Unit Focus

Australias Changing Society

Unit Duration
Possibly 3x40 min lessons per week
for 3 weeks.

Year
5

Unit Overview

Part 1: This unit will focus on an investigation of the Australian colonies and its people. Students w
significance of an individual in shaping a colony in the 1800s. Students will be able to describe the
their particular colony, articulating the outcomes and timelines of events. This can be displayed via

Part 2 of this unit students will reflect on and articulate their understanding of life in the 1800s thro
Aboriginal or settler via a written letter.
(Based on prior knowledge of My Place ABC Colonial History TV Series)

Learning Outcomes
Australian Curriculum - History

Focu

Historical Knowledge and Understanding

The Australian Colonies
The role that a significant individual or group played in shaping a
colony; for example, explorers, farmers, entrepreneurs, artists,
writers, humanitarians, religious and political leaders, and Aboriginal
and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples. (ACHHK097)

Cross Cu
Aboriginal & Torres St
culture
Asia & Australias eng
Sustainability

Elaborations
investigating the contribution or significance of an individual or group
to the shaping of a colony in the 1800s (for example groups such as
explorers or pastoralists; or individuals such as Blaxland, Lawson and
Wentworth, G.J.Macdonald, Elizabeth and John Macarthur, Caroline
Chisholm, Saint Mary Mackillop, Peter Lalor, James Unaipon)
exploring the motivations and actions of an individual or group that
shaped a colony

General Capabilities
Literacy
Numeracy
ICT
Critical & creative thinki
Ethical behaviour
Personal & social compe
Intercultural understandi

Historical Skills
Chronology, terms and concepts

Sequence historical people and events(ACHHS098)

Use historical terms and concepts(ACHHS099)

Historical questions and research

Identify questions to inform an historical inquiry(ACHHS100)

Identify and locate a range of relevant sources(ACHHS101)

Analysis and use of sources

Locate information related to inquiry questions in a range of

sources(ACHHS102)

Compare information from a range of sources(ACHHS103)

Explanation and communication

Develop texts, particularly narratives and descriptions, which

incorporate source materials(ACHHS105)

Use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written)

and digital technologies(ACHHS106)

Australian Curriculum English

Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print
and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features,
images and sound appropriate to purpose and audience
(ACELY1704)

Use comprehension strategies to analyse information, integrating and

linking ideas from a variety of print and digital sources (ACELY1703)

Australian Curriculum - Art

Develop and apply techniques and processes when making their
artworks (ACAVAM115)
Plan the display of artworks to enhance their meaning for an
audience (ACAVAM116)

Year 5 Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 5, students identify the causes and effects of change on
particular communities, and describe aspects of the past that remained the
same. They describe the different experiences of people in the past. They
describe the significance of people and events in bringing about change.

Students sequence events and people (their lifetime) in chronological order,

using timelines. When researching, students develop questions to frame an
historical inquiry. They identify a range of sources and locate and record
information related to this inquiry. They examine sources to identify points of
view. Students develop, organise and present their texts, particularly
narratives and descriptions, using historical terms and concepts.
Unit Planning Template

Learning Experiences

Learning Sequence
1&2
Engage
Intro
Historical
Investigation

Focus on Individual of
choice 3 / 4
Explore / Explain

Focus on Timeline
and collecting data
Learning Sequence
5/6
Investigative Skills

Learning Sequence
7/8

Teaching Strategies

1. Engage students first asking

what they know about any of
the Individuals (activate prior
knowledge).
2. Investigate Colonial era and
individuals

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Activate prior knowledge

Investigate individual
Scaffold questioning to focus
Explore examples
Explain findings

1. Use information from 3

sources and collect
information
2. Use research sheet to assist
research
3. Collaborate information

1. Complete design
Diorama/Mobile
2. Continue and complete

Adjustments for
needs of
Learners
Where
appropriate, use
graphics to
communicate and
support text
If appropriate read
questions or text
to student
Use scaffolding to
help student
reach next level ie
a list of web sites
or printed
information to
scaffold research,
research
scaffolding
questions
Provide
collaborative
groups where
needed
If requested and
appropriate, offer
to record oral
responses to
questions
Give feedback in
a familiar and
comfortable
setting
Identify strategies
for achieving
competence in the
future

Use feedback as
a learning
opportunity
applied learning
and connect to
the Real World
Use of home
language
Collaboration in
learning (sense of
community)
Allow for indirect
questioning
Culminating activity/presentation of student work
See attached assessment rubric
Type of assessment
Formative.

What will be assessed

Peer assessment

Summative

Students Depth of
research on Historic
individual
Students
engagement/participation
levels in group discussion.
Students engagement and
participation levels in
group work
Students completion of
Diorama/Mobile and letter
Summary of findings/
Content knowledge

Assessment for students with special education needs:

When it will be
assessed
Formative assessment
will be conducted
throughout each lesson
focusing on students
engagement levels,
contribution to research
and content
knowledge.
Peer assessment will
be conducted
alongside teacher
summative assessment
on the final task.
Marking criteria will be
in the form of
assessment rubric.

Modification of the assessment process

Modification of assessment activities (Fewer questions to be asked, use
simpler language,)
Different response design ( Dot point reporting, graphic presentation)

The ongoing assessment of this unit of work is to guide students learning

experiences as the bases for students progression through the learning
sequences, culminating in the students informed presentation.