australian history | OpenSTEM Pty Ltd

This Week in HASS – term 3, week 8

This week our younger students are putting together a Class Museum, while older students are completing their Scientific Report.

Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 3

Students in Foundation/Prep/Kindy (Units F.3 and F-1.3), as well as those in Years 1 (Unit 1.3). 2 (Unit 2.3) and 3 (Unit 3.3) are all putting together Class Museums of items of historical interest, either found at school or brought from home. Since the activity is similar (although explored to different depths by different year levels), there is the option for teachers to combine efforts across classes, and even across year level to make a more substantial Museum display. The Class Museum is an activity designed to assist students to consider how life has changed and what aspects are similar and different. Students should consider which items are easily recognisable and which are harder to identify. They can practise different points of view by imagining themselves using these objects and living in the past. Teachers can link this back to the stories read in the first weeks of term and allow students to compare their own lives with different types of past experiences of daily and family life. Museum Labels and a resource on Museums are provided to gain an understanding of how and why objects are displayed in museums.

Years 3 to 6

Older students are completing their main term research projects by finishing their Scientific Reports. This week students are concentrating on finishing their reports, drawing their Conclusions, making sure that their Bibliography is correct and formatting their report, including images, graphs and tables. For Year 3 students (Unit 3.7), the report will cover an aspect of the history of their capital city or local community. Year 4 students (Unit 4.3) are reporting on an investigation into Australia at the time of European contact and the start of European settlement. Students in Year 5 (Unit 5.3) are examining topics from Australian colonial history, and students in Year 6 (Unit 6.3) are researching topics from Federation and early 20th century Australian history. There is plenty of scope for incorporating digital technologies into the final version of the scientific report, especially for students in the upper year levels. Formatting a document correctly is an essential skill and addresses many aspects of the digital technologies curriculum, adding the possibility of another curriculum section for the teacher to mark as done for the term.

OpenStem’s Understanding Our World program ensures that student’s work for assessment is completed well before the end of term, decreasing the rush to get everything assessed in the final weeks of term. It is our aim to support teachers and facilitate the processes involved in both teaching and assessment.

This Week in HASS – term 3, week 7

This week students are starting the final sections of their research projects and Scientific Reports. Our younger students are also preparing to set up a Class Museum.

Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 3

Our youngest students (Unit F.3) also complete a Scientific Report. By becoming familiar with the overall layout and skills associated with the scientific process at a young age, by the time students reach high school the process will be second-nature and their skills fine-tuned. This week teachers discuss how Science helps us find out things about the world. Teachers and students are also collecting material to form a Class Museum. Students in integrated, multi-age classes (Unit F-1.3) and Years 1 (Unit 1.3), 2 (Unit 2.3) and 3 (Unit 3.3) are undertaking a similar set of activities this week, however, in increasing depth as appropriate for each year level, and with different subject matter, according to the class focus. By Year 3 (Unit 3.3), students are writing full sentences and even short paragraphs, focusing on a topic in the local history of their community or capital city, in their Scientific Report.

Years 3 to 6

Students in integrated Year 3/4 classes (Unit 3.7) and those in Year 4 (Unit 4.3), 5 (Unit 5.3) and 6 (Unit 6.3) are concentrating on analysis of data this week, for the final stages of their Scientific Report. It is expected that students have gathered information on their chosen research topic on an aspect of Australian history for the term by now and are analysing this information in order to answer their research questions and start to draw conclusions about their topic. This week’s lessons focus on pulling everything together towards a a full, final report. Teachers are able to quickly identify which students need extra guidance by referring to the Student Workbook, which tracks each student’s progress on a weekly basis. Thus feedback, intervention and additional support can be offered timeously and before the term marks are collated, allowing each student the chance to achieve their best.

Each year level focuses on a different aspect of Australian history and enough topics are supplied to ensure that each student is working on new information, even in multi-age classes. Instead of finding a continual stream of new, novel HASS units, or repeating material some students have covered before, OpenSTEM’s Understanding Our World® program allows teachers to tailor the same units to look different for each year level, thus ensuring that students are practising their skills on new material, as well as covering year-level appropriate skills and content. By the time students are in Year 6, they will have covered the full suite of Australian History up to the 20th century, as well as having studied each continent in turn. Civics and Citizenship and Economics and Business for part of this integrated whole and do not have to be taught separately. They will be ready to enter high school with a full suite of honed research and problem-solving skills, as well as having covered the core material necessary.

