Year 5 unit overview — Australian Curriculum: Geography. Information taken and adapted from: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting
Authority (ACARA), Australian Curriculum v5.0: Geography for Foundation–10, www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Geography/Curriculum/F-10.
Year 5 Unit Overview
Learning Area
Unit title
Duration of unit
Year 5 Geography
Natural hazards (Flooding)
12 x 70 Minute Lessons
Identify Curriculum
Key/Guiding Questions
Problem - The Sunshine Coast has been issued with a severe flood warning which threatens to cause the next natural disaster! What can w e
do!?











What is a flood and what are the different types?
What are the impact of floods on people and the environment?
What can we do about preventing reducing, preparing for and responding to floods?
Why is it important to think about this?
What is currently in place in Australia or globally to solve this problem?
What is the location, severity and frequency of these events in Australia?
What are the causes of floods?
What does the data we have collected suggest?
What is the significance of these events to your life today?
What does someone who doesn’t know anything about floods need to know to prevent or survive this type of natural disaster?
How effective is your disaster management plan?
Content Descriptions:
Geographical knowledge and The impact of bushfires or floods on environments and communities, and how people can respond (ACHGK030)
understanding

mapping and explaining the location, frequency and severity of bushfires or flooding in Australia


explaining the impacts of fire on Australian vegetation and the significance of fire damage on communities
researching how the application of principles of prevention, mitigation and preparedness minimises the harmful effects
of bushfires or flooding
Observing, questioning and
planning
 develop geographical questions to plan an inquiry about the impact of bushfires or floods on people and places
Collecting, recording,
evaluating and representing

collect, record and represent relevant geographical data and information from sources about the location, frequency and severity of
bushfires or flooding in Australia and a selected country or world region

represent the locations of bushfires or flooding in Australia and a selected country or world region on large-scale and small-scale
maps

evaluate the usefulness of collected data and represent data and information
Interpreting, analysing and
concluding

investigate management of spaces within places affected by bushfires or floods and identify the principles of prevention, mitigation
and preparedness as ways to minimise the effects of bushfires or flooding
Communicating

interpret geographical data and information and infer relationships to draw conclusions to identify distributions, patterns and trends
about bushfires or flooding using spatial technologies where appropriate.
Reflecting and responding
Unit outline
 Present findings and ideas and reflect on learning to propose actions about the management of spaces within places.
This unit of work was designed for a Year 5 cohort based on the Geography Curriculum. The focus was creating a unit which integrates ICTs in an authentic, purposeful
manner to transform the learning design and outcome. The topic for the unit is the impact of flooding on people and the environment. Flooding was chosen as opposed to
bushfires due to the location of the intended cohort given that flooding is much more of a threat to their everyday lives based on the patterns of historical events in
Queensland. The context is provided to the students in the form of an authentic problem relating to their real lives:
Problem - The Sunshine Coast has been issued with a severe flood warning which threatens to cause the next natural disaster! What can w e
do!?
The unit has been planned with the integration of two major frameworks. Firstly, the content and learning sequence was designed around the Science 5 E’s framework
(engage, explore, explain, extend and evaluate (Australian Academy of Science, 2015) Secondly, the pedagogy and presentation of the teaching strategies to students was
designed using the Technology Cycle (Queensland Studies Authority, 2003).
These frameworks and the integration of ICTs were selected to ensure that the learning experiences provided an authentic, rigorous, problem-based inquiry sequence which
encourages student directed learning and higher order thinking skills.
Students will:

Develop problem solving skills;

Follow an a problem based sequence to find solutions;

Guide their own learning;

Develop their own questions;

Collect and represent data using ICTs;

Interpret data;

Evaluate sources;

Represent locations and features of places using technologies;

Interact with various technologies;

Consider the location, frequency and severity of bushfires and floods using a map;

Present findings.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Students will understand…
Students will know and be able to…
DK 1 The impact of floods on people and the environment.
PK 1 Develop questions to investigate the topic of flooding to guide learning.
DK 2 The measures that can be taken by humans to prevent, mitigate and respond to PK 2 Collect, record, represent and evaluate information appropriately.
floods nationally and internationally.
PK 3 Identify the locations nationally and internationally which have been flood
DK 3 The location, frequency and severity of flooding nationally and internationally.
affected.
DK 4 How to collect, record, represent and evaluate information appropriately.
DK 5 How to be an effective team member.
PK 4 Interpret geographical data and information and infer relationships to draw
conclusions to identify distributions, patterns and trends about flooding.
PK 5 Present ideas to promote actions to the community.
PK 6 To be an effective team member.
Assessment Overview
Students use their knowledge and understandings of the topic developed through the problem based learning approach to develop a disaster management plan to aid the
people of the Sunshine Coast to prevent, prepare, mitigate and respond to a potential flood in the area. The task will be evidenced in the students’ group construction of a
website demonstrating their learning and research. They will then use their new knowledge to create and present a Disaster Management Plan in their groups in a format of
their choice. The will finally evaluate their disaster management plans in the form of an individual peer assessment which will be presented as a blog post.
The learning design incorporates opportunities for students to acquire the skills and knowledge to complete this task as well as the opportunity for feedback and support
throughout. The assessment is to be completed in allocated computer lab time. Students will be encouraged to access the library computers or work from home to complete
tasks outside of this schedule.