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This Week in HASS – term 3, week 4

This week younger students start investigating how we can find out about the past. This investigation will be conducted over the next 3 weeks and will culminate in a Scientific Report. Older students are considering different sources of historical information and how they will use these sources in their research.

Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 3

Students in stand-alone Foundation/Prep/Kindy classes (Unit F.3), as well as those in integrated classes (Unit F-1.3) and Years 1 (Unit 1.3), 2 (Unit 2.3) and 3 (Unit 3.3) are all starting to think about how we can find out about the past. This is a great opportunity for teachers to encourage students to think about how we know about the past and brainstorm ideas, as well as coming up with their own avenues of inquiry. Teachers may wish to hold a Question and Answer session in class to help guide students to examine many different aspects of this topic. The resource Finding Out About The Past contains core information to help the teacher guide the discussion to cover different ways of examining the past. This discussion can be tailored to the level and individual circumstances of each class. Foundation/Prep/Kindy students are just starting to think about the past as a time before the present and how this affects what we know about past events. The discussion can be developed in higher years, and the teacher can start to introduce the notion of sources of information, including texts and material culture. This investigation forms the basis for the Method section of the Scientific Report, which is included in the Student Workbook.

Years 3 to 6

Students in Years 3 (Unit 3.7), 4 (Unit 4.3), 5 (Unit 5.3) and 6 (Unit 6.3) are following a similar line of investigation this week, but examining Historical Sources specifically. As well as Primary and Secondary Sources, students are encouraged to think about Oral Sources, Textual Sources and Material Culture (artefacts such as stone tools or historical items). This discussion forms the basis for students completing the Method section of their Scientific Report, where they will list the sources of information and how these contributed to their research. Older students might be able to self-direct this process, although teachers may wish to guide the process through an initial class discussion. Teachers may wish to take the class through a discussion of the sources they are using for their research and discuss how students will use and report on these sources in their report for their topic.

This Week in HASS – term 3, week 3

This week our youngest students are playing games from different places around the world, in the past. Slightly older students are completing the Timeline Activity. Students in Years 4, 5 and 6 are starting to sink their teeth into their research project for the term, using the Scientific Process.

Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 3

This week students in stand-alone Foundation/Prep/Kindy classes (Unit F.3) and those integrated with Year 1 (Unit F-1.3) are examining games from the past. The teacher can choose to match these to the stories from Week 1 of the unit, as games are listed matching each of the places and time periods included in those stories. However, some games are more practical to play than others, and some require running around, so the teacher may wish to choose games which suit the circumstances of each class. Teachers can discuss how different places have different types of games and why these games might be chosen in those places (e.g. dragons in China and lions in Africa).

Students in Years 1 (Unit 1.3), 2 (Unit 2.3) and 3 (Unit 3.3) have this week to finish off the Timeline Activity. The Timeline activity requires some investment of time, which can be done as 2 half hour sessions or one longer session. Some flexible timing is built into the unit for teachers who want to match this activity to the number line in Maths, and other revise or cover the number line in more depth as a complement to this activity.

Years 3 to 6

Last week students in Years 3 to 6 chose a research topic, related to a theme in Australian History. Different themes are studied by different year levels. Students in Year 3 (Unit 3.7) study a topic in the history of their capital city or local community. Students in Year 4 (Unit 4.3) study a topic from Australian history in the precolonial or early colonial periods. Students in Year 5 (Unit 5.3) study a topic from Australian colonial history and students in Year 6 (Unit 6.3) study a topic related to Federation or 20th century Australian history. These research topics are undertaken as a Scientific Investigation. This week the focus is on defining a Research Question and undertaking Background Research. Student workbooks will guide students through the process of choosing a research question within their chosen topic, and then how to start the Background Research. These sections will be included in the Scientific Report each student produces at the end of this unit. OpenSTEM resources available with each unit provide a starting point for this Background Research.