This Week in HASS – term 3, week 6

This week all our students are hard at work examining the objects they are using for their research projects. For the younger students these are objects that will be used to generate a Class Museum. For the older students, the objects of study relate to their chosen topic in Australian History.

Foundation / Prep / Kindy to Year 3

Students in Foundation/Prep/Kindy (Unit F.3) are examining items from the past and completing their Scientific Report by drawing these items in the Method section of the report. We also ask students to analyse their Data by drawing a picture of how people would have used that item in the past. Students in combined Foundation/Prep/Kindy and Year 1 classes (Unit F-1.3), as well as students in Year 1 (Unit 1.3), 2 (Unit 2.3) and 3 (Unit 3.3) are also addressing the Method, Data and Analysis sections of their report by listing, describing and drawing the sources and information which the teacher has helped them to locate. The sources should include items which can be used to make a Class Museum, as well as old photographs, paintings, books, newspapers etc. Teachers can guide class discussions around how items were used in the past – which are familiar, and which are not and compare with the stories read in the first weeks of term.

Years 3 to 6

Older students are expected to analyse their Data in increasing detail relevant to their year-level, as well as listing sources in the Method section of their Scientific Reports. Students in Year 4 (Unit 4.3) are researching a topic from Australia at the time of contact with Europeans, which includes topics in Aboriginal and early colonial history. Students should consider each source and what information they can get from the source. In addition students should think about how objects, pictures and texts were used in the past and what inherent biases might be present. Students in Year 5 (Unit 5.3) are researching a topic from Australian colonial history. Teachers should guide students through the process of determining whether they are dealing with a primary or secondary source, as well as how to use that source to learn more about the past. Inherent bias in different sources should be discussed. Students in Year 6 (Unit 6.3) are researching a topic surrounding Federation and events in Australia in the early 20th century. Many of the sources available contain both primary and secondary information and students should be starting to develop an understanding of how to use, analyse and reference these sources. In preparation for the requirements of high school, teachers should guide these students through the process of building an interpretation of their analysis which is substantiated through reference to their sources (listed in the Bibliography of their report). Students should be able to show where they got their information and how they are interpreting that information. For students in Year 6, the Student Workbook is more of a guide for writing a complete Scientific Report, which they are expected to compile more or less independently.

This Week in HASS – term 3, week 5

This week students in all year levels are working on their research project for the term. Our youngest students are looking at items and pictures from the past, while our older students are collecting source material for their project on Australian history.

Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 3

The focus of this term is an investigation into the past and how we can find out about past events. For students in Foundation/Prep/Kindy (Units F.1 and F-1.3), Years 1 (Unit 1.3), 2 (Unit 2.3) and 3 (Unit 3.3) it is recommended that the teacher bring in sources of information about the past for the students to examine. Teachers can tailor these to suit a particular direction for their class. Examples of possible sources include old toys, old books, historic photographs, texts and items about local history (including the school itself), images of old paintings, old newspaper articles which can be accessed online etc. OpenSTEM provides resources which can be used for these investigations: e.g. Historic Photographs of Families, Modes of Transport 100 Years Ago, Brisbane Through the Years, Perth Through the Years, resources on floods in Brisbane and Gundagai, bush fires in Victoria, on the different colonies in Australia etc. Teachers can also use the national and state resources such as the State Library of Queensland, particularly their Picture Archive; the State Library of NSW; the State Library of South Australia, particularly their images collection; the National Archives of Australia; Trove, which archives old newspapers in Australia; Museums Victoria, and many similar sites. Students should also be encouraged to bring material from home, which can be built up into a Class Museum.

Years 3 to 6

As students in Years 3 (Unit 3.7), 4 (Unit 4.3), 5 (Unit 5.3) and 6 (Unit 6.3) move into the period of gathering information from sources to address their research question, teachers should guide them to consider the nature of each source and how to record it. Resources such as Primary and Secondary Sources and Historical Sources aid in understanding the context of different kinds of sources and teachers should assist students to record the details of each source for their Method section of their Scientific Report. Recording these sources in detail is also essential for being able to compile a Bibliography, which is required to accompany the report. OpenSTEM resources are listed for each research topic for these units, but students (and teachers) should feel free to complement these with any additional material such as online collections of images and newspaper articles (such as those listed in the paragraph above). These will help students to achieve a more unique presentation for their report and demonstrate the ability to collate a variety of information, thus earning a higher grade. Using a wide range of sources will also give students a wider appreciation for their chosen topic in Australian history.

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.