Year Level: Year 7 History

Overview/Depth Study: Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander Peoples and Cultures The importance of
conserving the remains of the ancient past, including the
heritage, culture and artefacts of Aboriginal and Torres
Straight Islander peoples. (VCHHK108)

Standard:
In Levels 7 and 8, students study history from the time of the earliest human communities to the end of the ancient period,
approximately 60 000 BC (BCE) c.650 AD (CE). It also covers the period from the end of the ancient period to the beginning
of the modern period, c.650 AD (CE) 1750. The Ancient period was defined by the development of cultural practices and
organised societies. The study of the ancient world includes the discoveries (the remains of the past and what we know) and
the mysteries (what we do not know) about this period of history, in a range of societies including Australia, Egypt, Greece,
Rome, China and India. The period from the end of the ancient period to the beginning of the modern history was when major
civilisations around the world came into contact with each other. Social, economic, religious, and political beliefs were often
challenged and significantly changed. It was the period when the modern world began to take shape.
In this band, students will apply the following historical concepts and skills to the historical knowledge: sequencing
chronology, using historical sources as evidence, identifying continuity and change, analysing causes and effect and
determining historical significance.
By the end of Level 8, students identify and explain patterns of change and continuity over time. They analyse the causes and
effects of events and developments. They identify the motives and actions of people at the time. Students evaluate the
significance of individuals and groups and how they were influenced by the beliefs and values of their society. They evaluate
different interpretations of the past.
Students sequence events and developments within a chronological framework with reference to periods of time. They locate
and select historical sources and identify their origin, content features and purpose. Students explain the historical context of
these sources. They compare and contrast historical sources and ask questions about their accuracy, usefulness and reliability.
Students analyse the different perspectives of people in the past using sources. They explain different historical interpretations
and contested debates about the past. Students construct an explanation using sources of evidence to support the analysis. In
developing these texts, and organising and presenting their findings, they use historical terms and concepts, evidence
identified in sources, and acknowledge their sources of information.

Concept: Perspectives
Victorian Curriculum (VC)
Knowledge and Understanding (and Elaborations):
Skills:
- Define Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
- Understand the historical origins of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples.
- Understand the importance of oral traditions for Aboriginal
and Torres Straight Islander peoples.
- Analyse the differences between primary sources (those of
the time that they are investigating) and secondary sources
(those which have been produced or recorded after the
event).
- Considering what information within a select source is useful
as evidence and what perspective it is depicting.
- Describe the role of Archaeologists in discovering Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander peoples history.
- Consider and assess the role of European historians
recording Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
history.
- Investigate the importance of the Lake Mungo site to
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

- Use terminology associated with history.

- Understand and apply historical concepts.
- Locate and distinguish primary and secondary sources using
technology.
- Analyse sources and ask questions about their accuracy,
usefulness and reliability (VCHHC099)
- Identify and explain patterns of continuity and change in
society to the way of life (VCHHC102)
- Describe and explain the broad patterns of change over the
period from the Ancient to the Modern World. (VCHHC098)
- Analyse the cause and effects of significant events that
caused change and/or a decline over the period (VCHHC103)
- Identify and describe the different methods and sources
used by historians and archaeologists to investigate history
and/or a historical mystery (VCHHK114)

Rationale:
For an educated community to prosper within modern society, people must be able to critically examine the perception of
history and, through the use of historical primary or secondary sources and an informed knowledge, make an informed
decision to be able to compassionately discern with peoples of the past and their cultures (Lvesque, 2005, pg 355). To
successfully engage younger students, year seven students around the age of twelve to thirteen, imagination assists in
establishing the relationship between disconnected historical facts and to understand complex human experiences across
time and space (Yilmaz, 2008, pp 39-40). Students will develop skills and proficiencies within Taylor and Youngs Historical
Literacy model which helps construct a historical understanding and a common language within the study of history
(Roberts, 2013, pg 3). The use of both substantive knowledge and procedural knowledge, within Levesques Thinking
Historically concept, will grow the students disciplinary-history skills to deepen their connection with critically engaging with
the past (Roberts, 2013, pg 5). Students in year seven will have adequate knowledge regarding cause and effect on society

and have the ability to explain the significance of an individual and group from their Australian history studies in year six
(Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 2015, pg 13).