New Dates for Earliest Archaeological Site in Aus!

This morning news was released of a date of 65,000 years for archaeological material at the site of Madjedbebe rock shelter in the Jabiluka mineral lease area, surrounded by Kakadu National Park. The site is on the land of the Mirarr people, who have partnered with archaeologists from the University of Queensland for this investigation. It has also produced evidence of the earliest use of ground-stone tool technology, the oldest seed-grinding tools in Australia and stone points, which may have been used as spears. Most fascinating of all, there is the jawbone of a Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine (which was found across continental Australia during the Ice Age) coated in a red pigment, thought to be the reddish rock, ochre. There is much evidence of use of ochre at the site, with chucks and ground ochre found throughout the site. Ochre is often used for rock art and the area has much beautiful rock art, so we can deduce that these rock art traditions are as old as the occupation of people in Australia, i.e. at least 65,000 years old! The decoration of the jawbone hints at a complex realm of abstract thought, and possibly belief, amongst our distant ancestors – the direct forebears of modern Aboriginal people.

Placing the finds from Madjebebe rock shelter within the larger context, the dating, undertaken by Professor Zenobia Jacobs from the University of Wollongong, shows that people were living at the site during the Ice Age, a time when many, now-extinct, giant animals roamed Australia; and the tiny Homo floresiensis was living in Indonesia. These finds show that the ancestors of Aboriginal people came to Australia with much of the toolkit of their rich, complex lives already in place. This technology, extremely advanced for the time, allowed them to populate the entire continent of Australia, first managing to survive in the hash Ice Age environment and then also managing to adapt to the enormous changes in sea level, climate and vegetation at the end of the Ice Age.

The team of archaeologists working at Madjebebe rock shelter, in conjunction with Mirarr traditional owners, are finding all sorts of wonderful archaeological material, from which they can deduce much rich, detailed information about the lives of the earliest people in Australia. We look forward to hearing more from them in the future. Students who are interested, especially those in Years 4, 5 and 6, can read more about these sites and the animals and lives of people in Ice Age Australia in our resources People Reach Australia, Early Australian Sites, Ice Age Animals and the Last Ice Age, which are covered in Units 4.1, 5.1 and 6.1.

This Week in HASS – term 3, week 2

This week older students start their research projects for the term, whilst younger students are doing the Timeline Activity. Our youngest students are thinking about the places where people live and can join together with older students as buddies to Build A Humpy together.

Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 3

Students in stand-alone Foundation/Prep/Kindy classes (Unit F.3), or those in classes integrated with Year 1 (Unit F-1.3) are considering different types of homes this week. They will think about where the people in the stories from last week live and compare that to their own houses. They can consider how homes were different in the past and how our homes help us meet our basic needs. There is an option this week for these students to buddy with older students, especially those in Years 4, 5 and 6, to undertake the Building A Humpy activity together. In this activity students collect materials to build a replica Aboriginal humpy or shelter outside. Many teachers find that both senior primary and the younger students get a lot of benefit from helping each other with activities, enriching the learning experience. The Building a Humpy activity is one where the older students can assist the younger students with the physical requirements of building a humpy, whilst each group considers aspects of the activity relevant to their own studies, and comparing past ways of life to their own.

Students in Years 1 (Unit 1.3), 2 (Unit 2.3) and 3 (Unit 3.3) are undertaking the Timeline Activity this week. This activity is designed to complement the concept of the number line from the Mathematics curriculum, whilst helping students to learn to visualise the abstract concepts of the past and different lengths of time between historical events and the present. In this activity students walk out a timeline, preferably across a large open space such as the school Oval, whilst attaching pieces of paper at intervals to a string. The pieces of paper refer to specific events in history (starting with their own birth years) and cover a wide range of events from the material covered this year. Teachers can choose from events in Australian and world history, covering 100s, 1000s and even millions of years, back to the dinosaurs. Teachers can also add their own events. Thus the details of the activity are able to be altered in different years to maintain student interest. Depending on the class, the issue of scale can be addressed in various ways. By physically moving their bodies, students will start to understand the lengths of time involved in examinations of History. This activity is repeated in increasing detail in higher years, to make sure that the fundamental concepts are absorbed by students over time.

