Year 7 Unit: Ancient Civilisations

Year Level: 7 Overview

In this unit students will explore a variety of Ancient Civilisations. They will investigate the lifestyle and organisation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Ancient times, and recognise them as the oldest continuous living culture in the world. They will then explore other Ancient Civilisations such as; Egypt, Greece, Sumer, China and Rome. They will compare some of the Ancient Civilisations and identify aspects of their lifestyle and organisation that have influenced todays society.

VELS Level: 5

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture is the oldest continuous living culture in the world. From Ancient times through to 1788 there were estimated to be 500 different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups speaking over 250 different languages or dialects. The lifestyles and cultural traditions of the groups differed from one region to another. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lifestyles in ancient times included complex social systems and highly developed traditions reflecting a deep connection with the land.

Understandings
Some communities in ancient times developed advanced levels of development and organisation. A diversity of communities and cultures existed in ancient times. Changes to ancient civilisations were often brought about by interconnections and conflict. Significant people, places and events of the past have influenced aspects of society today.

Rich Question
How have ancient civilisations helped shape societies today?

Contributing Questions
Why do we study history? How can we find out about the past? How did people in ancient times live? What patterns are evident in the lifestyles of ancient people? How is society today similar or different to ancient civilisations? Why have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures endured when many other ancient cultures didnt?

Background Notes
From the Yarra Healing website: essential learnings. When developing units of work on this particular topic, the following learnings need to be considered: 1

Land Organisation Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples cared for specific areas of land. Knowledge regarding the extent of and responsibilities for this land was passed on by the elders through generations. Territories were based on language group and clan associations, which in turn gave a people their strongest sense of identity. Each territory was further sub-divided among the clans of that territory. The boundaries of clan land were well known by all. With some exceptions, sovereignty was respected. Clan groups lived in broader regional alliances based on language and on economic and social co-operation. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue today to identify strongly with the places from which their ancestors came. Relationships Clans invited neighbouring clans into their territory for social and economic reasons. The interaction was usually mutually beneficial. These occasions were governed by custom and ritual. Conflict sometimes occurred between adjacent clans in the form of warfare, raids and abductions. Environment As with all societies, the resources, climate and topography within a territory strongly influenced the way of life of the Indigenous people who lived there. The distribution of plants, animals and other resources was unique in each territory and affected the precise way the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples developed a relationship with that specific environment. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples saw themselves as a part of the environment and formed sustainable relationships with it. On Sacred Ground: Learning About the Dreaming and Indigenous Beliefs For many thousands of years, Indigenous people used songs and stories to express their beliefs about the origins and meaning of life and land forms, the cycles of nature, and the harmony and conflict among human life and the animal world. The Dreaming refers to how Indigenous peoples explain the beginning and the continuity of life. The Dreaming is not fixed in the ancient era of creation. It continues in the spiritual lives of Indigenous peoples today, and its influence is embedded in many aspects of everyday living. Different Indigenous groups in Australia have their own Dreaming beliefs, Dreaming stories and Spirit Ancestors.

Resources
Written texts Australian Dreaming: 40,000 Years of Aboriginal History, New Holland Publishers, Sydney 2005 French, J, Fair Dinkum Histories: Shipwrecks, Sailors and 60,000 Years. by Jackie French, Scholastic, 2006 Presland, G, Aboriginal Melbourne, McPhee Gribble, Ringwood, Victoria, 1994. Read, T, Gunjitmara Country Hawker Brownlow Education, 2007. 2

Websites http://www.aboriginalculture.com.au/index.shtml Contains information about traditional life. http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/indigenous/ An Australian Government website which provides information about traditional life and links to many other useful sites. http://www.show.me.uk/topicpage/teachers/tAncient-Civilisations.html gives links to a range of interactive websites enabling students to explore aspects of Ancient Civilisations in fun ways. http://www.history.com/ Contains documentaries on Ancient Civilisations. http://videos.howstuffworks.com/ Contains videos on Ancient Civilisations Audio Visual Imperium: Fall of Great Empires DVD an SBS series, Roadshow Home Entertainment, 2005 Ten Canoes DVD, Madman, 2006. Kanyini DVD, Roadshow, 2007. Community Koorie Heritage Trust Botanical Gardens- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Resources Trail Aboriginal cultural performers (eg. Koorie Heritage Trust or Cultural Infusion)

VELS Standards
Physical, Personal and Social Learning Strand
INTERPERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Working in teams At Level 5, students accept responsibility as a team member and support other members to share information, explore the ideas of others, and work cooperatively to achieve a shared purpose within a realistic timeframe. They reflect on individual and team outcomes and act to improve their own and the teams performance. PERSONAL LEARNING Managing personal learning They complete competing short, extended and group tasks within set timeframes, prioritising their available time, utilising appropriate resources and demonstrating motivation. They initiate and undertake some tasks independently, within negotiated timeframes. They review the effectiveness of the management of tasks, identifying successes and suggesting strategies that would improve outcomes. They develop and use criteria to evaluate their work, and use these criteria to make appropriate refinements.