Lesson Plan
Lesson Number: Lesson Number 1 Archaeology and Lake Mungo
Lesson outcomes:
The students will be able to:
- Describe the importance of Archaeologists in examining ancient remains and areas of habitation of the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples.
- Identify and propose questions to create an informed historical inquiry into the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander
people in the case study of Lake Mungo.
Assessment:
- Formative Assessment Individually complete a worksheet with five points of information that they know about
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia.
- Formative Assessment 3 2 1 Worksheet.
LESSON PROCEDURE
Guiding Questions
- How have people in
the past recorded
history?
- What is the job of a
historian?
- How do
Archaeologists help us
find out about ancient
histories?

Pedagogy
(teaching and
learning
strategies)
- Inquiry based
learning.
- Cooperative
learning.

Activities/Tasks
Hook Activity:
- Teacher allocates students into
groups of four (team captain,
scribe, spokes person and time
keeper).
- Students are to fill out the
worksheet about their allocated
primary source object as a
historian.
- Students have five minutes to
work together as a group.
- After five minutes, the groups
come back and present back to
the class.

Resources
Appendix 1
Futuristic historians
introduction,
Interpreting earths
primary source
worksheet, primary
source pictures.
Online Countdown
Timer
http://tinyurl.com/3
5xkx7o

Assessment

- What do you know

about Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islanders
in Australia?
- How long have they
been here?
- How do we know this
information? How did
they pass on their
messages and history?

- Cooperative
learning.
- Inquiry-based
learning.

Activity
- Teacher hands out Brainstorming
Sheet to each student and
individually they fill it out for 5
minutes using guiding questions.
- Students bring their points to a
class discussion on whiteboard.

Appendix 2
Brainstorming
Sheet

- What is an
Archaeologist? What
do they do?
- Where might you
find Archaeologists?
- What might
Archaeologists tell us
information about
Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples
of Australia?

- Teacher lecture
style.
- Scaffold learning.

Mini Lecture:
- Teacher introduces Archaeology
outside of the ancient Egypt
context that is most common. Can
draw examples from within.

- Archaeology: A
brief description
http://tinyurl.com/h
yow9y9

- Teacher describes box system

and open area excavation
techniques.
- Teacher introduces three
chronological methods for dating
items found by Archaeologists,

Online Countdown
Timer
http://tinyurl.com/3
5xkx7o

Excavation
http://tinyurl.com/j
gnz42b

Dating the Past

http://tinyurl.com/h
w2ece2

Formative
assessment
5 Dot Points of
information they
know about
Aboriginal and
Torres Strait
Islander peoples.

- What happened at
Lake Mungo
- Why is this
important to
Aboriginal and Torres
Straight Islander
history?

- Looking back on the

lesson, what are three
things that we have
learnt?
- What are two things
that you found
interesting?
- What is one question
you still have from
today?

- Inquiry-based
learning.
- Cooperative
learning.

- Reflective
Learning

Historical dating, typology dating,

and scientific dating (radiocarbon
dating)
- Teacher introduces Lake Mungo
to the students.
Watching a video
Activity: Video worksheet
- Teacher hands out worksheet
Video Worksheet to the students
which they fill out whilst the video
is playing.
- Students and teacher have a
class discussion and fill in the
worksheet.
Activity: 3 2 1 Worksheet
- Teacher hands out worksheet and
uses the guiding questions.
Students fill the sheets out
individually, with their name on it,
and hand it up to the teacher

Lake Mungo Video

http://tinyurl.com/g
mlsh5g
Appendix 3
Video Worksheet

Appendix 4
3 2 1 Worksheet

Formative
assessment
3 2 1 Worksheet

Lesson Number: Lesson Number 2 - Conservation

Lesson outcomes:
The students will be able to:
- Explain the approaches by the Government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in preserving sacred sites
and artefacts.
- Explain some processes involved in conserving and protecting sacred sites.
- Debate on the topic of tourists climbing Uluru.
Assessment:
- Formative Assessment Students read and comprehend information on Dampier Archipelago and answer questions.
- Formative Assessment Students form an argument to the class debate Should tourists be permitted to climb Uluru?
- Informal Assessment Thumbs up, sideways or down at the end of the lesson with confidence with writing about
conservation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sacred sites.
LESSON PROCEDURE
Guiding Questions
- What is a sacred
site?
- Why do the
Government and the
Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples
want to protect them?
- Who are they
protecting them from?

