INQUIRY LEARNING PLANNER

UNIT TITLE:
LEVEL
4, 5 & 6

What can we dig up?

TEAM
Brooke, Erica & Tess

UNDERSTANDINGS:
Year 4-
-Students examine the impact of exploration on
their societies, how these societies interacted with
newcomers, and how these experiences
contributed to their cultural diversity.
-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.
Year 5-
-Students identify the causes and effects of change
on particular communities, and describe aspects of
the past that remained the same. They describe the
different experiences of people in the past. They
describe the significance of people and events in
bringing about change.
Year 6-
Students describe stories of people who migrated
to Australia and reasons why they migrated, and
influence on the Australian nation. Students can
sequence historical people and events, and identify
points and views in the past and present. Students
are able to identify questions to inform a historical
inquiry and locate information from a range of
sources. Students develop texts, particularly
narratives,and are able to describe using historical
terms and concepts. Students can compare various
ways in which humans have used and affected the
Australian environment.

TERM
3

DURATION
9 Weeks

FOCUS QUESTIONS:
What was the nature and consequence of
contact between Aboriginal and/or Torres
Strait Islander Peoples and early traders,
explorers and settlers?
What were some reasons behind people
moving countries for the gold rush?
What were some of the significant events
during the gold rush?

What do we know about the lives of

people in Australias colonial past and how
do we know?
How did colonial settlement change the
environment?
What were the significant events and who
were the significant people that shaped
Australian colonies?

What were the significant events of the
gold rush and why were they important to
this era?
Why was migration so prominent
throughout the Gold Rush, and what
impacts did this have?
How was everyday life in the gold rush
different to life today?

KEY CONCEPTS:
Creativity; Roles, rules and laws; citizenship;
Culture; Production;
Thinking Skills

Communication Skills

Personal Learning

Interpersonal
Development

Students will explore

historical aspects of their
natural, social and
constructed world, wondering
and developing questions
about it.
Students develop strategies
to find suitable sources of
information and they learn to
distinguish between fact and
opinion.

Students will presenting

findings in a variety of ways;
both performance and oral
communication.
Students will develop their
skills in organising ideas and
information logically and
clearly to suit their purpose
and the needs of their
audience.
Projecting their voice to be
heard clearly and making sure
that the audience can see any
visual aids.
With support, students use
provided criteria to evaluate
and reflect on the
effectiveness of their
communication and to
provide feedback on the
communication of others.

Exploring certain aspects of

the Gold rush through a series
of mediums- paintings, on site
visits and texts.
Students seek and use
teacher feedback to develop
their content knowledge and
understanding and reflect on
how their prior knowledge
has changed.
Through participation in a
variety of group and whole-
class activities, students begin
to articulate the advantages
of learning effectively with,
and from, their peers.

Develop skills and behaviour

for connecting with a variety
of groups.
Working in different teams,
students are provided with
opportunities to complete
tasks of varying length and
complexity. In doing so, they
learn to identify the
characteristics of members in
effective teams and to
develop descriptions for
particular roles such as
leader, recorder and
participant.

RESOURCES
http://www.sovereignhill.com.au/visit/what-s-on/today-s-activities/
http://aso.gov.au/education/history/gold/

TUNING IN
Lesson 1:
Watch YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywhO7FCzTgk

Activity 1: Brainstorm
-After watching the clip, discuss as a class what they saw, any words or ideas about the Gold Rush that were
evident in the clip.

-Ask students if they have any questions or comments they are not sure about the gold rush, that they may
have previously heard, writing them on the paper in a different colour, so as a class they are able to be
referred back to and discussed throughout the inquiry unit.

-briefly discuss the differences in what life is like today compared to in the gold rush
*brainstorm needs to be displayed throughout the unit, so questions and answers can continually be
added.
Reflection:
Ask students to look at the brainstorm, and if from this information they have any further questions or
wonderings that they can note in their science books, for further investigation later.

FINDING OUT

SORTING OUT

How can we: Take students beyond what they already know?
Challenge their ideas, beliefs and attitudes? Enable them to use
skills and knowledge to collect new information? Provide a
range of experiences to develop our understandings?

How will students sort out, organise, represent and present what
they have found out? How can they communicate and express
what they know? How will they use preferred ways to
demonstrate their knowledge, skills and values?

