 The Australian Curriculum Technologies Foundation to Year 10 comprises two subjects, design and technologies and digital technologies. Both subjects provide opportunities for students to create solutions, develop a range of thinking skills including systems thinking, design thinking and computational thinking. Learn how to manage projects and consider how solutions that are created now will be used in the future. We live in a changing world, we have a growing population, it's more cosmopolitan, we have natural resources that we need to protect, we need to learn how to design, to create lives that are healthy and sustainable for ourselves, for our family, for our local community and if we enter the design profession for clients that might be in the manufacturing sector for example. Designing in a more healthy and sustainable way is crucial so that we can look after the natural resources we have for today but also for future generations. The Australian Curriculum Design and Technologies comprises two strands, design and technologies knowledge and understanding including technologies in society and technologies context and design and technologies processes and production skills. The skills needed to design and produce design solutions. The design and technologies curriculum focuses upon four technology contexts, engineering principles and systems, food and fiber production, food specializations and material and technology specializations. So this curriculum is one of the few chances a student will actually have to develop a way of thinking that involves upfront the need to brainstorm, think outside the square, be able to look at very complex scenarios where they need to take on board a variety of different external factors. It may be the extent to which the material is sustainable and can be reused. It might be the needs of a particular user group which may be the family or the larger community. How can it be made manufactured? All of this is absolutely crucial and the skills and knowledge a student builds up are transferable to all sorts of walks of life and the primary one would be their ability to think critically and creatively, be able to brainstorm and think of a variety of solutions to any particular given complex situation. One of the really important things in the curriculum for the early years is the concept of design and it's a new way of thinking for very young children. Children don't automatically unless they come from families where they have people involved in the design industry in some way. Children don't normally think about design, so for example if we consider children going out into the playground they will just play in the playground but they might not think about the design of the playground and they might not even realise that there is a whole set of processes and concepts involved in design work. So the curriculum allows teachers to work with children to give them a whole new way of thinking about their world. Once they have this concept of design then they can think about a perspective, a plan view, a side view, a front view however they want to talk about in their own ways of thinking about design. One of the really exciting aspects of the design and technology subject within the technologies learning area is that it provides a student with the capacity to design new things, things that have never been seen before. It provides an opportunity for them to be innovative to enrich the lives of others and their life at the same time. This is one of the most wonderful parts of the design process and that capacity is transferable to all walks of life, the ability to think outside the square and to be part of developing preferred futures. In order for students to achieve comprehensive education in the technology's curriculum area it's important that they have an opportunity to actually explore a range of identified needs and also produce a range of design solutions. Now that may mean that they will design and produce different environments, products and services. Now this is really important because it means that then students have an opportunity to actually undertake a range of practical experiences which will involve also different and diverse design thinking skills. So they may look at initially existing design and the work of designers and look at how those designers have actually come up with successful design solutions and then they'll apply that knowledge and understanding to a design in their school situation. So that could include something as simple as designing a kitchen garden in their school environment and also just then looking at the different processes that they have to go through to from the very beginning in that design through to the final solution. So ultimately it's incredibly important that students actually have this opportunity to be diverse in their design thinking and also explore a range of different design projects and undertake a range of different planning, managing and production skills. The great thing about the technology's curriculum is it gives an opportunity for students to think about their future. Think about their preferred future, the one that they want to have. So they have to consider things like sustainability, ethics, social responsibility and what they do today as an individual and a designer is going to impact on future generations. So this curriculum will really get students to examine and think about that and make sure that future generations have a better world.