Discipline Based Learning Strand

HISTORY Historical knowledge and understanding At Level 5, students analyse and describe key events in ancient societies. They use a variety of sources to describe key aspects of these societies. They describe aspects of daily life in these societies such as work, the division of labour, family, clothing, housing and education. They explain key features of community life including myths and legends, religious beliefs and practices and cultural expressions such as art and drama. They analyse the ways that ancient societies were governed, identify political features and explain the nature of the political system, the dominant groups and how they established and maintained power. They describe the roles of key individuals and evaluate their contributions and legacies. Students analyse change and continuity over time and compare key aspects of past and present societies; for example, aspects of daily life, social and political ideas and structures, and cultural values and beliefs. They demonstrate understanding of key concepts such as democracy, governance, the rule of law, justice, religion, liberty, authority, leadership, culture and feudalism. They explain the influences of ancient societies on contemporary societies. Historical reasoning and interpretation At Level 5, students frame key research questions, plan their investigations, and report on their findings. They use a range of primary and secondary sources including visual sources that record features of the societies in their investigations. They identify the content, origin, purpose and context of historical sources. They evaluate historical sources for meaning, point of view, values and attitudes, and identify some of the strengths and limitations of historical documents. They use relevant historical evidence, concepts and historical conventions such as bibliographies to present a point of view. Students use a variety of forms to present their understanding.

Interdisciplinary Strand
COMMUNICATION Presenting At Level 5, students use the communication conventions, forms and language appropriate to the subject to convey a clear message across a range of presentation forms to meet the needs of the context, purpose and audience. They provide and use constructive feedback and reflection to develop effective communication skills. THINKING PROCESSES Reasoning, processing and inquiry At Level 5, students use a range of question types, and locate and select relevant information from varied sources when undertaking investigations. When identifying and synthesising relevant information, they use a range of appropriate strategies of reasoning and analysis to evaluate evidence and consider their own and others points of view. They use a range of discipline-based methodologies. Reflection, evaluation and metacognition At Level 5, students explain the purpose of a range of thinking tools and use them in appropriate contexts. They use specific language to describe their thinking and reflect on their thinking processes during their investigations. They modify and evaluate their thinking strategies. They describe and explain changes that may occur in their ideas and beliefs over time.

When
Pre assessment. At the start of the Building stage.

What
Triple entry journal

Assessment Strategies Why

To track the development of students understandings about ancient Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander civilisations. History, Thinking Processes

How

End of Building stage

Personal Presentation in a mode of choice

For students to demonstrate their understanding about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life, culture and land in Ancient times. History, Communication, Personal Learning

During the Investigating stage

Scaled Timeline

To assess students understanding of time sequence and span. History, Personal Learning

During the Investigating stage

Group research task into an Ancient civilisation Comparing Ancient Civilisations Task

To assess students ability to conduct historical research, and to contribute to a group task. History, Communication, Interpersonal Development To make comparisons and generalisations about the similarities and differences between Ancient Civilisations. History, Thinking Processes, Personal Learning

Students reflect on their current understandings or perceptions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander society by responding to questions in the first column of the triple entry journal. They revisit the journal at the end of the Building stage as well as in the Personalising stage of the unit. They compare their entries to determine how their ideas have changed. Students draw upon the information collated on the charts and then choose a way to demonstrate their understandings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life, culture and land in Ancient times. They can choose from one of the methods suggested, or design a presentation of their own. A rubric will help students to clearly understand expectations. Students construct individual timelines. The timeline will need to be constructed to scale spanning 60,000 years. On the timeline students include their knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history. They add knowledge of other Ancient Civilisations during the course of the Investigating stage. They may add detail to their timelines in words and illustrations to further demonstrate their understanding. In small groups students research one Ancient Civilisation and record their findings on a data chart. They present their findings to the whole class. Individual assessment task in 2 parts; comparing 2 or 3 Ancient Civilisations; and identifying how Ancient Civilisations have influenced todays society. Students draw upon all they have learned throughout the unit to complete the task.