Lesson 4:

Lesson 6 :

-Students explore the stories of gold rush

immigrants and discover their reasons for coming
and the legacies they left behind.

http://sheducationcom.ascetinteractive.biz/?id=un
titled_2

Presenting significant event and creating a class

timeline.

The above website has descriptive diary entries

from a man who was a digger, which discuss
elements of his everyday life during the 1850s.
The Website has many interactive mp3s.
DISCUSSION POINTS
-Engage students on discussion as to why they
believe people would move to a new country and
leave their homes in the search for gold. Do you
think they would have believed it would be easy?
Would the gold ever run out?
-students are to discuss the many different elements
that would have impacted diggers everyday lives
- compare to life now? Are there any elements that
are similar to life now?
-discuss with students the types of people they
believe they would have found at the gold mines?
-the different roles that people would have had on
the gold mines.
-would it have been easy for diggers to find gold? do
you think it was common to find gold, or a very

The students are given approx ten minutes to get

into their groups and finish the A3 posters about the
significant event throughout the gold rush which
they chose to work on. Encourage the students to
make their posters as detailed but as interesting as
possible, as they will be displayed around the
classroom. Ensure the students are also ready to
present a short presentation to the class, outlining
their chosen event.
Bring the students together. Each group presents
their poster to the class. Other students are
encouraged to listen attentively and ask questions
at the end of each short presentation, as this will
help them with the next task. Posters can be placed
around the room as they will be used for the next
task.
After each group has presented their poster, place a
4m strip of paper across the classroom with 1850 at
one end and 1900 at the other end. In pairs the
students are given an event of the gold rush. With
the event they have been given, the students are
given five minutes to look at the various references
around the classroom and find when there event

labouring and time consuming job that provides

little rewards.
-what are the sorts of equipment that everyday
people who migrated into the gold fields need to
purchase?
-question students on the conditions that people
would have lived and worked in.

occurred. They then are to place their event on the

timeline, where they believe their event lies in
relation to other events.
ACHSS117, ACHHS121, ACHHS122, ACELY1709
Reflection

Students sit around the class area and look at where

the different events have been placed on the
Activity 1-
timeline. Each pair of students discuss where they
http://gold.rush5.tripod.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a- put their event on the timeline. Students are invited
gold-digger.html
to dispute the placement if they do not believe this
-create a wanted poster, from the perspective of a is where the event belongs. Timeline is displayed
mining company, who are trying to find more miners along the classroom for further references in this
to mine in Ballarat.
unit.
-think about the characteristics that they would
require in order to be successful.
(ACHHK097),(ACHHK096).
Reflection:
Bring students back to the floor to discuss common
traits of these people they have created wanted
posters for. Ask students for possible reasons
behind these people committing crimes, for
example, not being able to find enough gold to
support their family, therefore they had to steal
bread.

GOING FURTHER
How can we extend and broaden the unit? What other perspectives or dimensions can we explore? What are the ways which
students can negotiate their own personal inquiries?

Lesson 8:
Students will be given a KWL(what i know, what i want to know and what ive learnt) to individually
complete. They will start with just the first two sections, based on what they have learnt through the unit
and what they are interested in knowing about; they are expected to have at least five dot points for each
section.
The students then, using the what i want to know section as a guide, will fill out the what ive learnt section.
If they have spare time at the end, the students will be able to delve into any other area of interest or
deeper research into the same area; such as tools, houses, groups and events.
(ACHHS099), (ACHHS100), (ACHHS101), (ACHHS102),(ACHHS106),(ACHHK097)
Reflection:
At the end of the session students will go around in a circle revealing one of their dot points for each
section of the KWL chart.

They will then add what they have learnt to the brainstorm chart (if not already there) and discuss which
facts that are correct/incorrect on the chart and why.

ASSESSMENT
SUMMARY (ONGOING:
FOR, AS and OF learning)
What are the cumulative and summative
opportunities for assessment? How can
teachers and students monitor progress?
What strategies can we use to cater for
variance in learning styles and progress?
How can we allow for expected and
unexpected outcomes? How can we
provide opportunities for self, peer,
teacher, parent assessment?

