History / Year 7 / Historical Skills / Historical questions and research

Curriculum content descriptions

Identify a range of questions about the past to inform a historical inquiry (ACHHS207)

Elaborations
  • posing a key question such as: ‘How were the pyramids at Giza built?’ and understanding that there may not be a definitive answer; identifying related questions to inform the inquiry including: ‘What evidence is there?’ ‘What theories have been developed?’
  • posing questions of sources such as: ‘Where does it come from?’ ‘How do we know?’ ‘What information does it provide?’ ‘What other sources might be needed?’
  • identifying steps in the research process (for example, identifying information needed, locating that information, recording relevant information from sources)
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
ScOT terms

Historical inquiry,  Research questions

Interactive

Exploring Kamay

This resource explores the landscape of Kamay Botany Bay, as well as the technology discovered by the crew aboard the HMB Endeavour in 1770. This resource is one part of the 'Endeavour – eight days in Kamay' resource.

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.

Assessment

Year 7 history assessment - Investigating the ancient past: A history mystery

This is an assessment package that uses the Year 7 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 'Investigating the Ancient Past' (between 60 000BC–c.650 AD). Using the context ...

Online

Ancient China: staff room

This is a rich teacher resource about ancient China. It contains 15 background information sheets; 11 lesson plans for whole-class discussions to introduce particular topics; four inquiry grid worksheets for gathering information; and nine follow-up lesson plans for activities that extend the content. The staff room resource ...

Text

Teaching controversial issues

This guide explores the nature of controversial issues, reasons for teaching controversial issues and the value of a global citizenship education approach. It provides guidance and classroom strategies for handling and exploring controversial issues, and also engaging with the topic of “fake news”.

Text

Global citizenship in the classroom

This framework is designed to help teachers build the key elements of global citizenship into units of work on a wide range of topics. Find a wide range of teaching strategies to support creating questions, interrogating images, creating an issues tree, creating ‘mysteries’, an opinion continuum and others.

Text

Data in Gapminder world

This resource is a dataset providing data for a number of indicators of development over time for more than 200 countries. The indicators fall into the following categories: population, health, economy, environment, work, infrastructure, energy and education, with over 500 sets of data in total. Each set of data can be ...

Text

The first modern humans in south-east Asia

This is a multilayered resource about the theories and evidence of the origins of the first modern humans in south-east Asia. It has four sections: Theories; The sout-heast Asian fossil record; The appearance of sout-heast Asian features; and The first modern Indonesians. The Related sections, Related items and Related ...

Text

Life on the land

This is a resource about life on the land in Australia in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. It includes details about land grants allocation, the establishment of Australia's first farms, the condition of the land, the processes used to farm the land, and case studies about the early farming families in Australia. The ...

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.

Interactive

Different views

This resource will encourage students to develop their understanding of the first contact of the Aboriginal people of Kamay Botany Bay and the men aboard the HMB Endeavour in 1770. This resource is one part of the 'Endeavour – eight days in Kamay' resource.

Video

Archaeology unearths a mass-murder site

Discover a historic site that could reveal new evidence of the first recorded mass murder on Australian soil. The site is Beacon Island, a small island off the coast of Western Australia near present-day Geraldton. In this clip, reporter Mark Bennett visits the island with two members of a 1963 expedition that first investigated ...

Video

Nexus: Holden, the 'all-Australian car'

What made Holden cars symbols of Australia during the 1950s, 60s and 70s? During this period, more than any other vehicle, the Holden came to reflect changing lifestyles in Australia, and helped to define for many what it meant to be 'Australian'. Find out the impact that generations of Holden vehicles have had on the lives ...

Text

Defining moments in Australian History

This extensive web-based resource examines events, people and places of profound significance to the Australian people and their personal, community and national histories. The resource includes a list of 100 'defining moments' identified by historians supported by background information, images, video and links to the ...

Video

BTN: Australia and Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a war fought between North and South Vietnam in the 1960s and the 70s. How did Australia become involved in this war and how did it ultimately change Australia? Find out about the attitudes of the public to the war in the 1960s and 1970s, and how it shaped the Australian Government's decision to be involved ...

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

Eureka stories

This is a website about the Eureka Stockade uprising and trials of 1854 to 1855. It uses primary and secondary source materials to explore some of the causes and actions that fueled the uprising. The resource is presented in three sections: Introductory information; Story Objects; and Story Education Resources. There are ...

Online

William Buckley

This is a website about William Buckley, an infamous convict that arrived in Victoria from England in 1803 and escaped European settlement. The resource presents: Buckley’s life after he escaped from settlement: details of the 32 years he spent with the Wathaurang people: and depicts his meeting with the colonising party, ...

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

Ancient Roman Empire

This unit of work is organised around four inquiry questions about life in the ancient city of Pompeii based on the archaeological findings and evidence of the times. The unit includes five animated videos supported by structured inquiry questions and activities.