During semester two I have been teaching history to Year 6 students. Following the Australian curriculum these were the focus questions we addressed:
Focus Questions
- Why and how did Australia become a nation?
- How did Australian society change throughout the twentieth century?
- Who were the people who came to Australia? Why did they come?
- What contribution have significant individuals and groups made to the development of Australian society?
The girls created animations after researching a migrant or refugee who had settled into Australia. App smashing was popular with the girls as they tried different ways to create their work. Drawing and designing settings, collecting equipment and suitable props and recording voice overs made for some exciting learning.
The girls worked hard in a limited time frame to produce a short animation. These were shown during their final task which was to design and create an engaging activity to assist a new migrant or refugee to settle into Brisbane, Australia. Using materials and ideas from the makerspace area the girls designed, created and made interesting activities to help a girl of their age to assimilate into Australian ways, in particular Brisbane. The girls’ audience was the school’s international business manager, a number of teachers and the Principal.
Here are some of the ideas the girls came up with of how to engage a girl of their age in activities to help settle into life in Brisbane…..children are so creative!!
An interactive Scratch presentation of Australian animals.
Australian Snakes and Ladders with a robot programmed to throw the die!
Aurasma to share information about famous Aussie food….
Power Point to share our first Australian’s culture.
Tellagami presentation on Aussie slang.
Lego, card and bristle bots to represent horse racing, cricket and cockroach races!
Game to know how to dress for an Aussie climate.
Filming and a published magazine on the best shopping experiences for a girl …..
Adapting Monopoly to share places of interest in Brisbane.
Great places to visit on Straddie….crossing on the barge.
Swim safely by knowing the rules…..beach and pool! Girls used Bee Bots, Aurasma and Episode App.
One team even used the drone for a sea rescue….however it didn’t work too well…failure is good! That’s how we learn.
There were many more including two girls who designed an amazing variety of challenges using a robot to experience some fun activities at the EKKA.