Humanities and social sciences / Year 5 / Inquiry and skills / Communicating

Curriculum content descriptions

Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions (ACHASSI105)

Elaborations
  • selecting appropriate text types to convey findings, conclusions and understandings (for example, imaginative journals, narrative recounts, reports and arguments)
  • describing the relative location of places and their features in Australia and in selected countries of North America and Europe
  • selecting and applying appropriate media and strategies to suit their communication, including the use of graphs, tables, timelines, photographs and pictures, in digital and non-digital modes
  • using accurate and subject-appropriate terms (for example, historical terms such as ‘colonial’, ‘the gold era’, ‘migration’, ‘penal’; geographic terms such as ‘characteristics’, ‘environmental’, ‘human’, ‘ecosystems’, ‘sustainable’, ‘settlement’, ‘management‘; civics terms such as ‘electoral process’, ‘democracy’, ‘legal system’, ‘shared beliefs’; and economic terms such as ‘scarcity’, ‘choices’, ‘resources’, ‘businesses’, ‘consumers’, ‘needs and wants’, ‘goods and services’)
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • ICT capability Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability
ScOT terms

Oral presentations,  Historical sources,  Creating texts,  Data representation,  Word meanings,  Narratives,  Geographic location

Online

Magna Carta: The story of our freedom

This is a resource about the Magna Carta (Great Charter) agreed between King John and his rebellious barons in 1215 and its influence on the development of human rights and democratic freedoms to the present day. The resource consists of: an animated infographic ‘Tell the story’ with hyperlinks to further information; an ...

Online

Making history

This resource supports students, individuals and community groups to research, produce and share a short digital history about a person or event.

Video

The British arrive in Tasmania

Learn why, in 1803, the British established a colony in Tasmania, at Hobart Town. Find out about the hardships faced by the convicts and early colonists and the early industries that helped some of them prosper. Find out about the effect that displacement had on the local palawa people.

Video

This Place: Birian Balunah - the birthing of the rivers

Paula Nihot shares a story told to her by Yugambeh Elder Patricia O’Connor. It's the story of Wanungara, queen of the mountains, and her daughters Princess Toolona and Princess Caningera, and how their complicated relationships and choices explain the geography of the region.

Video

The historical legacy of John Glover

English artist John Glover emigrated to Van Diemen's Land in 1831. He settled on a generous land grant called "Patterdale", near Deddington in northern Tasmania. Many of Glover’s artworks provide historical records of the people, plants and animals who lived in the area, as well as the changes wrought by European settlement.

Video

Impact of European settlement on Aboriginal Tasmanians video

Aboriginal Tasmanians had inhabited Tasmania for over 40,000 years before the arrival of European settlers. What do you think life was like for Aboriginal Tasmanians before then? Why might have they embarked on a war, called the 'Black War', once settlers began arriving in Tasmania, despite existing relatively peacefully ...

Video

This Place: Burringurrah - the boy who ran from initiation

Charlie Snowball tells the story of Burringurrah, a landform named after a boy who ran away from tribal initiation. Also known as Mount Augustus, Burringurrah in Western Australia is often claimed to be the world’s largest rock. What other significant rock features is Australia known for?

Video

This place: Dreamtime story of the Nambucca River

Hear the Dreamtime story of the Nambucca River on Gumbaynggirr Country (North Coast of New South Wales). What is the river called in Gumbaynggirr? What made the imprint in the land around Nambucca River? There's a bend in the river called Baga Baga in Gumbaynggirr. Why is it called this?

Online

Archives ACT: find of the month

This topic-based collection of primary source material provides a rich and varied source of official documents, guides and background information on the civic history of Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory. Produced monthly, this eclectic collection covers topics including the history of monuments, architecture, ...

Video

The water cycle in the Murray-Darling Basin

This 12 minute video explains the water cycle in the context of the Murray Darling Basin and the great variability in rainfall in the region causing frequent floods and droughts. It highlights the importance of the rivers in the Murray Darling Basin for agriculture, environmental health, water supply, habitat for migratory ...

Online

Burke and Wills: Then and Now

This is a website about a journey in 2010 that retraced the 1860 Burke and Wills expedition from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Topics include: the landscape, the route, the flora and fauna, Burke’s tree, aboriginal bush foods and various interviews with experts and involved individuals. The resource is presented ...

Online

Indigenous Stories about War and Invasion

This is a website about Indigenous experiences of invasion and war during the British invasion, World War I and World War II. The resource is presented in three sections: Introductory information; Story Objects; and Story Education Resources. There are eight story objects that tell the stories of individuals, events and ...

Video

Rewind: What is 'living history'?

In 2004, a re-enactment of the Second Battle of Vinegar Hill was carried out on site to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the battle. The activity, which involved accurate use of costumes, equipment and other props from the era of the battle, is called 'living history'. According to this video, what are some of the ...

Online

How do you make a difference?

In this learning sequence, students determine improvements they would like to see in public transport. They research ways of suggesting improvements to public transport authorities and other decision makers, and prepare letters and emails for this purpose. They prioritise future improvements and develop arguments to support ...

Interactive

What house is that?

This is an interactive streetscape of nine houses, each from a different era and of different styles. They represent the nine main housing styles in Victoria. Information about each of the houses includes: features and style; the Architect; designers; historical observations; house owners; and general social history of ...

Online

Sydney Metro – a 3D design focused inquiry – Stage 3

This inquiry-based unit of work was created, trialled and peer reviewed as part of a professional learning program in inquiry-based learning for school teachers. The professional learning courses were part of a pilot partnership between the NSW Government’s Sydney Metro transport agency and Western Sydney University.

Video

Life As a Female Convict: Cascades Female Factory

The Cascades Female Factory was both a prison and a factory for female convicts in early Hobart. It was a place where convict women were forced to undertake labour in slave-like conditions to support the fledgling colony. Learn what life at the Female Factory was like for the inmates. What sort of work did the women do? ...

Video

Gold rush

Walk through the streets of 1850s Ballarat at Sovereign Hill and learn about how the discovery of gold shaped the development of this region. What were the three distinct but overlapping eras of gold mining in Ballarat? How do staff at Sovereign Hill know what life was like for people during this time? Find out how the ...

Video

BTN: Aboriginal astronomy

Many ancient cultures studied the night sky, and we know this because it is reflected in some of the earliest stories we have on record. Learn about one of these stories in this video. Other than the Dreamtime stories, what other evidence might there be that the Aboriginal people studied the stars?

Video

Tour of NSW Government House

This resource is a YouTube playlist containing a series of videos taken as a group of senior high school students are given a guided tour of NSW Government House in 2010. The tour covers primary sources such as architecture, furniture and images significant to the history of Australia and NSW.