Stage 1 Human Society and Its Environment
Unit: Wet and Dry Environments
Foundation Statement
Students recount important family and community traditions and practices. They
sequence events in the past and changes in their lives, in their communities and in other
communities.
Students explore the composition of a number of groups, including Aboriginal peoples, in
their community and recognise that groups have specific identifying features, customs,
practices, symbols, religion, language and traditions. They acquire information about their
local community by direct and indirect experience and communicate with others using
various forms of electronic media.
Students make comparisons between natural, heritage and built features of the local
area and examine the human interaction with these features. They investigate the
relationship between people and environments including the relationship between
Aboriginal peoples and the land. Students use the language of location in relative terms
and construct and use pictorial maps and models of familiar areas.
Students identify roles, responsibilities and rules within the family, school and
community and explore their interaction. They describe how people and technologies link
to produce goods and services to satisfy needs and wants.
Overview: This unit provides opportunities for students to explore life in a wet or dry
environment. It allows students to focus on people’s interactions with, and responsibilities
towards, these environments.
Outcomes and Indicators
ENS1.5
Compares and contrasts natural and built
features in their local area and the ways in
which people interact with these features.
 Examines the differences between
natural and built features and sites
 Identifies similarities and differences
between natural features and sites in
their local area and those in other
areas
 Uses a range of geographical terms to
describe location and features, eg east,
west, mountain, valley, hill, city, and
terms for geographical tools, eg map,
globe, atlas
 Uses geographical tools to locate and
investigate places, eg maps, globes,
atlases
ENS1.6
Demonstrates an understanding of the
relationship between environments and people.
 Identifies and labels how the elements
of an environment rely on each other
 Identifies ways in which people depend
on the environment
 Identifies ways in which people’s
interactions with the environment can
change that environment, eg the result
of blocking up a river or chopping down
trees
 Evaluates results of human change on
environments that are relevant to them
 Identifies ways in which places in their
immediate environment have changed and
are continuing to change
 Shows an interest in environmental issues
 Examines the values that people place
on natural and built features and places
 Associates geographical terms for
places and features with visual images
 Recognises the globe as a
representation of Earth,
differentiating between land and water
 Makes and interprets 3D models of
features and places in their local area
 Constructs pictorial maps and uses
these maps to locate real features
 Expresses feelings for particular
environments and why they have these
feelings
Demonstrates an awareness that the features
and places which are a part of their local area
exist within a broader context, eg within a
town/city, country.
Resources:
The Board’s website
(http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au) lists
current available resources such as some
selected background information sheets,
websites, texts and other material to support
this unit.
Materials that include factual and literary
texts, websites, posters and photographs that
relate to wet and dry environments, eg
Towards a New Dreaming: Future Directions
for Land Management in Australia (Clean Up
Australia Ltd, 1995).
Local Aboriginal organisations for information
about Aboriginal land management practices,
eg management of water as a scarce resource.
Other local organisations that have a role in
the care of environments.
Excursions to natural or built, wet or dry
environments, eg a dam, a river, a beach, a
bore well.
at local, national and global levels
 Identifies wise and unwise use of
resources
 Suggests ways of caring for sites,
features, places and environments, and
through which they can contribute
 Recognises that Aboriginal peoples have
interacted positively with the
environment for a long time.
Links to other KLA’s:
English: The structure and language features of
the text types students create and interpret
(see above).
Science and Technology: Content from the
Living Things strand. The ‘Our Australia’ unit
provides some related suggested learning
experiences.
Mathematics: Graphs, tables.
Personal Development, Health and Physical
Education: Individual choices, safe practices.
Learning Experiences
Weeks
1-2
Learning Sequence 1: Wet and Dry Environments, Features, Places and
Sites
 Read and jointly view texts about natural and built wet and dry
environments, places and features, eg a dam, a river, a beach, a weir, a
backyard pool, a swamp, a desert, drought-affected country, a river
bed. Talk about the students’ direct experiences with these
environments, places or features: how they felt about being there; the
smells, sounds, look, feel, colours and textures; and which places were
their favourites. Show images of wet and dry places.
 Categorise wet and dry environments and jointly look at a map of
Australia. Discuss the areas of Australia that students think may be
wet or dry. Ask them why they think this is so. What features of a map
indicate the wet and dry places? Talk about where these places are
located and use appropriate geographical terminology such as mountain,
river, desert, lake, ocean, inland, coast. Collect tourist magazines of a
variety of wet and dry locations in Australia. Have students cut
pictures out and place them in appropriate locations on an enlarged
Australian map.
 Jointly identify all the wet and dry places in the local area. Are there
more wet areas, or are there more dry areas? Jointly locate the area
on the map of Australia: Is your local area in a wet or dry part of
Australia? What particular features does it have because of its
location in Australia? Jointly observe the natural and built features in
the wet and dry places found in your local area.