Personalising stage

BUILDING
Activities planned during this stage of the unit are designed to build the foundational knowledge and skills the students will need to investigate this topic. Purpose Activity Teacher notes To determine Prior knowledge- tuning in activity Student students prior Hot Potato activity. Divide students into 5 groups. Each responses to knowledge group has one poster with one of the following question these about some of prompts on it. Students brainstorm on posters what they questions will the issues in already know or think they know about this. After 10 allow teachers the unit, and to minutes rotate the posters. Groups must read what the to adapt the engage them previous group has written and then add additional ideas. unit based on in the topic. They can add to existing ideas but not repeat something the needs of that has already been written. their students. Teachers may How did Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples need to clarify live before European Settlement? what an What do you know about the origins of Aboriginal and ancient Torres Strait Islander civilisations? (Where did they civilisation is come from, when? Etc) with students What questions do you have about ancient Aboriginal before and Torres Strait Islander civilisations? commencing What do you know about the Dreamtime? the unit. What contributions have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples made to our modern day society? To track the development of students understandings about ancient Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander civilisations. Triple Entry Journal Students reflect on their current understandings or perceptions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander society by responding to these 3 questions in the first column of the triple entry journal. Students chose a question of their own to add to the triple entry journal; How did Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in ancient times? How have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities changed? What elements have remained the same, or endured over time? They will revisit this twice during the course of the unit to record further reflections on the questions enabling them to track the development of their knowledge about Ancient Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander civilisations. To provide authentic experiences to allow students to find out what life was like for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Excursion to the Koorie Heritage Trust and Botanical Gardens- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Resources Trail Individually have students record information they gathered from the excursion about the lifestyle and organisation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander society in pre-contact times. They record each separate Ensure students date their entries. They could record in their journals more frequently than suggested to record development of their thinking. Other questions may be added to the journal as the unit progresses. Regional cultural centres also provide educational experiences for students.

Islander peoples in the past.

piece of information on post it notes. In groups of 4 have students share their findings. Have each group create an affinity diagram using their post it notes. (In an affinity diagram students group the post-it notes that are about the same concept, eg. food, beliefs, etc. They then name the categories.) As a whole class share the affinity diagrams and create a class list of the categories students created on their affinity diagrams. Reform groups so there is the same number of groups as categories. Give each group one category. Disperse the affinity diagrams so groups have information from the whole class that it is pertinent to their category. Each group is then responsible for writing up the information under their category on a chart. Share the information as a whole class and revisit the original hot potato brainstorm sheets. Discuss what was correct or incorrect. Identify areas where more information may be needed and generate questions to guide this investigation.

Areas identified in VELS include: work, the division of labour, family, clothing, housing, education, governance and political features, myths and legends, religious beliefs and practices and cultural expressions such as art and drama, roles of key individuals. This activity could be done as a jigsaw activity with one student from each group forming expert groups to read or view one of the resources, then taking their information back to their home groups to share and collate.

To assist students to visualise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life, culture and land in Ancient times.

Researching Ancient Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander society Discuss with students how they might find out about the questions they still have. Discuss how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people recorded or passed down their history, and places we might find this information. Have students use identified resources to find further information. View Kanyini DVD (first section) First Australians DVD first section of Episode 1 Selected sections of Ten Canoes. Read Fair Dinkum Histories: Shipwrecks, Sailors and 60,000 Years by Jackie French p30-31 Gunjitmara Country by Theo Read Aboriginal Melbourne by Gary Presland Examine the Aboriginal map of Australia. Identify groups who lived in local areas. Compare to the current map of Australia Guest speaker- contact your local LAECG. Contact information can be found on the VAEAI website

Students add further information to the charts and share with the whole class. 7

For students to demonstrate their understanding about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life, culture and land in Ancient times.

Life in Australia in Ancient Times Students choose a way to demonstrate their understandings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life, culture and land in Ancient times. They choose one of the following methods, or design a presentation of their own. Information brochure Documentary style video clip Picture Story Book Dramatic performance Diary style recount Web page Triple Entry Journal Have students reflect again in their Triple entry journal. Add two further questions: What was life like in other Ancient Civilisations? What similarities are there between different Ancient Civilisations?

A teacher and student negotiate rubric will help students to clearly understand expectations.

To continue to track the development of students understandings about ancient Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander civilisations.

