History / Year 8 / Historical Knowledge and Understanding / Overview of the ancient to modern world

Curriculum content descriptions

key features of the medieval world (feudalism, trade routes, voyages of discovery, contact and conflict) (ACOKFH009)

Elaborations
  • identifying the major civilisations of the period (Byzantine, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Ottoman, Khmer, Mongols, Yuan and Ming dynasties, Aztec, Inca); where and when they existed; and their extent (for example, the Vikings through Europe, the Mongols across Eurasia, and the Spanish in the Americas)
  • locating the major trading routes (including the Mediterranean; the Silk Road; the sea route between China, India and the east coast of Africa; and the Columbian Exchange) on a map and identifying the nature of the trade/contact (for example, along the Silk Road – slaves, spices, silk, glassware, spread of knowledge and diseases)
  • describing beliefs about the world and the voyages of discovery (European and Asian), the nature of the voyages and the redrawing of the map of the world
  • explaining the significance of land ownership in the practice of feudalism and the nature of feudalism in Europe (for example, knights) and Japan (for example, samurai)
General capabilities
  • Intercultural understanding Intercultural understanding
ScOT terms

Conflict (Human relations),  Classical antiquity,  Feudalism,  Exploration,  First contact,  Distribution (Marketing)

Assessment

Year 8 history assessment - Medieval eclipse

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 'The Western and Islamic World: Medieval Europe' (c.590–c.1500). Students use researched ...

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)'. ...

Image

Women stapling ration books, 1943

This is a sepia-toned photograph, taken in April 1943, of young women at the South Australian Government Printing Office using large machines to staple ration books.

Video

Why did civilisations expand?

This short video offers an overview of why civilisations expanded, by looking at the past for commonalities and patterns. The need to expand is one such pattern with massive empires growing then collapsing. Expansion was necessary to pay for increasing infrastructure, government and the military, and internal resources ...

Video

What is Magna Carta?

Have you heard of Magna Carta? This document from the 13th century has been hugely influential for many modern democracies. Watch this clip to find out how it came about and why it is still so important today.

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. ...

Text

Vindolanda

This resource is about the Roman garrison established at Vindolanda. It includes extracts from the Vindolanda tablets dating from the period AD 97-103, which documented details of everyday life for a Roman soldier on the north-west frontier of Roman Britain. The resource describes the discovery of the tablets and their ...

Interactive

Vikings: the north Atlantic saga - online exhibition

This is an online exhibition rich in historical information, animations and source material about the Vikings in general and their westward expansion in particular. The exhibition, developed by the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, contains three elements, two intended for students and one for teachers. ...

Video

Untold Stories, Ep 14: Who was the first Anzac to step ashore the beaches of Gallipoli?

Since 1915, there has been debate over who was the first Australian soldier to step ashore at Gallipoli. The people of Maryborough, Queensland, claim it was Lieutenant Duncan Chapman. What evidence is there that Lieutenant Duncan Chapman was the first Anzac ashore? How has the community of Maryborough commemorated his life?

Video

Untold Stories, Ep 12: The submarine that ran amok at Gallipoli

Alec Nichols was a farm boy from the Sunshine Coast who joined the navy at the age of 18. During World War I, he was one of 35 men on the AE2 submarine that broke through enemy lines in the Dardanelles strait. After five days of sustained attacks from the Turkish navy, the submarine had to surface. The men were captured ...

Image

Unmasking the Maya: preserving the culture

This resource is chiefly about the preservation of the Maya culture in the USA. It covers the Maya Indians today, the rich ancient Maya culture that existed from 500 BCE to 1519 CE, when the Spanish conquered them, and those Maya who emigrate today to the USA in search of a better life. The resource presents the Monkey ...

Image

US soldier and air-raid shelter, Brisbane, 1942

This colour photograph taken in May 1942 shows a US army officer posing at the entrance of an underground air-raid shelter in Brisbane. The photo was taken in the grounds of Somerville House, an exclusive girls' boarding school requisitioned by the US forces in the Second World War as one of their headquarters in Brisbane. ...

Interactive

Treasures of American history - online exhibition

This is an online exhibition showing the objects, artefacts and images that make up some of the treasures of US history. The treasures shown in this exhibition document eight of the challenging situations and issues that have helped to shape the USA. Topics include: revolution and the new nation; slavery; western expansion; ...

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.

Video

Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion, c1942 - item 1 of 2

This clip from a silent black-and-white home movie shows Torres Strait Islander servicemen undertaking army training drills on Thursday Island (Weiban) during the Second World War. It opens with a long shot of barefoot uniformed men marching in formation, and passing behind a squad of stationary men. It then cuts to shots ...

Image

The mighty Aztecs

Who were the Mexihcah? Discover the rich and brutal history of the Aztec culture and the birth of Modern Mexico.

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

The convict voyages

What do you think it was like for convicts on their voyage from England to Australia? Would you be surprised to discover that their life expectancy on board a convict vessel was actually higher than that of free settlers? Watch this video to discover why this might be, and learn about the convicts themselves.

Text

The Invisible War: A tale on two scales

The Invisible War is a graphic novel set on the Western Front in 1916. The novel is an interdisciplinary text that includes a large science-history reference section (hyper-linked within the novel). Told from two points of view – human and microbial – the story describes a deadly infection by dysentery-causing Shigella ...

Online

The First Fleet - dataset collections

The dataset provides information about 780 of the convicts transported to Australia on the First Fleet ships 'Alexander', 'Charlotte', 'Lady Penrhyn', 'Friendship', 'Prince of Wales' and 'Scarborough' in 1788. The dataset includes information on items such as the convict's name, occupation, crime, date of trial and term ...