Lesson Plan

Week: 1

Time: 45 min

Unit: Humanities and Social Sciences

Lesson # 1

Level: 5

Curriculum
(Year Level Statement that this lesson is building towards)
The Australian Colonies
The Year 5 curriculum provides a study of colonial Australia in the 1800s. Students look at the founding of
British colonies and the development of a colony. They learn about what life was like for different groups of
people in the colonial period. They examine significant events and people, political and economic
developments, social structures, and settlement patterns.
The content provides opportunities to develop historical understanding through key concepts
including sources, continuity and change, cause and effect, perspectives, empathy and significance.
These concepts may be investigated within a particular historical context to facilitate an understanding of the
past and to provide a focus for historical inquiries.
The history content at this year level involves two strands: Historical Knowledge and Understanding and
Historical Skills. These strands are interrelated and should be taught in an integrated way; they may be
integrated across learning areas and in ways that are appropriate to specific local contexts. The order and
detail in which they are taught are programming decisions.

Content Descriptors:
HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
The Australian colonies

The reasons people migrated to Australia from Europe and Asia, and the experiences and
contributions of a particular migrant group within a colony. (ACHHK096)
Elaboration:
Identifying the reasons why people migrated to Australia in the 1800s (for example as convicts; assisted
passengers; indentured labourers; people seeking a better life such as gold miners; and those dislocated by
events such as the Industrial Revolution, the Irish Potato Famine and the Highland Clearances)

HISTORICAL SKILLS
Explanation and communication

Use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and digital technologies (ACHHS106)

Lesson Inquiry Question:

What do you know about immigrants and how they migrated to colonial Australia?

Why did they come?

How do you think the Indigenous people felt about foreign people coming to live in their home
country?

Students Prior Knowledge:

Knowledge gained from Year 4

First contacts
The diversity of Australia's first peoples and the long and continuous connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Peoples to Country/ Place (land, sea, waterways and skies) and the implications for their daily
lives. (ACHHK077)
The journey(s) of AT LEAST ONE world navigator, explorer or trader up to the late eighteenth century,
including their contacts with other societies and any impacts. (ACHHK078)
Stories of the First Fleet, including reasons for the journey, who travelled to Australia, and their experiences
following arrival. (ACHHK079)

LESSON OUTCOMES:
Students will be able to: Identify and connect with their ancestors, and where they originally migrated from
Discuss in groups the reasons why people migrated to Australia
Ponder and empathise with the indigenous people during this time
Reflect on past events and how it has shaped Australia to be what we know it to be today

LESSON STRUCTURE:
Time

Introduction & Motivation:

10min

Take students to oval to introduce an Interactive game:

Human knot - connecting through hands
Games instructions attached to lesson plan.
Eg. Place your right hand up if your ancestors (parents,
grandparents, great-grand parents, etc.) originally came
from England?
Connect hands with one person who has raised his/her
hand within the circle
Etc

Teaching Approaches &

Resources
Telstar model of inquiry
Tune In
Physical interactive game to
motivate and educate build
empathy and connection to
each other

Aim of the game is to get students to identify that their

ancestors are linked to Australia either from original
occupation of the land or migrated to Australia in the
1800s known as colonial Australia from England or Asia.
5 min

To allow for students to return to classroom from oval.

Time

Main Content:

2 min

Assign students with an Ipad/ computer

(individually/partners depending on resources). Ask
students to bring up the Padlet wall http://padlet.com/wall/e2lw1481848k

10 min

Ask students to brainstorm in pairs/ small groups about

the following questions: What do you know about immigrants and how
they migrated to colonial Australia?

Why did they come?

Indigenous how they felt about their home being

taken over by these foreign people?

10 min

After they have pondered and discussed these questions

in their pairs/ small groups, get students to write a short
answer for each question of their understanding.

Teaching Approaches &

Resources
Diagnostic assessment Padlet
wall teacher gains
understanding of students prior
knowledge.
http://padlet.com/wall/e2lw148184
8k

Discovers what areas within the

topic that require more focus in
the following lessons.
Pair work/ small group work
Blooms taxonomy higher order
thinking

Support and/or Extension

Activities
If students require assistance
ensure they are placed in a helpful
small group for peer assistance
If students require extension
activity ask them to write more
lengthy answers to the questions
(maybe work individually)

Time

Conclusion:

Teaching Approaches &

Resources
8 min Read over the students answers for each question on the
Link game to questions and
post-it-wall and discuss them further.
reflect on both and discuss as a
whole class what we will be
Reflect with students from the motivational game and these learning about in the lessons to
questions come.
Connects us to and understanding that this is how
Australia came to be
You tube video about immigrants
5 min Show a brief video about immigration to Colonial Australia https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teq__HPNpSI
v=teq__HPNpSI

Assessment of Learning
Assessment for Learning - Diagnostic assessment
Padlet wall (http://padlet.com/wall/e2lw1481848k) teacher gains understanding of students prior
knowledge.
Students brainstorm in pairs/ small groups about the following questions: What do you know about immigrants and how they migrated to colonial Australia?
Why did they come?
Indigenous how they felt about foreign people coming to live in their home country?
Once discussion time ends students upload their opinions/ideas/thoughts on the above questions via
the class I pads on a Padlet wall.
This diagnostic assessment aids the teacher in discovering what areas within the topic that students
require further focus on in the following lessons and what concepts students have already grasped.

Evaluation
At the end of the lesson evaluate the following in regards to the effectiveness of the lesson:
-
-
-
-

Was the human knot activity suitable and beneficial in engaging students? Did the
game motivate them to want to participate in the rest of the lesson and link them to
their past?
Were students willing to participate in the class discussions and thus were they
comfortable in voicing their thoughts and opinions openly?
Did the use of ICT in the lesson increase the motivation of students in participating in
the activity? Was Padlet an appropriate online program to use in this lesson?
Do the students have the basic background knowledge required for the following

-
-

lessons in the unit? If this is not the case, what will the following lesson need to focus
on to ensure the students have the best opportunity of meeting the unit learning
outcomes?
How well did students maintain focus throughout the lesson?
Consider the delivery of the lesson, from a teaching perspective, to ensure clarity and
engagement is maintained in lessons to come.

Safety Considerations
Human Knot activity Risk Assessment Sheet First Aid Kit on hand during game in case students get injured.
Safe location grass oval (soft underfoot)
In class Ensure the use of class I pads were handled appropriately by students

Human Knot

Arrange group members in a circle.

Ask everyone to raise their right hand up in the air if they/ ancestors are
indigenous to Australia, and then get them to take a step into the circle.

Ask everyone to put their right hand up in the air if their ancestors came
from England, and then take the hand of someone across the circle from
them or take the hand of someone in the inner circle.
Ask everyone to put their left hand up in the air if their ancestors came
from Asia, and then take the hand of someone across the circle from them.
Check to make sure that everyone is holding the hands of two different
people and that they are not holding hands with someone directly next to
them.
Explain to the group that they are joined and their lives are intertwined
through history. The group must now untangle themselves to make a circle
without breaking the chain of hands.
Get participants to take their time in order to limit injuries. Ask the group
not to tug or pull on each other and spot participants as they pass over
other participants.
If group members break the chain, they must then start over again

Useful Tips
If you have a large group, split them up into smaller groups. If there are too
many people in a human knot it becomes extremely difficult.

You can give teams a time limit on this activity to make it more challenging.
You can also mute/ blindfold participants throughout the activity.

Instead of making groups start over when the chain is broken you can create
penalties like blinding or muting a group member.

Learning Targets
Leadership skills

Working together to achieve a goal

Supporting and trusting others in the group

Persistence