 Jointly develop a local area map using 3D models, relief material or
pictures to represent different wet and dry environments and
associated natural and built features. Use geographical terminology to
label the map. Try to keep the map simple. Have students locate areas
in relation to each other, using a well-known environment or feature as
a reference point. Explain that Australia is the driest continent in the
world, yet it has many natural wetlands.
Date
Weeks
3-4
Learning Sequence 2: Use, Activity and Needs
 After visiting and discussing wet and dry environments in the local area
(and combinations of the two), ask students to think about the animals
and people that are connected to them. Also discuss any products, such
as town water or timber that come from these environments. List all
the features/products that each environment provides. Complete the
retrieval chart:
How the ____________________________ (environment) meets the
needs of:
Animals
People in the
Community
Date
People beyond the
community
 Ask students to reflect on how they feel about each place. They should
consider how other people might feel about these places also.
 Ask students to choose a local environment to investigate,
independently or as a group. Ask them to gather information about the
environment through direct observation and secondary sources.
 Have students independently construct an information report
describing aspects of the environment using the information they have
gathered. Display these along with maps, diagrams, photographs and
sketches. The information reports should locate the environment,
describing the features, animals, plants and people that occupy it, the
activities that people do, who works there, changes brought about by
humans or animals, and responsibilities for its care. They should also
include reasons why the type of environment, wet or dry, has an impact
on what happens there.
Weeks
5-6
Learning Sequence 3: Human Interaction and Change to Wet and
Dry Environments
 Help students find out how and why the places and features in their
local area have changed and are continuing to change. Organise
opportunities for students to observe and identify the effects of
human interaction on natural places and features, eg the damming of a
river, the cutting down of trees along the banks of a river, the
prawning of a river, the digging of a well or bore. Explain that human
constructions change environments from natural to built environments.
Use local area books that may be available in the local library or
through local historical societies.
 Have students close their eyes and ask them to ‘walk’ through some
places that you suggest. Ask them to identify, in their mind, the things
that humans have changed. Consider what the community has gained or
lost from the changes. Develop retrieval charts for different changes:
Date
Change:
_______________________________________________________________________
Gain to
People
Loss to
People
Gain to
Environment
Loss to Environment
 Have students identify any places in the local area that have not been
modified by people, and where human interaction has been limited. Why
is this the case? What are these areas called?
 Use local community and service organisations as sources of
information. Invite visitors to come and talk about the care of these
places or provide pamphlets and leaflets from the local council and
other organisations that care for environments in the local area.
Include information gained from local Aboriginal organisations about
care of wet and dry environments and land management practices.
Dreaming stories can also provide perspectives on these. Invite guest
speakers to talk about their experiences with wet or dry places.
 Have students construct models or diagrams that show how natural
environments have been changed by human interaction and modification
over time. Texts that depict changes, such as Where the Forest Meets
the Sea by Jeannie Baker, may help to illustrate this idea.
 Discuss some of the natural changes that occur in wet and dry
environments, eg floods, droughts, fires. Have students consider the
effects that these changes have on people and on the environment.
Weeks
7-8
Learning Sequence 4: Water!
 Jointly construct a mind map or flow chart about the use of water.
Include the different uses of water by people and animals.
 Have students consider how people’s need for water has changed over
time: How have people’s actions affected the source of water over
time? What might be some of the reasons for this? Read a text such
as Lester and Clyde by James Reece and discuss how people’s actions
and choices affect the environment.
 Provide opportunities for students to view, listen to or talk to people
who work in wet environments, eg rangers, prawn farmers, pearl divers.
Jointly investigate leisure activities such as sailing and swimming. Ask
students to develop diagrams showing how people depend on water for
work and leisure.
 Jointly investigate the wise and the unwise use of water and the
individual’s, the family’s and the community’s roles and responsibilities
in the use of water. Point out why water is a scarce resource, why it is
valued, why all living things depend on it.
 Ask students to consider ways in which water and wet environments
can be better valued, and how students can take a role in preserving
this scarce resource. Ask them to suggest strategies to encourage the
care and valuing of water and wet environments in their local area.
Date
Weeks
9-10
Learning Sequence 5: What’s Special about the Local Area?
 Have students identify what is special about their own area by
comparing their own wet or dry environments with a different area.
Organise a link-up with another school through the Internet, where
students can gain information from one and other, or obtain travel
brochures, texts, photos and videos about another area.
 As an extension activity, students may identify and design travel
brochures advertising a wet or dry environment that is special or
significant in their own area. They may include: 1) how to get there
(including a map); 2) what it looks like; 3) what animals and plants live
there and their adaptations; 4) the people who live and work there and
their adaptations; 5) why they recommend this environment; 6) what
activities are available for recreation; 7) rules for people living in or
visiting this environment. The completed brochure may be sent to their
‘Internet partner’.
Assessment:
Evaluation:
Date