Change over time
Change over time is about history and geography where students develop an
understanding of how the social and environmental features of the community change over
time, where the actions and decisions of the past shape the present.
HSIE Syllabus references:
SS
CU
CC
EN
CCS1.2 Time and change
Identifies changes and continuities in the local community.
ENS1.5
Compares and contrasts natural and built features in their local area and the ways in which
people interact with these features.
Students will learn about:
• technologies, both past and present
• places in the local area associated with historical events, eg Aboriginal sites, a
memorial
• changes, both past and present, caused by changing needs
• stages in a lifetime
• uses of places in their local area
• natural, built and heritage features in the immediate environment and in other areas
• adaptations to environments to fulfil needs
• changes to the immediate environment as a result of meeting needs and wants
• personal and shared values and responsibilities towards features, sites, places and
environments.
Teaching and learning
Evidence of achievement
Personal timelines
• Introduce literary texts that illustrate personal heritage
through common events changing over time e.g. When
Frank was four by Alison Lester
- discuss when the events in the text occurred
- refer to specific words related to time and place in the
story; develop a word bank of references to words and
phrases related to personal and family heritage and the
past.
• Students relate experiences the character(s) had to their
personal experiences.
• Represent the events in the text as a time line using textual
and visual clues e.g. Worksheet 8, p. 45 in Treasures.
CCS1.2 Identifies changes
and continuities in the local
community
• develops language
associated with time and
place
• identifies personal
experiences related to
different ages.
(Literacy link: relates own experiences to books read and
identifies language of time and place)
• Model the drawing of a timeline on the board to show year
of birth and each year to the present. Locate some well
known events on the time line, e.g. starting school, the birth
of siblings, special holidays (family and community), moving
house.
• Students draw a personal timeline to show how old they
were each year e.g.
2005
Born
2006
1
year
old
2007
2
years
old
2008
3
years
old
2009
4
years
old
2010
5
years
old
2011
6
years
old
• Students:
- complete the timeline using individual photographs or
drawings of themselves depicting each year of their life
e.g. Worksheet 1, p. 37 or Worksheet 11, p. 48 in
Treasures.
• Take a digital photograph of each child in the class to
include in a pictorial timeline.
• Students sequence their set of photographs or drawings
into chronological order creating a pictorial timeline.
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
• Choose a student to recount an experience to the class and
record the key events and language of time they use.
• Describe themselves at different ages, identifying events
that occurred at the time.
Personal records of time, place and events
• Read a text about how people’s lives have changed for
different generations e.g. When I turned six by David Drew.
• Discuss the events in the book and:
- identify the time frame and relate to students, their
parents and grandparents
- compare how characters participate in the story to how
CCS1.2 Identifies changes
and continuities in the local
community
• uses historical language of
time and change e.g. old,
new, past, present
• describes some ways in
Teaching and learning
Evidence of achievement
the students and their families might have participated in
these events
- research other family members from different
generations (such as parents and grandparents) and how
their lives have changed over time e.g. the type of
clothes people wore, the games played, the food they
ate, what they did to entertain themselves, what was a
‘treat’
- complete a profile based on the events in the story that
show the differences between generations, for example
This is
what we
wore
This is
what we
played
This is
how we
got to
school
We
enjoyed
these
treats
When I turned 6 in
200___
When Mum/Dad
turned 6 in 19___
When Grandma
/Grandpa turned 6 in
19___
When Great
Grandma/Pa turned
6 in 19___
Available as Worksheets 3 and 4, p. 40–41 Treasures
Assessment strategy
The teacher:
• analyses students’ worksheet responses
• analyses students’ verbal explanations of how the lives of
different generations show change over time.
Assessment criteria
The student:
• uses historical language of time and change e.g. old, new,
past, present
• describes some ways in which the lives of previous
generations are different to their own
• identifies how the clothes people wear have changed over
time
• identifies some of the games played by different
generations.
Preparation for next lesson:
Ask students to talk to their parents, grandparents (and if
possible great grandparents, some of whom may not have
attended school) about how they got to school when they were
the same age as the students are now.
Organise a guest (preferably a grandparent or an older person
who is a long term resident of the area) to visit the class to talk
about what the school and the local area was like when they
were the same age as the students.
which previous
generations lives are
different to their own.
Teaching and learning
Evidence of achievement
Collect images of the local area taken in different eras.
Sources include the local library, council, historical society and
a search using your suburb/town on the Picture Australia web
site.
