Unit 3: Indigenous Peoples and Places

Content focus:

Students explore places across a range of scales within Australia and beyond. They describe connections people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, have with places, both locally and globally. Students identify factors affecting people’s accessibility with places. They also examine the connections Africa’s indigenous peoples have with places.

Syllabus content area:

• Investigate places across a range of scales within Australia (Identification that places exist across a range of scales e.g. personal, local, national)
• Investigate Australia’s location in the world (Description of Australia’s location in relation to the world e.g. continents, oceans)
• Investigate people’s connections and access to places (An examination of how technology has improved people’s access to places; identification of factors influencing people’s accessibility to places e.g. distance; and a discussion of why people visit other places)
• Investigate connections that people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, have to places (A discussion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People’s connections with land, sea and animals of their place.

Key inquiry questions:

• Where are places located in Australia and the world?
• How are people connected to places?
• What factors affect people’s connections to places?

Geographical concepts:

• Place: the significance of places and what they are like. For example: places students live in and belong to and why they are important.
• Space: the significance of location and spatial distribution, and ways people organise and manage the spaces that we live in. For example: location of a place in relation to other familiar places.
• Environment: the significance of the environment in human life, and the important interrelationships between humans and the environment. For example, how and why places should be looked after.
• Interconnection: no object of geographical study can be viewed in isolation. For example: local and global links people have with places and the special connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples maintain with Country/Place.
• Scale: the way that geographical phenomena and problems can be examined at different spatial levels. For example, various scales by which places can be defined such as local suburbs, towns and large cities.

Outcomes:
A student:

• describes features of places and the connections people have with places
• Communicates geographical information and uses geographical tools for inquiry.

Inquiry skills:
Acquiring geographical information

• pose geographical questions
• record geographical data and information

Processing geographical information

• draw conclusions based on discussions and observations

Communicating geographically

• present information
• reflect on their learning

Geographical tools:
Maps

• world maps
• map of Australia

Graphs and statistics

• proportional graphs and weather data

Visual representations

• photographs, illustrations, story
• books, multimedia sources, web tools

Lessons and worksheets included in the download file:

Lesson 1: Personal places and me
Lesson 2: Personal places of Aboriginal people :: Teaching Resource 1 :: Worksheet 1
Lesson 3: Local places and me
Lesson 4: Local places and Aboriginal people :: PowerPoint 1
Lesson 5: National places and me
Lesson 6: National places and Aboriginal people :: PowerPoint 1 :: Worksheet 1
Lesson 7: Global places and me :: Teaching Resource 1 :: Worksheet 1
Lesson 8: Global places and Aboriginal people :: PowerPoint 1 :: Worksheet 1