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Different ways of communicating

Stage 2

Content focus
Information and Communication Physical Phenomena Products and Services

Outcomes
This unit contributes to the following syllabus outcomes. Knowledge and Understanding Students will know and understand that: computers are machines that store and process information people use different technologies to organise and communicate information in different ways production technologies have changed over time materials and resources are used to produce goods and commodities there are benefits and problems associated with human changes to the physical environment. Students will: show that designing and making can lead to the need for investigations identify the forms and components used in the production of a design relate planning and evaluating to each stage of designing and making explain that technology can be used to help people justify the selection of processes, tools, equipment, materials, products and software to meet the requirements of the task understand that the use of tools, equipment, software etc requires the development of specific skills show that technology can enable people to gain access to, organise and use, information. Skills Students will: state the issue or area to be investigated make a prediction based on data collected by themselves or others use graphics, models and written data to record the exploration of different ideas for design proposals and to assist making suggest modifications to design proposals to improve the design evaluate materials and processes used recognise the appropriate use of tools, equipment, hardware and software report on the social and environmental benefits of familiar technology.

Values and Attitudes Students will: demonstrate confidence in themselves and willingness to make decisions have a positive view of themselves and their capabilities persevere with activities to their completion be honest and open in their dealings with others respect the rights and property of others show informed commitment to improving the quality of their local environment be curious about and appreciate the natural and made environment gain satisfaction in their efforts to investigate, to design and make and to use technology.

Human Society and its Environment Considering individual differences using knowledge and skills to present research findings in ways appropriate to the purpose. Identifying newspaper articles relevant to current investigations. Creative and Practical Arts Selecting and assembling appropriate materials and music for a production.

Teacher notes
Regular news sessions can provide a useful introduction to reporting and factual writing. Electronic mail systems (eg Keylink) can give students the opportunity to exchange news items with other students around the state. News records can be made for different audiences at different times during the unit. Audio recordings should provide an interesting alternative to written news items. Simple word processing and graphics programs provide other ways of recording news items. Teachers need to deal carefully with sensitive issues/events raised by students. Teachers may need to direct students toward the sorts of news/ information to look for.

Assessment
Listed below are selected examples of strategies that may be used in assessing this unit of work. Observe students comments and discussion when negotiating design requirements. Have each student state their own information, as deemed important when using the telephone. Determine whether the method of communicating a method across the playground meets the design task requirements and achieves the outcome.

Suggested resources
Reading People, Cooke, D Survival: A History of Aboriginal Life, Parbury, N Lets Go to a TV Studio, Grahame, A Messages, McPhee Gribble Publishers You Can Get There From Here (video kit), OTC Computer software: communications software: Apple Access II, Talk is Cheap, Telecom, Microsoft Works; publishing software, eg Childrens Writing and Publishing Centre, Print Shop, Print Master People and places: local Telecom office, OTC, libraries Materials and equipment: packaging, magazines, newspapers, audio tape recorders, cassettes, players, paper Teaching strategies 13 Trialling and testing ideas and concepts 15 Explaining understandings 26 Organising tools, equipment and processes 27 Selecting appropriate technologies 31 Evaluating chosen technologies 32 Audio-visual technologies 38 Publishing 40 Video production

Links with other Key Learning Areas

English Demonstrating oral language techniques in presenting news, eg tone variation, voice inflection. Focusing on the differences between oral news and written news. Encouraging shared reading. Identifying the purpose, audience and techniques needed to design and produce a performance. Mathematics Graphing time that messages take to be passed across the playground or from one building to another, by various methods. Personal Development, Health and Physical Education Investigating qualities needed for effective communication. Extending understandings about why and how communication needs to change in different situations.

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY K-6

Task
Design and make a method of communicating a message across the playground or from one building to another. [G]

Task
Use a telephone to communicate information. [I]

Activities
Demonstrate and discuss talking on the telephone using role play. Explore the use of a telephone. Decide what skills are important, eg knowing your own phone number, how to dial, correct answering, what to do in emergencies. [TS31]

Activities
Clarify the requirements of the design. Consider the many ways of communicating and evaluate whether they would fulfil the criteria. Choose a method or a combination of methods, taking into account your needs and available resources. Consider: materials needed, eg wire cable, trained animal, special writing implements; knowledge or skills required by receiver, eg how to operate equipment, code or system. Try the system including organisation of people and resources. [TS28]

Task
Design and make a method of communicating news to other classes or parents. [G]

Task
Investigate the variety of ways of communicating in specific conditions. [G]

Activities
Discuss ways of recording news for other people, eg writing, tape recorder, news presented through a series of pictures. [TS40] Consider whether some methods are best suited to different audiences, eg pictures for other classes. Decide on the audience, eg another class, parents, school assembly, local community. Gather news from a variety of sources, eg home, school, playground. Select items that would be of interest to the audience. Explain the reasons for the choices. [TS15] Choose a method of presentation, eg a tape recording may not be appropriate for reporting to parents. Make decisions about how the contents will be arranged, eg school news, playground events. Create pictures to accompany news. Add captions to pictures. Create the news product and present to the audience. Inter-class news can be swapped on a regular basis. Take part in news swapping activities using bulletin board facilities on an electronic mail system (eg Keylink). Send faxes via electronic mail or fax machine.

Activities
Collect a variety of familiar objects (or pictures), eg TV set, tap, chair, radio, telephone, plant, comics, computers, CB radio, VHF radio. Match the machine to its purpose, eg telephone, talk to someone in another place. [TS31] Discuss and group those that involve watching, listening, reading, looking at pictures etc. Choose other ways to classify, eg dont use/use electricity, used alone/with other people. Observe communications devices in the local environment, eg satellite dishes, antenna, flags, lighthouses, telegraph wires, signs. Research the uses of items listed, eg satellite dishes used to receive television messages, flags used on ships. List other possible methods of communicating, eg pigeon, codes, Aboriginal sign languages. Identify the senses used for each method, eg hearing, sight, feel. Reflect on how this may affect the sensorially disabled. Observe and identify the conditions required for each system to work, eg needs electricity, needs to be able to see far enough, need to know the code, need to be able to read. Predict advantages and disadvantages of different systems, eg is cheap, secret, fast, reliable. Test by trying them out under different conditions.

Task
Investigate how news is recorded. [W]

Activities
Identify methods of recording news, eg papers, television, radio. Predict what technology has been used to record the news items, eg filmed with a video camera, stories written on a computer, photographs taken with a camera. Identify features of a news article using a variety of childrens magazines, eg headline, pictures, captions. In groups, make illustrations of an item of news and add captions. Suggest headlines for simple items. Illustrate one aspect of a news item in students news stories. Discuss how the image is a part of the whole item. Add captions to the pictures. Explore how computer technology can be used to record and present news. [TS29] Use packages that combine word processing and graphics to experiment with arrangement of text, headings and graphics in a column format. [TS38] Print out and compare different layouts. Evaluate. [TS13]

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY K-6

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