History Unit Plan (based on the Australian Curriculum)

(Proforma utilising the 'Backward Design' model by Wiggins and McTighe*)

Year Level

Unit Length

Year R/1

6 weeks (1 - 2 lessons per week 50 minutes per lesson)

Topic
Present and Past Family Life

Integrated with other Learning Areas

Science/Technology (looking at developments in technology)
Geography (considering family origins and how they have influenced students lives today)
English (developing literacy skills including reading and writing, studying non-fiction texts)
Mathematics (learning about/creating timelines, and discussing the concept of time progression).

Strands
Historical Knowledge and Understanding
Historical Skills

Historical Skills Overview

Chronology, terms and concepts
Historical questions and research
Analysis and use of sources
Perspectives and interpretations
Explanation and communication

History Concepts

Evidence
Continuity/ change
Cause/ effect,
Significance
Perspectives
Empathy
Contestability

General Capabilities

Literacy
Numeracy
ICT competence
Critical and creative thinking
Ethical understandings
Personal and social capability
Intercultural understanding

Cross Curriculum Priorities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories

and cultures
o Asia and Australias engagement with Asia
o Sustainability

*Wiggins, G & McTighe, J (2005) Understanding by Design, Pearson

Stage 1 Identify Desired Results

'What is worth knowing?'

Aims
This unit will ultimately satisfy the following curriculum aims:
To encourage students to develop an interest in, and enjoyment of, historical study for lifelong
learning and work, including their capacity and willingness to be informed and active citizens.
To support students to acquire knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the past and the forces
that shape societies, including Australian society.
To enable students to think historically, and use historical concepts.
To support students to undertake historical inquiry, including skills in the analysis and uses of
sources, and in explanation and communication

The Big Idea

Children and families lives have changed over time, and will continue to change in the future.

Key Inquiry Questions

How has family life changed or remained the same over time?
How might family life change in the future?
What did children in the past do for fun?
How did children in the past communicate with each other?
What types of things did children in the past do at school?
How can we show that the present is different from or similar to the past?
How can we describe the sequence of time?
How would our life be different today if changes to family life didnt occur?
Why do things change over time?

Historical knowledge & understandings

As a result of engaging with this unit, students will develop a number of key understandings. These
include:
The differences in family structures and roles today, and how these have changed or remained the
same over time (ACHHK028).
The ways in which the present, past and future are signified by terms indicating time such as a long
time ago, then and now, now and then, old and new, tomorrow, as well as by dates and changes
that may have personal significance, such as birthdays, celebrations and seasons (ACHHK029).
The differences and similarities between students daily lives and life during their parents and
grandparents childhoods, including family traditions, leisure time, and communications (ACHHK030).

Historical skills
Students will work towards developing a range of historical skills throughout their engagement with the
unit. These include:
Sequencing familiar objects and events (ACHHS031).
Distinguishing between the past, present and future (ACHHS032).
Posing questions about the past using sources provided (ACHHS033).
Exploring a range of sources about the past (ACHHS034).
Identifying and comparing features of objects from the past and present (ACHHS035).
Exploring one or more point of view (ACHHS036).
Using a range of communication forms and digital technologies (ACHHS038).

Learning Objectives
Understand

that the way that children and families live has changed over time, and will continue to change in
the future.
why people in the past lived how they did.

Know

that there are terms to indicate time, such

as a long time ago, then and now, now
and then, old and new, tomorrow.
the difference between past, present and
future.

Be able to:

identify and compare features of objects

from the past and present
pose questions about the past and examine
sources to suggest answers to these
questions.

Stage 2 Determine Acceptable Evidence

'What evidence will show what students know, understanding and can do?

Assessment tasks and tools

Formative Tasks
o Preassessment Life in the Past Worksheet
o Students create a historical backpack, identifying items of importance in their daily lives in the

present.
o Students construct an Inquiry Wall featuring questions, concept maps, etc. and added to over the
course of the unit.
o Students complete a graphic organiser comparing toys in the past and present (after visit from toy
museum).
o Students make predictions about how similar/different childrens lives in the past were to their own.
o Students will write/draw a reflection about their excursion to the Migration Museum.
o Students prepare and conduct an interview with a parent/grandparent about their childhood.
o Students will perform role-plays of various situations faced by children in the past.
o Students will create a group poster about one area of childrens lives in the past.
o Students will complete bookwork documenting their inquiry into the lives of children in the past.

Summative Task
o
o

Students will interview a guest speaker and present their learning afterwards which will be formally
assessed according to a rubric.
Students will set up and curate a museum to display their learning. As part of this exhibition, each
student will prepare a display that reflects their inquiry into lives of children in the past.

Assessment Tasks
o
o
o

o
o

Oral presentation
Work samples
Posters
Setting up and curating
a museum
Role-plays

Assessment Tools
o
o
o
o
o
o

Workbooks (portfolio)
Timelines
Interviews
Discussions
Visual responses
(drawings/diagrams)
Brainstorms

o
o
o
o

Observations
Anecdotal records
Rubrics
Checklists

Achievement Standard/s

The achievement standards for Year 1 identified by ACARA (2013) will be used as the criteria to assess
student performance:

By the end of Year 1, students explain how some aspects of daily life have changed over recent time
while others have remained the same. They describe personal and family events that have significance.
Students sequence events in order, using everyday terms about the passing of time. They pose questions
about the past and examine sources (physical and visual) to suggest answers to these questions.
Students relate stories about life in the past, using a range of texts. (ACARA, 2013).
Students meet each of these standards throughout their engagement with the unit by investigating the
ways that the lives of children have changed or stayed the same over time. They will have displayed the
ability to sequence objects/images/events (e.g. toys) in order using a range of terms for the passing of
time (e.g. past/present/future, a long time ago, last year, 100 years ago, then/now). Students
will be encouraged to ask questions about the past and be supported to research and investigate
answers to those questions using a variety of sources, such as books, photographs, the internet,
museums, artefacts and oral histories.