Pedagogy (teaching and

learning strategies)
- Inquiry based learning.
- Cooperative learning.

Activities/Tasks
Hook Activity
- In groups of two,
students have 5
minutes to write down
as many places they
can think of that are
protected or that they
arent allowed to go
to.
- After five minutes,
teacher lists some of
these places on the
board and discusses
why they are
protected.

Resources
- Students
workbooks/iPads.
Appendix 5
Australian Sacred
Sites
- Teacher to show
image of just 6
sacred sites as
example. Accessible
at
http://tinyurl.com/zq
6apnh
Mpartnwe Sacred

Assessment

Video
Mparntwe Sacred
Sites

- What is the Dampier

Archipelago region?
- Why is it important
to Indigenous
Australians?
- What is the
Australian
Government doing to
protect it?

- What is being done

to protect Uluru?
- Who is wanting to
protect it?

- Inquiry based learning.

- Cooperative learning.
- Scaffolding.

Inquiry based learning.

Cooperative learning.
Scaffolding.
Class debate

Case study of
Dampier Archipelago
Activity:
- Students to
individually answer a
questions sheet on
the Dampier region. If
they have devices,
write custom tinyurl
on whiteboard. If not,
hand out Appendix 6.
- Students are given
10 minutes to answer
the accompanying
sheet about the
Dampier Archipelago
site.
- Students come back
as a class and go
through the
worksheet.
Case study of Uluru
Activity:
- Teacher to read the
SMH newspaper

Site video
http://tinyurl.com/m
geoyct
Online Countdown
Timer
http://tinyurl.com/3
5xkx7o

Dampier Archipelago
region website
http://tinyurl.com/S
acredDampier
Appendix 6
Dampier Archipelago
Dampier Archipelago
question/answer
sheet.
Online Countdown
Timer
http://tinyurl.com/3
5xkx7o

Newspaper SMH
newspaper article
Between a Rock and
a Sacred Place.

- Formative
Assessment students
read and comprehend
information on Dampier
Archipelago and
answers questions.

- What reasons are

given to protect it?

- How confident are

we about reasons for
conserving Aboriginal
and Torres Strait
Islander sacred sites?
Thumbs up for
positive, thumbs
sideways for unsure,
thumbs down for not
confident.

article titled Between

a Rock and a Sacred
Place to class. If no
internet access, see
Appendix 7
- Teacher then splits
the class up into two
groups for a debate.
The topic: Should
tourists be permitted
to climb Uluru?
- Teacher hands out
sheet for debate.
Students work on it
for 15 mins.
Activity
- Teacher asks
students how
confident they are
about topic. Thumbs
up, sideways, down.

Appendix 7
Between a Rock and
a Sacred Place
article.
Appendix 8
Class Debate sheet
(Print A3)

Formative Assessment
- Students form an
argument to the class
debate Should tourists
be permitted to climb
Uluru?

Informal Assessment
- Students give thumbs
up for feeling positive
about what they learnt,
sideways for unsure,
down for not confident.

Lesson Number: Lesson Number 3 Museum/cultural institutions

Lesson outcomes:
The students will be able to:
- Identify the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in museums/cultural institutions.
- Criticize and critique any bias or under representation.
- Analyse primary and secondary sources.

Assessment:
- Formative Assessment Museum Brainstorm task showing knowledge of museums.
- Formative Assessment Class discussion regarding museums and their influence on how history can be shown.

LESSON PROCEDURE
Guiding Questions
- What is a museum?
- What do we expect
to see or find in a
museum?
- Who runs the
museum?

Pedagogy (teaching and

learning strategies)
- Cooperative Learning.
- Inquiry based learning.
- Scaffolding.

Activities/Tasks
Hook Activity
Video
Wominjeka
Students have 5
minutes to
individually fill in
Appendix 9 Museum
brainstorm sheet.
Come back as a class
and brainstorm on the
whiteboard.

