Tracking

CONTENTS

CURRICULUM INFORMATION

TOPIC INFORMATION

PHASE OF DEVELOPMENT

Purpose....................................................................................2

Early childhood

Student outcomes...................................................................2

Middle childhood

Key background points...........................................................2

Cultural and protocol considerations.....................................2

Early adolescence

Resources................................................................................2

Late adolescence

TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES

MAJOR LEARNING AREAS

Lesson outline ........................................................................3

LEARNING GUIDE 1: tracks at a waterhole . ........................5

The Arts
English
Health & Physical Education

Languages
Mathematics

Science
Society & Environment
Technology & Enterprise

VALUES
Pursuit of knowledge achievement of potential

Self acceptance and respect of self

Respect and concern for others and their rights

Social and civic responsibility

Environmental responsibility

REGION
This lesson was developed by the following district:

Goldfields

Produced by DUIT Multimedia for the Aboriginal Perspectives across the Curriculum program.

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APAC145 | Tracking | Department of Education, WA, 2011

Licensed for NEALS

TOPIC INFORMATION
PURPOSE

KEY BACKGROUND POINTS

To provide students with opportunities to identify how

animal tracks and animal movements have far-reaching
consequences in the lives of Aboriginal peoples, both past
and present.

All animals (including people) leave tracks. Skilled

observers can move from the general (eg a human
footprint), to the specific (this is Xs footprint), and
deduce details about the size of animal leaving the
track, direction and speed of movement.

STUDENT OUTCOMES

Particular care should be taken when selecting an

appropriate natural site for an excursion. Wildlife
parks are often an easy option if there is one nearby.
Otherwise areas of high animal concentration (water
sites) are usually best but care must be taken that
sites of Aboriginal significance are not used or that
appropriate permission to use the land is granted by
the owners.

See LEARNING GUIDE 1: tracks at a waterhole for

representation of the kind of tracks you may expect to
find at a local waterhole.

The student:

interprets tracks to identify what made them, and

various forms and direction of movement;

observes and interprets tracks and discusses

relevance of these skills to Aboriginal people; and

identifies relationships between tracks in the natural

environment and people.

CULTURAL & PROTOCOL CONSIDERATIONS

AIEOs should be present during activities to support
cultural protocols. Ensure appropriate excursion site is
used, and ensure sacred sites, mens or womens country
is not encroached upon.

RESOURCES
Medium

Author, producer, developer etc

Title

Source

book

writer: Gordon Winch and

Wangkanyi Ngurra Tjurta
Language Centre

Tracks

Goldfields District
Education Office Resource
Centre

book

writers: Anne Davis and Alwyn

Evans; publisher: Fremantle Arts
Centre Press

Tricky Tracks (from the Pumpkin

Hollow series)

school resource centres,

Fremantle Press, or
educational booksellers

teacher
resource book

writers: Anne Davis and Alwyn

Evans; publisher: Fremantle Arts
Centre Press

Teaching Ideas (for the Pumpkin

Hollow series 1) provides activities

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APAC145 | Tracking | Department of Education, WA, 2011

Licensed for NEALS

TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES

TEACHING RESOURCES

sandpit

paint and paper

class collection of tracks books

student copies of LEARNING GUIDE 1: tracks at a

waterhole

digital camera

clipboards and writing materials to record findings on

excursion

to their tracks, discuss relative size, shape, direction of

tracks ).

The following ideas will take more than one lesson. They
take students through discussing a variety of prints,
identifying and making prints in a sandbox, and making
prints on paper, to participating in an excursion to identify
prints in the natural environment.

Distribute and discuss LEARNING GUIDE 1: tracks at

a waterhole.

Discuss types of tracks that animals leave and how to

assess types/speed of movement as well as types of
animal.

Read Tracks and Tricky Tracks books.

Learn local language names for common animals

and their tracks, with pronunciations demonstrated to
students by local language speaker.

Whole class at prepared sandpit (human tracks of

different movements)

You may choose to do the lessons in a series over a number

of days, or to devote a day to the topic. Please adapt the
ideas to suit your students requirements.

