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Examining the lives of historical figures to help us effect change - unit of work

Teacher guide Examining the lives of historical figures to help us effect change - unit of work

TLF ID M009600

This is a short unit of work about significant historical figures from Australia's past, the contributions they made and how their actions have affected Australia today. Intended for lower secondary students, the unit is organised around two activities. The first involves a study of Edith Cowan. It serves as a model for the second activity, in which students research another significant individual. The unit provides links to useful websites and interactive resources as well as two handouts for particular student activities.

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Educational details

Educational value
  • This is a valuable resource for studies of human agency in bringing about change. The concept of agency is important in both the history and the civics and citizenship curriculum areas. By the end of year 8 in civics and citizenship, students can be reasonably expected to understand that individuals can be instrumental in change and that citizens in a democracy enjoy the right to take responsible personal action to bring about change for the common good.
  • While the suggested activities are appropriate for the intended audience of lower secondary students, they are equally suitable and useful for upper primary students. The activities are particularly relevant to the year 6 history content descriptions about the experiences of Australian democracy and citizenship, including the status and rights of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, migrants and women, and their contributions to the development of Australian society.
Year level

6; 7; 8

Topics Active citizenship Activism Significant people
Learning area
  • Civics and citizenship
  • History

Other details

Contributors
  • Contributor
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Copyright Holder
  • Name: Commonwealth of Australia
  • Organization: Commonwealth of Australia
  • Address: ACT, AUSTRALIA
  • Publisher
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Name: The Department of Education\, Employment and Workplace Relations (DE
  • Organization: The Department of Education\, Employment and Workplace Relations (DE
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: ACT, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.deewr.gov.au
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Unknown
Learning Resource Type
  • Online
Rights
  • © Commonwealth of Australia 2009. With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms and the DEEWR logo and copyright material that is owned by third parties, you may use the material in accordance with a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (CC BY-SA) 3.0 Australia licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/au/ provided that appropriate acknowledgement is made, the material is not subjected to derogatory treatment and any derivative work attributes the original material and identifies the changes that have been made to it.