HSIE News

Juniors and Senior have enjoyed the first 5 weeks of term and have transitioned smoothly into the geography content that will run for terms 3 and 4. See some of the classwork that has been completed in various classes over the last few weeks: 

Year 7: 

7G Ancient China "You be the teacher" class activity 

Diary entry from Chelsea and Hayleigh 7G

When presenting the project, at first we were nervous that we wouldn't have enough time to finish teaching the topic. We spent alot of time researching funeral and burial practises in Ancient China. We were nervous about the class not engaging with the activities we designed, but they absolutely loved it! We really enjoyed designing and presenting the lesson in front of the class.  

Year 8: 

Year 8 have been exploring the Aztec world and developing an understanding of how the Aztecs lived. For this lesson they were taken to the computer labs to develop their own Aztec world using Minecraft. Many students used Pyramids to illustrate the world of Ancient Egypt.  

Year 9: 

Year 9 started the Sustainable Biomes topic in term 3. Sustainable biomes investigate the importance of renewable energy and the varying kinds we have and use. For this lesson year 9 used paper squares, paper straws, and thumbtacks to make their own windmills in class. 

Year 10: 

Year 10 have started learning about the importance of the environment and the varying components that relate to environmental changes. After completing a lesson on the roles producers and consumers in the ecosystem Year 10 wrote exits slips explaining what they had learnt from the lesson. 

Year 11: 

Year 11 Ancient History have been investigating evidence from the ancient Persian city of Persepolis, including the Old Persian cuneiform script which is found throughout the city. Some of the examples of this script are located on the Behistun Rock which provided students with descriptions of the Achaemenid kings and the events during the reign of Darius I. We have also studied the Treasury tablets and the Fortification tablets that were found in the city and provide evidence of the religious, administrative, and economic functions of the city. The students were keen to recreate their own clay tablets and have produced some outstanding examples of this ancient method of writing.

Year 11 Modern History Students have started their final unit of work for their preliminary course - World War One. Students collaborated to develop an extensive brainstorm of the topic, which was built from their personal knowledge and learning from Stage 5 History. The detailed brainstorm shows their passion for modern history, and deep interest for their new learning experience!

Year 12: 

Year 12 Geography excursion Written by  Rhys Turkington and Hunter Nicholson

On Thursday the 27th of July, year 12 Geography ventured on an excursion to Pyrmont & Barangaroo to gather an understanding of the urban dynamics. Year 12 started the excursion in Pyrmont understanding the previous use of the land during the times of Sydney being a heavily industrial area. From there, we walked through the streets of Pyrmont to highlight how urbanisation has changed the usage of many of its buildings. Many buildings that were once factories have been transformed into apartment buildings, commercial buildings and hospitality areas while showcasing the heritage of the area. After viewing the urban dynamics of Pyrmont, Year 12 hopped onto the ferry from the Maritime Museum to Circular Quay to walk through the rocks towards Barangaroo. In The Rocks, Year 12 saw how different many of the buildings were to modern homes in their density to each other as well as how small many of the homes were. When arriving at North Barangaroo Year 12 were required to record the light and sound rays and then compare them to Central Barangaroo which is highly industrial. When comparing both results, Year 12 began to see how much of a difference there was between the park and industrial areas. Barangaroo Park had lower levels of both light and sound rays with most of the sound being native birds to the area. While Central Barangaroo had significant levels of sound rays from the nearby construction and high levels of light rays from the glass reflecting the sun. From this, Year 12 gained a far better understanding of the Urban Dynamics in Barangaroo and Pyrmont.