Identify, discuss and assess tracks in sandpit (Who

made them? Were they little or big? How do you know?
How were they moving? In which direction? ...).

Choose people of different sizes to make prints in

sand while others are not watching (eg small and large
student, an adult, and any students who make different
tracks like crutches, a wheelchair ).

Ask those who made tracks to stand together while

other students attempt identification of prints, by
matching individual characteristics.

Preparation

Plan your lessons in consultation with your AIEO,

Aboriginal staff members, your art teacher, and/or the
Aboriginal Education team at the REO. They can help
you with information and resources.

Ask your AIEO and/or Aboriginal staff members to

participate in your lessons, particularly the excursion.

Make student copies of LEARNING GUIDE 1: tracks

at a waterhole.

Gather background information about tracking in the

local environment.

Organise a class collection of photographs/books

about animals and their tracks. Encourage students to
contribute, and to collect information from local people,
and to read the books during silent reading in class

Ask your AIEO and/or Aboriginal staff members,

or community members for local names for the
animals that make the tracks shown in your class
collection, and ask them to come to demonstrate the
pronunciations to your students.

Organise teaching resources.

Prepare the sandpit with tracks of various forms of

human movement, eg walking, running, hopping,
crawling

Identify a suitable area of natural bush or wildlife park

for your excursion.

Plan and organise your excursion according to

your school policy, including aspects like: excursion
permissions; arranging assistance from Aboriginal staff
and/or community members

Working in groups in classroom

Make footprints in paint on paper encouraging variety

(eg barefoot; in shoes; standing on toes, on heels ).

Observe and discuss individual characteristics (size,

shape, movement ).

Whole class in classroom

Play a game of matching prints with their owners.

Discuss the identification process focusing on the

characteristics that helped most.

Discuss use and importance of tracking in hunting /

gathering societies with particular emphasis on local
Aboriginal people (eg finding water or animal homes
for food).

Follow with a class excursion to a suitable area (wildlife

park or bush setting)
Before the excursion

Implementation

Use photographs of various animals you may see,

predict the type of track and draw it.

Observe and identify animal tracks around the school

eg birds, ants, dogs ...

Invite AIEO or Aboriginal person to discuss animal

tracking.

Whole class in classroom

Select books that show tracks clearly, from your class

collection.

View and discuss pictures in the book (eg link animals

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APAC145 | Tracking | Department of Education, WA, 2011

Licensed for NEALS

During the excursion

Organise students in groups with a guide (Aboriginal

adults if possible) with each.

Locate, photograph/sketch various animal prints.

Discuss and identify prints (eg animal type, speed

of movement, method of movement ) recording
findings.

Attempt to follow suitable tracks. Can you identify

individual animals?

Ask Aboriginal guides to supply local language

names for common animals and their tracks, and to
demonstrate pronunciations to students.

After the excursion

Back at school

Print/download photographs of tracks.

Ask students to draw/locate photographs of animals to

match tracks.

Write information deduced about the tracks (eg what

made the track, how big it was, the direction and speed
of travel )

Discuss Aboriginal tracking of animals. Why would

they need to do this?

Make class book of tracks found, what made them,

and details about how students identified them,
together with local language names (and English
names) for common animals and their tracks.

ASSESSMENT
Observe and record (construct a rubric, or as required)
aspects like:

Were students able to identify individual characteristics

of prints?

Were students able to deduce various ways of moving

from prints?

Use of deductive techniques by students to identify

prints and details of what made them.

Student contributions to discussion.

Were students able to locate and identify animal tracks

in the natural environment?

Were individual characteristics of tracks used in

attempts to identify individual animals?

Were Aboriginal uses of tracking discussed and

understood?

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APAC145 | Tracking | Department of Education, WA, 2011

Licensed for NEALS

LEARNING GUIDE 1: tracks at a waterhole

5
APAC145 | Tracking | Department of Education, WA, 2011

Licensed for NEALS