Humanities and social sciences / Year 6 / Inquiry and skills / Analysing

Curriculum content descriptions

Examine primary sources and secondary sources to determine their origin and purpose (ACHASSI126)

Elaborations
  • identifying and distinguishing fact and opinion in information and identifying stereotypes and over-generalisations (for example, over-generalisations about the role of women, the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, the work of politicians, the beliefs of religious groups)
  • proposing reasons why stereotypes and over-generalisations are evident in sources and media of the past and discussing whether the underlying attitudes and values have changed or might have changed over time
  • checking the publishing details of a text to help clarify the publication’s purpose, to identify potential bias in the content and assess its relevance, and to put information presented in an historical or geographical context
  • analysing sources to identify persuasive techniques such as modality (for example, ‘would’, ‘could’, ‘may’, ‘might’) and the use of the passive voice (for example, ‘it is claimed that …’) rather than the active voice (‘The government claims that ...’), and considering reasons for these choices
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
ScOT terms

Historical sources,  Classification

Assessment

Year 6 history assessment - Australia as a nation: a migration story

This is an assessment package that uses the Year 6 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 in relation to the topic 'Australia as a Nation'. Students develop and deliver a multimodal presentation ...

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Fire and land management: past and present

The focus of this resource is on understanding the seasons and the way that fire shapes the lives of human and animal inhabitants of Australia. By examining the role of fire, seasonal calendars and food webs students will understand the environment all around them. Students will use two case studies in Western Australia, ...

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Sikh and Indian Australians: Year 6 Teaching Resource

This resource provides opportunities to explore both immigrant experiences and the changing policies of the Commonwealth Government toward Asian migrants and refugees from 1901 until the present. Many examples of migrant experiences are drawn from the Australian Sikh community. The stages of the changing migration policy ...

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Race, rights & rivalries

This resource explores the history of Broome and the rich multicultural community that supported its pearling industry. The site features a virtual museum providing a range of primary source material including photographs, newspaper extracts, historical documents, video and audio recordings. The site explores the history ...

Online

Significant Individuals - Frank Hurley

In this learning activity, students explore the work of James Francis 'Frank' Hurley and his photographic documentation of historical events. These include the Antarctic expeditions of Mawson and Shackleton, World War I and World War II. Students use primary source material and their own research to prepare an interview ...

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Pacific Islander labourers in the Mackay District, late 1800s

This posed black-and-white photograph shows indentured Pacific Islanders by their grass hut homes, probably on a Mackay sugar plantation in Queensland. Some are seated on logs or rough timber benches and one woman can also be seen. They are dressed in Western-style clothes. More huts can be seen on the cleared rise in the ...

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Pacific Islander workers on a coffee plantation, c1900

This black-and-white photograph shows indentured Pacific Islander labourers manually gathering coffee beans from lines of bushes on a Kuranda coffee plantation on the Atherton Tableland in Queensland. This image shows male, female and child labourers standing among the shoulder-high coffee bushes. The Pacific Islanders ...

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Pacific Islanders harvesting cane on Bingera Plantation, 1884

This sepia photograph shows around ten Pacific Islander labourers in a sugar-cane field at Bingera Plantation near Bundaberg in Queensland as the cane is being harvested. A well-dressed European man and two young children pose in the cleared foreground, while in the mid-ground stands a fully laden horsedrawn wagon with ...

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; ...

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, ...

Interactive

Rainforest: make a walking track

Mark the route for a walking track on a map of a rainforest. Choose a section of track based on instructions about distances, compass directions and grid references. Keep adding sections of track to get to the rest house. As you go, look up the meaning of tricky words.

Video

Australian Disaster Resilience Knowledge Hub: Australian disasters

This is a curated collection of articles, photographs and internet links related to natural, technological and human-caused events including bushfires, cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, shipwrecks, urban fires, chemical and industrial events in Australia. Events included have posed a serious threat to a community or property ...

Interactive

Remembering them - mobile application

This App provides a geocoded list and historical descriptions of memorials, museums, shrines, monuments, buildings and war graves and other Australian sites that commemorate Australian's wartime history. The cross-platform application is available for free download from iTunes and Google Play. Teacher notes are available ...

Online

Journey’s end

This is website about emigrants arriving by boat to Victoria in the 19th and early 20th century. The resource has three sections: Introductory information; Story Objects; and Story Education Resources. There are 21 Story Objects, including a video and images with captions that depict the journey and way of life at this ...

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.

Interactive

Thermal comfort – sustainability action process (Years 3–6)

This thermal comfort learning resource will guide students through an extended school based investigation. Students will develop and implement a chosen sustainability action and then evaluate and reflect on their success and their learning.

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Indigenous Science: shell middens and fish traps

This is an article about Aboriginal shell middens along the Queensland coast and the information they provide about Aboriginal food collection practices. Written by Kudjala/Kalkadoon Elder from Queensland Letitia Murgha and intended mainly for teachers, it describes how shell middens were created over thousands of years ...

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Ngan'gi seasons calendar

This is a seasonal calendar developed by the Ngan’gi people of the Northern Territory in collaboboration with CSIRO. The resource contains an introduction, a richly illustrated calendar and related links. The introduction includes information about the people’s wish to document traditional knowledge of their Daly River ...

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

Sites2See: Forests

Online resources for Primary teachers, parents and students to celebrate and engage with the International Year of Forests 2011. Features selected links to games, information, videos and interactive resources for the study of trees and forests and broader issues of biodiversity and sustainability.