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Teaching and Learning Activities

Assessme
nt Items

AITSL Standard
Addressed
Standard 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2
and 5.1

This HASS program illustrates

knowledge of Australian
Curriculum content along with
examples of engaging teaching
and learning opportunities. The
main emphasis is on learning by
doing and allows all students to
achieve learning goals to the
best of their abilities.
Throughout the semester both
formative and summative
assessments are used to assess
student learning, as evidenced
in the Assessment Items
column.
Standard 1.2, 2.2

Lesson 1: Its a BCC Election (ACHCK023, ACHCS028

ACHCS031, ACHCS032)

Introduce our term long election campaign

explaining:
o We are working in teams
o Each team must appoint a candidate to put
forward for election
o Each team must work out who will be in charge
of the budget, who will be the speech writer,
who will do marketing and who will be the

Summative
Assessmen
t:
contributio
n and
participatio
n in
election

Ensure
ESL/Hearing
impairment
student is
grouped
appropriately.

From reading and interactions

with fellow teachers, it is
evident that students learn best
when given the opportunity to
practise skills that are being
taught. Through running a class
election, students are able to
implement the practical

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Teaching and Learning Activities

candidates right hand person. The candidate

will be the person who makes the ultimate
decisions for the group.
o We will be doing intermittent polling with
another year level in the school to see how the
election campaign is going over the term.
o You will be producing brochures and dodging
disaster to try and get your candidate elected.
Investigate what makes a good candidate take a
survey on survey monkey and poll answers.
Put students into teams and they then decide on the
name of their party.
They appoint members different roles, including their
candidate for election.
Explain that although the election campaign runs all
term, we will be doing mini-units within the campaign
that will relate to it in fact everything we learn will
have an effect on the election campaign and not
always positively.

Assessme
nt Items

AITSL Standard
Addressed

simulation
through
team work
and
involvemen
t.

knowledge that is being

explicitly taught and see its real
world applications. By
integrating mini topics into the
election campaign, students can
see, too, not only how natural
disasters occur and their
geographical characteristics,
but also how these phenomenon
affect all areas of life even
election campaigns.

Standards 1.1, 1.3, 1.6 and

2.3

Lesson 2: What is a democracy? (ACHCK022)

Play democracy game.

Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=u6jgWxkbR7A and pull out the important parts (filling
in handout):
o Greek meaning demos + kratos: the rule of the
people

Democratic
Mission
Statement

The election campaign is mainly

done through group work.
Groups will be chosen by the
teacher, ensuring that students
with differing cultural, linguistic,
religious and socio-economic
backgrounds will be fully
supported within the group
environment. The group offers
support between students and
the ability for information and

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Assessme
nt Items

Teaching and Learning Activities

A flawed democracy is when certain parts of
society cant vote (women, children, slaves,
Aboriginals)
o You cant vote and change laws personally, but
you can vote for people who become law makers
and represent your interests
o Democracies protect the best interest of ALL
people
o Freedom, equality, fairness and justice.
What are some of the ways our BCC political parties are
going to make sure the process of election will be
democratic?
o Brainstorm as teams about how you are going to
make sure you are democratic in dealings and
make a mission statement reflecting your ideals
and aspects of democracy.
Reflect on how BCC has a mission statement too, and
read through it with the students.
o

AITSL Standard
Addressed
knowledge to be shared
amongst participants. All
information will be available via
handouts and written notes for
students with disabilities and
instructions will be given in a
handout for the unit. The
availability of various roles
within the party allows for
students to work to their
strengths.
The election teaching program
is designed to incorporate
learning goals from the
Australian Curriculum, coupled
with the opportunity for
students to put their knowledge
into action in a real world
simulation. The inclusion of
mini-units within the election
campaign is further evidence of
how we can incorporate learning
goals within a broader and more
interactive setting.

