History / Year 8 / Historical Knowledge and Understanding

Curriculum content descriptions

Pre-Columbian life in the Americas, including social organisation, city life and beliefs (ACDSEH016)

Elaborations
  • describing the social organisation of the Aztecs (for example, nobility, slaves); their beliefs (for example, worship of a number of gods and the need to make human sacrifices to appease these gods); life in the capital city Tenochtitlan
General capabilities
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
  • Intercultural understanding Intercultural understanding
  • Ethical understanding Ethical understanding
ScOT terms

Cities,  Beliefs,  Social history,  Lifestyles,  American history,  Mexican history,  Peruvian history,  Precontact culture

Interactive

WeCommemorate

WeCommemorate is a series of challenges for teachers to use with students to commemorate Australia's involvement in the First World War. These project-based challenges have been designed to engage students from Early Stage 1 to Stage 5 in the production of creative multimedia works and to develop 21st century learning skills. ...

Interactive

Branyi Bayann Niiringal (Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow)

This learning and teaching resource supports schools and their communities to make important Aboriginal sites accessible on Google Maps. This resource can only be viewed in Chrome, MS Edge, Firefox and Safari. This resource is also downloadable as a SCORM file: the downloaded version will only work if you upload it to a ...

Interactive

Endeavour – eight days in Kamay

This learning and teaching resource provides a range of viewpoints and works to challenge current perceptions of the arrival of Captain James Cook and the HMB Endeavour at Kamay Botany Bay in 1770. It is an inclusive resource, placing value on the Aboriginal perspective to "balance the history books" by looking both from ...

Video

NSW Governor Marie Bashir – 2010 speech to students

This resource is a YouTube playlist containing a series of videos from a speech the NSW Governor Marie Bashir gave to senior high school students at Government House in 2010. She speaks on a range of topics, including the Australian system of government, the history of Australia and NSW, and her life. She also answers ...

Online

Commemorating Anzac through engaging learning

This resource supports quality teaching and learning through specific curriculum learning opportunities to engage students, as well as enhancing whole school and community interactions and events commemorating Anzac. Part of the Bringing communities together series in response to the NSW State Anzac Centenary.

Text

Magna Carta - Is it a part of your life today?

This unit of work consists of five classroom activities that introduce students to the Magna Carta, or Great Charter that describes the civil liberties granted by King John of England in 1215. The activities explore the key concepts established in the Magna Carta, including the rule of law and the parliamentary system of ...

Video

How the Enlightenment came to Australia

This video (14:20) examines the origins and emergence of the Enlightenment and its principles and ideas that shaped society including its institutions, freedoms, the exercise of law, education and wealth. The video discusses the impact of the writings of the philosophers of the period and the impact they had on Australia's ...

Assessment

Year 8 history assessment - Effects of the Black Death: Source Response

This is an assessment package that uses the Year 8 Australian Curriculum history achievement standard to gather evidence about how well students have demonstrated what they know, what they understand and what they can do for the depth study 'Expanding Contacts: The Black Death in Asia, Europe and Africa (14th century plague)'. ...

Interactive

Writing a discussion

The resource contains information, activities and tasks on how to write a discussion. It includes writing and publishing templates for students for a variety of purposes and contexts. This resource supports the Australian Curriculum in English K–10.

Video

Belonging

In this resource Thomas Keneally addresses the issues of belonging and of marginalised peoples.

Interactive

Gold – shaping our identity

This is a task-based resource for students to explore the social, economic, political and environmental impact of the gold rush in Australia in the 1850s. The resource includes videos, SMART notebooks, worksheets and links to further interactive resources. It includes support notes for teachers and/or supervisors in distance ...

Text

Journeys and Connections

This resource displays objects related to stories of migration to Australia. Students locate and research relevant objects in their own community and create a digital story of migration. The resource uses objects from the Australian Journeys exhibition at the National Museum of Australia.

Video

The research process

In this resource Thomas Keneally reveals the sources he used to uncover the details about early life in Australia.

Video

The use of images

In this resource Thomas Keneally reveals his reasons for choosing the images in 'Australians: Origins to Eureka'.

Interactive

Syllabus Bites: Explore a source

This resource is a webpage with information, study guide and resources on the process of analysing and evaluating historical sources to support Stage 3, 4 and 5 HSIE and the Australian Curriculum: History.

Video

Understanding the past

In this resource Thomas Keneally addresses the importance of understanding Australia’s past with particular emphasis on Australia’s strong tradition of democratic action and democratic institutions.

Video

The significance of Bennelong Point

In this resource Thomas Keneally speaks about the significance of Bennelong Point and the relationship between Governor Phillip and Bennelong. Learncast video.

Interactive

Syllabus Bites: Ancient India

This resource is a webpage with information, study guide and resources on the depth study, The Asian world: India, to support the Australian Curriculum in History.

Interactive

Sites2See: Explore the Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive

This resource consists of selected links to the Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive (LEMA) with research suggestions, syllabus advice and supporting activities, including a virtual tour of Old Government House, Parramatta. The LEMA Project provides material for the historical investigation of the lives and times of ...

Interactive

Old Government House Parramatta virtual tour

This resource is about exploring Governor Macquarie’s preferred residence while learning more about the early colony through this virtual tour of Old Government House at Parramatta.