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 ...

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 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

Communicating in the colonial era

Imagine if you were living in Sydney in the 1800s and awaiting news or packages from England. You see a ship approaching Sydney Harbour, but how do you know where this ship is coming from or what it is carrying? Find out in this video from Sydney Observatory!

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 ...

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

Bombs Away: The Tuggeranong Bombing Range

This site provides a collection of primary source documents, guides and information to support research on the local history of Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory. 'Bombs Away' provides a brief history of the establishment of a live bombing range within the Territory in 1940 and local opposition to its creation. ...

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, ...

Text

Ancient China: geography

This is a rich online resource about the geography of China. It consists of four sections: a Geography section that summarises China's geographical features; a Story section that features myths about Nu Gua, the creator of humans; an Explore section that includes maps of ancient China; and a Challenge section where the ...

Text

Ancient China: religion

This is a rich teacher resource about religious and funerary practices in ancient China. It contains: seven background information sheets; three lesson plans for whole-class discussions to introduce particular topics connected to tombs and the goods found within them; an inquiry-grid worksheet for gathering information ...

Text

Ancient China: crafts and artisans

This is a resource titled Workshop Alley, produced by the British Museum, in which the viewer explores three ancient Chinese workshops making jade, bronze and ceramic objects. Each workshop contains: an introduction to the material being worked; an illustrated description of the processes used; one or two questions and ...

Image

Ceremonial headdress, c1921

This is a ceremonial headdress of the Wangkanguru (Wonkonguru) people, made at an Aboriginal settlement in the north-east of South Australia in about 1921. Its main features are three thick tassels made of rabbit-tail fur attached to string made of kangaroo fur and hair. It is 56 cm long and up to about 34 cm wide.

Image

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 ...

Video

BTN: Nuclear tests at Maralinga

Can you imagine nuclear bombs being exploded in Australia, over your home? Between 1953 and 1963, the Australian Government led by Robert Menzies allowed Britain to test nuclear bombs in the open air at sites in Australia. These sites included Maralinga in South Australia. It was the land of the Maralinga Tjarutja people ...

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 ...

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

World’s first bakers?

When did humans begin grinding seeds to make flour? Many people believe bread-making began in Egypt or Mesopotamia as long as 17,000 years ago. Archaeologists have recently found evidence that Indigenous Australians were producing flour 65,000 years ago. Were they the world’s first bakers?