INVESTIGATING
Activities at this stage of the unit are designed to take the investigation deeper. Students are required to work more independently and apply the skills and the knowledge they have developed. Purpose Activity Notes To gather prior Prior Knowledge task knowledge Students use a lotus diagram to record what they know, or about other think they know, about all Ancient Civilisations. (See civilisations. worksheet 1.) They record the names of Ancient To track the Civilisations they know, or think they know in the inner grid. development of Then in the outer grids they record what they know or think student they know about each of these Civilisations. understandings about Ancient This activity will be completed again at the end of the unit Civilisations. to enable students to compare and discuss what they have learned during the unit. To support students understanding of time sequence and span. To assess students understanding Timeline Commence a timeline to be added to during the Investigating stage of the unit. On the timeline include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history the students now know. The timeline will need to be constructed to scale spanning 60,000 years. Large sections with little to no information can be folded to make the timeline more manageable. As the unit progresses the students will add knowledge of other A whole class timeline will enable teachers to support students in making sense of the time sequence and span. 8

of time sequence and span. To immerse and engage students in many different Ancient Civilisations.

Ancient Civilisations to the timeline. Students can add detail to their individual timelines in words and illustrations to demonstrate their personal understandings about time and chronology. Ancient Civilisations Immersion Immerse students in a range of Ancient Civilisations using interactive rotational activities. Introduce students to the following societies: Sumer, Egypt, Rome, China, and Greece. Develop activities using a range of multi-media as well as hands on tasks such as; visual arts, sculpture, role-play, face-painting, cooking, martial arts. A cultural performance (such as Cultural Infusion) could also be included in the day. Suggested possible activities: Clay tablet cuniform writing (Sumer) or hieroglyphics (Egypt). Creating Egyptian artwork using birds-eye view perspective. Face painting in Ancient Egyptian style. Role-playing a senate meeting in Ancient Rome. Creating sculptures of ancient Roman or Greek Gods. Exploring the ancient Chinese Zodiac and creating own zodiac charts. Cooking foods from ancient times. A google search of ancient recipes will lead to a variey of websites containing recipes and an explanation of their origin. Viewing films set in ancient times and discussing authenticity. Interactive websites (see resources section) Reflecting on the Immersion activities: Discuss the immersion day using the following prompts. Have students record informally on a graffiti board. See- what did you see during the day? Think- what did you think about different Ancient Civilisations? Wonder- what did it make you wonder about these places and times? Connections- what connections can you make to your learning in the unit so far? Change- how has this changed any ideas you had?

Personal timelines will provide assessment evidence. If possible devote a whole day to exploring engaging and interactive activities with the students before proceeding to deeper investigation.

To deepen students knowledge about a variety of Ancient

Ancient Civilisations Data Charts Divide students into 5 groups to each explore one of the 5 Ancient Civilisations: Sumer Rome

Different Civilisations could be exchanged for the ones 9

Civilisations.

Egypt Greece China

listed, or added.

Use the same categories as the students came up with for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander charts. Each group is responsible for investigating their given Civilisation under the headings chosen. Tasks may be divided between group members. Use a variety of multi media sources to enable students to locate information. Local library Internet: BBC website, National Geographic School library Text books Documentaries from the History Channel or How Stuff Works websites SBS Documentary series: Imperium: Fall of Great Empires

Each groups record their findings on data charts and present their findings to the rest of the class.

PERSONALISING
Activities at this stage of the unit are designed to help students reflect on and put into practise what has been learned in real life contexts. Purpose Activity Notes To support Make links to todays society. students in Discuss with students: making What are the big ideas that we can see now that had their connections origins in ancient times? (eg. democracy, writing, number between system, Olympics) Ancient How have these big ideas improved our lives and our Civilisations societies today? and todays society. Use pictures of today and ancient times that are connected, eg the wheel and the car/bike, contemporary politicians and Julius Caesar. Students match pictures and verbalise connections. Students to find more pictures at home that they can connect. To make comparisons and generalisations about the similarities and differences between Ancient Civilisations. Comparing Ancient Civilisations Assessment Task: Part 1 Make comparisons between the various civilisations including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and one or two of the other Ancient Civilisations explored. Show your comparisons using a graphic organiser such as a Venn Diagram or a Comparison Alley, then write statements (generalisations) about key similarities or differences.

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Part 2 Make comparisons between Ancient Civilisations and society today. What similarities can you see? How do you think Ancient civilisations have influenced todays society? For students to participate in reflective thinking and identify changes in their ideas over time. Reflection Have students complete the lotus diagram again. Using a different colour pen add to or adapt the original lotus. Compare the 2. Complete a final entry in the triple entry journal. Discuss: What do you know now that you didnt know before? How have your ideas changed? What caused you to change your ideas? What features of ancient civilisations can you recognise in your own life? What aspects of Ancient civilisations could improve our society if we adopted those practices today?

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