Humanities Update

Year 7

This term in Year 7 Humanities students are undertaking a unit on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Cultures. They have explored the formation of Australia and migration patterns of first peoples. The have learnt about the difference between an acknowledgement of and welcome to country, and the importance of these. 

For the second part of our unit of work, we have begun a GAT (Graded Assessment Task). During each lesson, students are introduced to new information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, as well as important vocabulary. Students are working on the skills of; summarising information, extending vocabulary through the use of key terms and synonyms, as well as activating and connecting their own experiences, in comparison to those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. 

You may have seen a Learning Task on Compass called GAT – My Personal History. Attached to this, is the task sheet students are filling out on their laptops as we work through the unit. For the GAT we are covering the topics of; Creation Stories, Land Management, Spiritual Connections, Kinship and Family, Hunting and Gathering. Students have been encouraged to discuss their personal histories with you to explore their family stories, ways of managing their land and sustainable practices, places of significance to them, as well as ceremonies and traditions, their family structure and lastly how food is organised and prepared. We hope that you can have some rich discussions with your child about their history, as we guide them through learning about the histories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Cultures at school. 

Year 8

During Term 1 Year 8 Humanities students have learned how to participate in Democracy and learned in what way social activism and lobbyists influence change within the government. Students have participated in a mock trial where they undertook the use of the preferential voting system to vote for the best chocolate bar. They have learnt about the differences of the criminal and civil courts and the individual responsibilities of each level of government. 

Using this knowledge students completed a GAT (Graded Assessment Task) where they created their own social activist group to create social change. Students chose from a variety of topics including animal rights, climate change, bullying and homelessness. Students researched their chosen social issue, created a lobbying a strategy to influence policy change within the appropriate government to level. Students worked on developing their skills of; how to research and find appropriate information and how to reference to give credit to the original source. Students created a visual presentation and persuasive speech to encourage others to participate in their cause.  

Year 8’s will spend the second term discovering the landscapes and landforms of Australia and looking into how our land was formed and influenced by weather. Students will explore how the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples connect with the land and how their Dreamtime stories explain the creation of these landforms. In the end, we hope students are able to see the beauty of how the country that we are able to call home was formed.