Lesson 1: Campaign Speech (ACHCS030, ACHCS033)

Standard 2.6

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Assessme
nt Items

Teaching and Learning Activities

Groups are to write a short campaign speech and film
it for their candidate to present to the voting public.
It must be filmed seriously, with a professional
background and minimal noise. We will use Aurasma
to access the videos via iPads during the campaign.
Lesson 2: Campaign Speech

5/6

Finish filming campaign speech

Make voting posters with QR codes to access videos.

AITSL Standard
Addressed
Students in Year 5 have
individual iPads that are
integrated into the classroom
learning. Aurasma is an app that
brings a photo to life, accessing
an imbedded video that
students have created. In this
way the technology used is
enhancing the learning process,
whilst also teaching students
how to create. QR codes are
another great way to access
videos, and the students will
include these for voters who do
not have access to Aurasma.

Lesson 2: Earthquakes

Students continue with their investigations into

earthquakes.
As quick decisions often have to be made in politics
get your party together and make a press release
regarding your reaction to the earthquake that has
occurred.

Standard 1.4, 2.4

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Assessme
nt Items

Teaching and Learning Activities

Lesson 3: Oh No, it gets worse
(ACHGK027,
ACHGK028, ACHGK029, ACHGK030)
It turns out the earthquake in your electorate started
a bushfire.
Read about the effects of Black Saturday on
http://www.blacksaturdaybushfires.com.au/
Discuss how Aborigines maintained the land through
the use of fire:
http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/land/
aboriginal-land-care#axzz3dgtUW5qC
Students map the location, frequency and severity of
bushfires in Australia.

AITSL Standard
Addressed
I do not teach any Aboriginal or
Torres Strait Islander students,
but it is important to teach the
students I have the history and
significance of these peoples
and their contributions to the
land. By understanding the
traditional approach to
landcare, students can further
understand the geographical
implications of bushfires in
Australia.

Standard 1.4
7/8

Lesson 5: Introduction to Geography

Discuss how God created the world and the people

who inhabit it, planning that all people would live
from and care for the bounty of the earth.
What are investigations? (brainstorm).
Students complete a world map, showing continents
and oceans, compass direction and any other
symbols they would like to add.
This is then coloured and used as a pre-test. This
should be used to remember information for the
Mapping Skills test.
Discuss the Aboriginal tribes of Australia and look at
4

I do not teach any Aboriginal or

Torres Strait Islander students,
but it is important to teach the
students I have the history and
significance of these peoples
and their contributions to the
land. Discussion of tribal
boundaries is important as it
helps students understand the
geographical landmarks that
demarcated territory. The tribal
maps also illustrate the rich

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Assessme
nt Items

Teaching and Learning Activities

and discuss a map identifying these tribes.

9/10

AITSL Standard
Addressed
history of Australia and why it is
important to acknowledge the
traditional owners of the land,
something students dont
always comprehend or
appreciate.

Lesson 1: Using Symbols and Signs

Explain the use of symbols in geography, their use in

place of words. A symbol is a drawing, line or dot
that stands for something else.
http://education.nationalgeographic.com.au/educatio
n/multimedia/interactive/maps-tools-adventureisland/?ar_a=1 can be used on the interactive tv with
a group of students.
Introduce school mapping task and discuss different
symbols that could be used. Discuss the importance
of having a key for the symbols.

Lesson 2: Make symbolised map of the school

Students are to complete a simple symbolised map of
the school.
Lesson 2: What is Scale and How Do We Use It in
Maps?
5

Standard 3.4
A range of resources are used in
the HASS program to engage
students. Multimedia webpages
that are hands on and allow
students to manually
manipulate, youtube videos that
are visually appealing and iPad
applications all enable students
to interact in meaningful and
differing ways in the topic
content.

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Assessme
nt Items

Teaching and Learning Activities

Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=wpIr2AEYyCU
Get student to refer back to their school map and
work out a scale for the map. They can approximate
their measurements.
Lesson 3: Longitude and Latitude

Brainstorm what is longitude/latitude

View clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=swKBi6hHHMA
Do longitude/latitude activity
Play
http://www.abcya.com/latitude_and_longitude_practic
e.htm on the interactive television

AITSL Standard
Addressed