Years 3 to 6

Students in Years 3 to 6 are starting their term research projects on Australian history this week. Students in Year 3 (Unit 3.7) concentrate on topics from the history of their capital city or local community. Suggested topics are included for Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Darwin, Hobart, Perth and Canberra. Teachers can substitute their own topics for a local community study. Students will undertake a Scientific Investigation into an aspect of their chosen research project and will produce a Scientific Report. It is recommended that teachers supplement the resources provided with old photographs, books, newspapers etc, many of which can be accessed online, to provide the students with extra material for their investigation.

Students in Year 4 (Unit 4.3) will be focusing on Australia in the period up to and including the arrival of the First Fleet and the early colonial period. OpenSTEM’s Understanding Our World® program encompasses the whole Australian curriculum for HASS and thus does not simply rely on “flogging the First Fleet to death”! There are 7 research themes for Year 4 students: “Australia Before 1788”; “The First Fleet”; “Convicts and Settlers”; “Aboriginal People in Colonial Australia”; “Australia and Other Nations in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries”; “Colonial Children”; “Colonial Animals and their Impact”. These themes are allocated to groups of students and each student chooses an individual research topic within their groups themes. Suggested topics are given in the Teacher Handbook, as well as suggested resources.

Year 5 (Unit 5.3) students focus on the colonial period in Australia. There are 9 research themes for Year 5 students. These are: “The First Fleet”; “Convicts and Settlers”; “The 6 Colonies”; “Aboriginal People in Colonial Australia”; “Resistance to Colonial Authorities”; “Sugar in Queensland”; “Colonial Children”; “Colonial Explorers” and “Colonial Animals and their Impact”. As well as themes unique to Year 5, some overlap is provided to facilitate teaching in multi-year classes. The range of themes also allows for the possibility of teachers choosing different themes in different years. Once again individual topics and resources are suggested in the Teacher Handbook.

Year 6 (Unit 6.3) students will examine research themes around Federation and the early 20th century. There are 8 research themes for Year 6 students: “Federation and Sport”; “Women’s Suffrage”; “Aboriginal Rights in Australia”; “Henry Parkes and Federation”; “Edmund Barton and Federation”; “Federation and the Boer War”; “Samuel Griffith and the Constitution”; “Children in Australian History”. Individual research topics and resources are suggested in the Teachers Handbook. It is expected that students in Year 6 will be able to research largely independently, with weekly guidance from their teacher. OpenSTEM’s Understanding Our World® program is aimed at developing research skills in students progressively, especially over the upper primary years. If the program is followed throughout the primary years, students are well prepared for high school by the end of Year 6, having practised individual research skills for several years.

This Week in HASS – term 3, week 1

Today marks the start of a new term in Queensland, although most states and territories have at least another week of holidays, if not more. It’s always hard to get back into the swing of things in the 3rd term, with winter cold and the usual round of flus and sniffles. OpenSTEM’s 3rd term units branch into new areas to provide some fresh material and a new direction for the new semester. This term younger students are studying the lives of children in the past from a narrative context, whilst older students are delving into aspects of Australian history.

Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 3

The main resource for our youngest students for Unit F.3 is Children in the Past – a collection of stories of children from a range of different historical situations. This resource contains 6 stories of children from Aboriginal Australia more than 1,000 years ago, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Ancient China, Aztec Mexico and Zulu Southern Africa several hundred years ago. Teachers can choose one or two stories from this resource to study in depth with the students this term. The range of stories allows teachers to tailor the material to their class and ensure that there is no need to repeat the same stories in consecutive years. Students will compare the lives of children in the stories with their own lives – focusing on different aspects in different weeks of the term. In this first week teachers will read the stories to the class and help them find the places described on the OpenSTEM “Our World” map and/or a globe.