Resources

Assessment

Video
Wominjeka
http://tinyurl.com/z5 - Museum Brainstorm
rfh29
task to recognise prior
learning of a museum.
Appendix 9
Museum Brainstorm

- What is in the
Melbourne Museums
displays of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait
Islander peoples?
- How is the display
different from the
Koorie Heritage Trust?
- What might be some
positives about
educating people from
a large broad
museum?
- What might be some
negatives about
educating people rom
a large broad
museum?

- What has been

learnt?

- Cooperative Learning
- Inquiry based learning

Activity
PowerPoint Display
- Play Museums
PowerPoint from url
link or see Appendix
10
- For 10 minutes,
Students, in groups of
twos, visit either the
Melbourne Museums
Bunkilaka website OR
the Koorie Heritage
Trust website and
write down some
observations and
thoughts in their
books .
- Come back as a
class and discuss for
10 minutes.

- Summative Assessment

- Class discussion
about the influence
the size, ownership,
and heritage has on a
museum on their
displays and on how
history can be shown.
Activity
Summative
Assessment test.
Standard test
Modified test available

Museums PowerPoint
http://tinyurl.com/jd
9m9mv
or Appendix 10
Museums Powerpoint
Website Visit
Melbourne Museum
Bunkilaka
http://tinyurl.com/g
ppz7s6
Koorie Heritage Trust
http://tinyurl.com/K
oorieHT

Appendix 11
Summative
Assessment test.
Standard Test
Modified Test

- Summative
Assessment of the unit
of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples.

Bibliography
Roberts, P. (2013). Revisiting Historical Literacy: Towards A Disciplinary
Pedagogy. Literacy Learning: The Middle Levels, 21(1), 15-24. Retrieved
from http://www.canberra.edu.au/researchrepository/file/3d3fb22773c7-dc08-49ee-275fa23092d3/1/full_text_final.pdf
Lvesque, S. (2005). In Search For A Purpose For School History. Journal of
Curriculum Studies, 37(3), 349-358. doi
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0022027032000256198
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. Victorian Curriculum: The
Humanities History Level 6. pg 13. Retrieved from
http://ausvels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Print/AusVELS.pdf?d=H&l=6&e=0&e=1&
e=2&e=3&e=4&e=5
Yilmaz, K. (2008). A Vision Of History Teaching And Learning: Thoughts On
History Education In Secondary Schools. The High School Journal, 92(2),
37-46. Retrieved from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/256459

Appendix 1 Futuristic Historians Introduction

Interpreting Earths Primary Source Worksheet

What does the object look like?
What material is it made of?
Can you break it or is it strong?
What colours can you see?
Invent a name for this object, something that is catchy:

Could this object be used to write? Why/Why not?

What could this object have been used for?

Could this object have been used to transport people? Why/Why not?

What type of people might have had this object? Older or young? Why?

Primary Source Objects

Object 1

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikip
edia/commons/a/a4/IPad_3.png

Object 3

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/com
mons/6/6f/Goldkey_logo_removed.jpg

Object 2

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co
mmons/8/84/Claw-hammer.jpg

Object 4

https://upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Walk
er._frame.jpg

Object 5

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/5/51/Toshiba_Remote_Contro
l_CT-9863.jpg

Object 7

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe
dia/commons/b/bf/Torker_Giraffe_U
nicycle.jpg

Object 6

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/com
mons/e/e1/03-BICcristal2008-03-26.jpg

Object 8

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia
/commons/7/7a/Aus_Flag.jpg

Appendix 2 Brainstorming Sheet

Appendix 3 Video Worksheet

Appendix 4 3 2 1 Worksheet

Appendix 5 Australias Sacred Sites

Appendix 6 Dampier Archipelago

Source: http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/d53ee2132f1e-481e-b0f6-85d861a52de2/files/national-heritage-dampier.pdf

Dampier Archipelago question/answer sheet

Appendix 7 Between a Rock and a Sacred Place

Appendix 8 Class Debate Sheet

Appendix 9 Museum Brainstorm

Appendix 10 Museum PowerPoint

Appendix 11 Summative Assessment Test

Modified Test