lot in the new digital technologies learning area. What does it mean?

Designing and developing digital outcomes (DDDO) is one of the five technological areas within the technology learning area. How do you go about incorporating it into your classroom programme?

Many of the resources that are useful for computational thinking are international, and you’re likely to come across slightly different ways of talking about the topic when looking at material from overseas. It will also help you to see how our curriculum lines up with those used elsewhere.

Learn how to take your first steps in teaching computational thinking. What's in Progress Outcome 1?

What's in computational thinking Progress Outcome 2? We are introducing devices into the mix!

Programming, and the products of programming, have become entrenched into our everyday lives in many ways. Let’s explore how we can take more control over it.

The idea of a loop in programming is very powerful - in just a few commands you can get the computer to do hundreds, or even millions, of operations.

Have you ever been frustrated while using a computer, even for what seems like a simple task? Explore the world of human-computer interaction.

We don’t really write programs for computers – we write them for people. Find out how some simple conventions can make the process much easier for everybody.

You might already know some of this! Find out what's in Progress Outcome 1 for Designing and Developing Digital Outcomes.

It is important that as learners progress toward Progress Outcomes 2 and 3 they are able to draw upon a repertoire of skills and knowledge to produce digital outcomes. Explore how to help learners expand their digital toolkit.

Almost everybody knows how to take a photo, but what about making decisions about which file types or which applications to use when creating digital outcomes?

Do you have a problem to solve? A decision to make? Would a robot or data help? Physical computing gives us opportunities to create digital outcomes which do physical tasks or collect data about the physical world.

Binary plays a pivotal role in all things digital. Everything digital is based on it. Even though binary is not mentioned until Progress Outcome 3 it is a concept that can easily be taught to young students.

Have you ever been frustrated at being unable to get a program to do what you want it to do? The interaction between a program and user (Human-Computer Interface), is important. We want our students to be able to write good, ‘user friendly’, programs.

Computers are fast, but if you get them to solve a problem the wrong way, they can still take way too long, and this also means they’re using more power (or battery life) than they need to.

If you had no way of knowing whether a file that we open might have a few characters changed by a faulty disk, would you use it? Detecting and correcting errors occurs all the time on digital devices, and appears in the CT progress outcomes.

Supporting you to connect the digital progress outcomes with the Technology strands (achievement objectives) in your learning programme.

Supporting you to develop your learning programme by incorporating authentic contexts. Remember your challenge is to bring the new and revised content in the Technology learning area to life in your classroom.

Supporting you to include a design process in your learning programme. Following a design process is important when working on solving a problem in your authentic context.

Supporting you to evaluate your learning programme. Taking a step back to review your learning programme is important to ensure that it meets the needs of all learners, and the New Zealand Curriculum.

Your key role as a pouahi is to stoke the fire of curiosity for your colleagues. It’s a rewarding, yet challenging role. We’ve got something for everyone that supports you to support others.

Supporting you to start exploring the Strategic Thinking Roadmap.

Watch Trevor outlining what will be in Te Pā Pouahi Pīkau 3.

Kia ora anō.Well done on completing Te Pā Pouahi pīkau 3!