Students in integrated Foundation/Prep/Kindy and Year 1 classes (Unit F-1.3), will also be examining stories from the Children in the Past resource. Students in Years 1 (Unit 1.3), 2 (Unit 2.3) and 3 (Unit 3.3) will also be comparing their own lives with those of children in the past; however, they will use a collection of stories called Living in the Past, which covers the same areas and time periods as Children in the Past, but provides more in-depth information about a broader range of subject areas and includes the story of the young Tom Petrie, growing up in Brisbane in the 1840s. Students in Year 1 will be considering family structures and the differences and similarities between their own families and the families described in the stories. Students in Year 2 are starting to understand the differences which technology makes to peoples’ lives, especially the technology behind different modes of transport. Students in Year 3 retain a focus on local history. In fact, the Understanding Our World® units for Year 3, term 3 are tailored to match the capital city of the state or territory in which the student lives. Currently units are available for Brisbane and Perth, other capital cities are in preparation. Additional resources are available describing the foundation and growth of Brisbane and Perth, with other cities to follow. Teachers may also prefer to focus on the local community in a smaller town and substitute their own resources for those of the capital city.

Years 3 to 6

Opening of the first parliament — First Australian Parliament

Older students are focusing on Australian history this term – Year 3 students (Unit 3.7) will be considering the history of their capital city (or local community) within the broader context of Australian history. Students in Year 4 (Unit 4.3) will be examining Australia in the period up to and including the first half of the 19th century. Students in Year 5 (Unit 5.3) examine the colonial period in Australian history; whilst students in Year 6 (Unit 6.3) are investigating Federation and Australia in the 20th century. In this first week of term, students in Years 3 to 6 will be compiling a timeline of Australian history and filling in important events which they already know about or have learnt about in previous units. Students will revisit this timeline in later weeks to add additional information. The main resources for this week are The History of Australia, a broad overview of Australian history from the Ice Age to the 20th century; and the History of Australian Democracy, an overview of the development of the democratic process in Australia.

The rest of the 3rd term will be spent compiling a scientific report on an investigation into an aspect of Australian history. Students in Year 3 will choose a research topic from a list of themes concerning the history of their capital city. Students in Year 4 will choose from themes on Australia before 1788, the First Fleet, experiences of convicts and settlers, including children, as well as the impact of different animals brought to Australia during the colonial period. Students in Year 5 will choose from themes on the Australian colonies and people including explorers, convicts and settlers, massacres and resistance, colonial animals and industries such as sugar in Queensland. Students in Year 6 will choose from themes on Federation, including personalities such as Henry Parkes and Edmund Barton, Sport, Women’s Suffrage, Children, the Boer War and Aboriginal experiences. This research topic will be undertaken as a guided investigation throughout the term.

The Science of Cats

Ah, the comfortable cat! Most people agree that cats are experts at being comfortable and getting the best out of life, with the assistance of their human friends – but how did this come about? Geneticists and historians are continuing to study how cats and people came to live together and how cats came to organise themselves into such a good deal in their relationship with humans. Cats are often allowed liberties that few other animals, even domestic animals, can get away with – they are fed and usually pampered with comfortable beds (including human furniture), are kept warm, cuddled on demand; and, very often, are not even asked to provide anything except affection (on their terms!) in return. Often thought of as solitary animals, cats’ social behaviour is actually a lot more complex and recently further insights have been gained about how cats and humans came to enjoy the relationship that they have today.