INQUIRY STAGE
lesson 1:

lesson 2:

lesson 3:

DESCRIPTION
The teacher will ensure every
student at least participates in
one aspect of creating the
brainstorm whether that be
contributing a fact that they
already know about the gold rush,
or posing a query or question that
the class can find out during the
inquiry unit..
The teacher will roam the
classroom, listening to each
groups initial ideas and how they
will present. The teacher will
check that the students are filling
all the requirements. During the
evaluations the teacher will point
to three different students and
get them to answer- what was
good?
what needs work?
what have you learnt?
The teacher will roam the class to
ensure all members are
participating in the preparation of
the role play and asks about the
event they are portraying.
What is the significance of this
event?
Why do you think this is a
significant event to the Gold
Rush?
How do you think this changed
Australia?

PURPOSE
The purpose of this activity is to
get students engaged in the topic,
and for the teacher to get a gage
on what the students already
know about the topic, and a
general idea on areas that may
have to be revisited.
The purpose of this activity is to
introduce students to the topic;
through exploration of the
different groups of the time. The
presentation enables the students
to develop their skills in
organising ideas, communication
and evaluation.

The purpose of this activity is to

start to develop an understanding
of key events within this unit, and
to develop in understanding
through placing the students in
the situation of the significant
events. The presentation of
understanding of the key
concepts enables to the students
to understand the setting of the
events and enables students to
communicate information to their

lesson 4:

lesson 5:

lesson 6:

The teacher will watch the role

plays and assess from the content
of the role play, how well they
understood the significant event
they were given through the way
it was portrayed in the role play
and through answering question
posed by other class members or
the post role play discussion.
The teacher will roam the class
engaging discussions with
students in order to ensure they
are kept on the right track. Want
the focus of this task to be on the
different types of people found
on the gold mines, and their
reasons for being there.
When bringing students back
together, question them on why
they chose that particular person,
what traits and characteristics do
they hold that you believe people
on the gold fields would have
had?
The teacher will roam the class,
interacting with groups and
ensuring that students are kept
on task, and completing their
specific roles to ensure a
successful team, which is one of
the aims of this task. Students will
be reminded that they have to
meet the set criteria(questions)
for this activity.
The teacher assess students
through the presentations of the
posters and the justification of
their placement on the timeline,
but should roam the class through
discussion time to listen and
question on both students
knowledge on each event.
Where would this event be
placed?
How do you know that?
The teacher can also assess other
students knowledge through
student questioning and

peers and develop their skills in

oral presentation.

The purpose of this activity is to

engage students with information
on people of Australian history,
highlighting to students what it
would have been like to live back
in the Eureka Stockade. Also
highlighting to students the
reasons for people choosing to
leave their own countries in
search for a better life, which is
debatable.

The Purpose of this activity is to

highlight to students the many
different significant events in
Australia's gold rush history.
Students must report back to the
class, on what they researched
and found interesting and work
effectively as a team to complete
the task in the set time.
The purpose of the activity is for
students to understand the
different significant events in
relation to other events. The
purpose of the activity also
allows students to participate in
feedback and discussion with
other students, through reasoning
and justification. It gives the
opportunity to both teacher and
student assessment.

lesson 7:

lesson 8:

lesson 9:

feedback.
Why do you think that event is
near other? Do they lead on?
The teacher will roam the
classroom and discuss with
students the narrative around the
event they are writing about, to
gain where the students are at
with the knowledge of the event
and the setting of the Gold Rush.
With the final diary entry students
the teacher can assess h
The teacher will roam the class,
reminding students to use the
brainstorm and timeline as
references for the first section.
The teacher will also investigate
what topics interest each student
and promote discussion, so as to
help them to create a specific line
of questioning and assist them
with ideas.
The teacher will follow a group,
making sure each student is given
the opportunity to
participate/view each area of
Sovereign hill. When answering
the PMI the teacher should
promote discussion such as: what
do you remember about the
program? what was good/bad?
or was it easy to find gold?
imagine if that was your job,
would you like doing it?

The purpose of this activity is for

students to use their previous
research to inform and be the
basis a narrative that they are
creating, to show their
understanding of these events
and life during the Gold Rush.

The purpose of this activity is to

enable student to independently
study an area of interest, guided
by their own inquiries or IBL
(inquiry based learning).

The purpose of this activity to

provide a tangible context to
what the students have been
learning/exploring. The PMI
provides feedback for the
teacher, but also enables student
to clarify and organise what they
have learnt from the visit.