Many people know that the Ancient Egyptians came to certain agreements with cats – cats are depicted in some of their art and mummified cats have been found. It is believed that cats may have been worshipped as representatives of the Cat Goddess, Bastet – interestingly enough, a goddess of war! Statues of cats from Ancient Egypt emphasise their regal bearing and tendency towards supercilious expressions. Cats were present in Egyptian art by 1950 B.C. and it was long thought that Egyptians were the first to domesticate the cat. However, in 2004 a cat was found buried with a human on the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean 9,500 years ago, making it the earliest known cat associated with humans. This date was many thousands of years earlier than Egyptian cats. In 2008 a site in the Nile Valley was found which contained the remains of 6 cats – a male, a female and 4 kittens, which seemed to have been cared for by people about 6,000 years ago.

African Wild Cat, photo by Sonelle, CC-BY-SA

It is now fairly well accepted that cats domesticated people, rather than the other way round! Papers refer to cats as having “self-domesticated”, which sounds in line with cat behaviour. Genetically all modern cats are related to African (also called Near Eastern) wild cats 8,000 years ago. There was an attempt to domesticate leopard cats about 7,500 years ago in China, but none of these animals contributed to the genetic material of the world’s modern cat populations. As humans in the Near East developed agriculture and started to live in settled villages, after 10,000 years ago, cats were attracted to these ready sources of food and more. The steady supply of food from agriculture allowed people to live in permanent villages. Unfortunately, these villages, stocked with food, also attracted other animals, such as rats and mice, not as welcome and potential carriers of disease. The rats and mice were a source of food for the cats who probably arrived in the villages as independent, nocturnal hunters, rather than as deliberately being encouraged by people.

Once cats were living in close proximity to people, trust developed and soon cats were helping humans in the hunt, as is shown in this detail from an Egyptian tomb painting on the right. Over time, cats became pets and part of the family and followed farmers from Turkey across into Europe, as well as being painted sitting under dining tables in Egypt. People started to interfere with the breeding of cats and it is now thought that the Egyptians selected more social, rather than more territorial cats. Contrary to the popular belief that cats are innately solitary, in fact African Wild Cats have complex social behaviour, much of which has been inherited by the domestic cat. African wild cats live in loosely affiliated groups made up mostly of female cats who raise kittens together. There are some males associated with the group, but they tend to visit infrequently and have a larger range, visiting several of the groups of females and kittens. The female cats take turns at nursing, looking after the kittens and hunting. The adult females share food only with their own kittens and not with the other adults. Cats recognise who belongs to their group and who doesn’t and tend to be aggressive to those outside the group. Younger cats are more tolerant of strangers, until they form their own groups. Males are not usually social towards each other, but occasionally tolerate each other in loose ‘brotherhoods’.

In our homes we form the social group, which may include one or more cats. If there is more than one cat these may subdivide themselves into cliques or factions. Pairs of cats raised together often remain closely bonded and affectionate for life. Other cats (especially males) may isolate themselves from the group and do not want to interact with other cats. Cats that are happy on their own do not need other cats for company. It is more common to find stressed cats in multi-cat households. Cats will tolerate other cats best if they are introduced when young. After 2 years of age cats are less tolerant of newcomers to the group. Humans take the place of parents in their cats’ lives. Cats who grow up with humans retain some psychological traits from kittenhood and never achieve full psychological maturity.

At the time that humans were learning to manipulate the environment to their own advantage by domesticating plants and animals, cats started learning to manipulate us. They have now managed to achieve very comfortable and prosperous lives with humans and have followed humans around the planet. Cats arrived in Australia with the First Fleet, having found a very comfortable niche on sailing ships helping to control vermin. Matthew Flinders‘ cat, Trim, became famous as a result of the book Flinders wrote about him. However, cats have had a devastating effect on the native wildlife of Australia. They kill millions of native animals every year, possibly even millions each night. It is thought that they have been responsible for the extinction of numbers of native mice and small marsupial species. Cats are very efficient and deadly nocturnal hunters. It is recommended that all cats are kept restrained indoors or in runs, especially at night. We must not forget that our cuddly companions are still carnivorous predators.