Getting to school
• Collect data and compile a picture graph of how students
get to school e.g. walk, car, bus, bike.
• Ask students how they think they would get to school when
they are in Year 7. Do they think this will change from how
they get to school now? Why?
• Review the information collected on how parents,
grandparents and great grandparents got to school when
they were young. Ask:
- how is this different to how students now get to school?
- why has this changed?
• Compile possible questions for the guest visitor about what
life was like when they were younger e.g. clothing, travel,
food (breakfast, lunch at school, birthdays), homework,
school lessons, TV/computers, sport, entertainment, friends,
how they had fun.
Changes in the local environment
• Ask the guest to identify changes that have occurred in the
local environment since they were young, and record
changes for future reference. The guest could refer to
images collected and copies could be made of any images
they have brought (with permission) and images sourced
from Picture Australia web site
• The teacher:
- makes note of key points and answers to student
questions
- add captions to the collected images and display.
• Ask: why do you think some of these changes occurred?
• Review the images and captions with students, explain and
discuss the changes that have occurred and some of the
reasons for these changes in the local environment.
Changes in Aboriginal communities
• Choose a text that shows changes in Aboriginal
communities over time e.g. A is for Aunty by Elaine Russell
from ABC Books for the Australian Broadcasting
Commission; My Country by Connie Ah See, in Caring for
Place, Caring for Country (DET);Ten little Jarjum in Big mob
books for little fullas (BOS).
• Alternatively, older members of the Aboriginal community
can talk to students about what their life was like as a child
growing up.
• During reading, use a simple retrieval chart of Then and
Now e.g. A is for Aunty could include. Amend the retrieval
chart to reflect the aspects of then and now referenced in
the text.
Then
Billy carts
Now
Bikes and scooters
CCS1.2 Identifies changes
and continuities in the local
community
• identifies how students
travelled to school in the
past
• listens and engages in
discussion with community
member about life in an
earlier era.
ENS1.5 Compares and
contrasts natural and built
features in their local area
and the ways in which people
interact with these features.
• discusses the changes the
local area over time
• contributes some reasons
for changes to the local
area.
CCS1.2 Identifies changes
and continuities in the local
community
• engages in stories about
change in Aboriginal
communities
• identifies changes in the
way people live over time.
ENS1.5 Compares and
contrasts natural and built
features in their local area
and the ways in which people
interact with these features
• identifies ways people
have changed the way
Teaching and learning
Fence – hand made from bush and
wire
Homemade marbles, dolly peg dolls,
hopscotch
Humpy
Inspection day
Mission
Pet possum
Quandong jam made in a big pot
over the fire
Swimming in the river
Suppertime – cooking on the
campfire
Milking the cows
Witchetty grubs and yabbies
Evidence of achievement
Fence – bought from a shop
or built on site
Computer games, (etc.)
House
Does not happen any more
Does not happen any more
Dog, cat
Jars of jam from the
supermarket
Beach or pool
BBQ
Buying milk in bottles or
cartons
Buying meat from the
supermarket or butcher
• After reading, decide if changes between then and now are
positive (good) or negative (bad) or interesting (neither
positive nor negative).
• Discuss how changes in lifestyle between then and now can
affect the environment e.g. purchasing goods from
supermarkets instead of milking cows in a paddock;
enjoying home-made jam; pollution affecting the yabbies in
the creek; indoor games and watching TV instead of
running around and playing outside games.
people have changed the
way they have used the
environment
• discusses and decides if
the changes to the
environment are positive or
negative.
Teaching and learning
Evidence of achievement
Changes in our school environment
This activity collects data on the management of the school
grounds. The data collected by students could be included in
the school’s environmental management plan. Refer to the
DET Environmental Education Policy, and support documents
for further information.
The Stage 1 video on the Learnscapes (DET) CD-ROM, if
available, demonstrates students undertaking a similar activity
and could be viewed by the class as preparation for this
activity.
• Walk around the school to identify changes to the school
environment that have occurred since students started
school e.g. new lunch seats, trees planted, shade cloth
replaced, a building painted, new building/s such as a
demountable, vandalism, new gardens, erosion.
• Discuss whether the changes are either positive or negative
and give reasons.
• Identify the type of ground cover in the different parts of the
school. List the words used to describe the ground cover
e.g. asphalt, concrete, grass, garden, driveway, footpath,
mulch. Explain and illustrate words if necessary.
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 different
ground covers and
classifies as natural or
man made
• identifies changes to the
school environment and
classifies as positive or
negative
• outlines some positive
changes that could be
made to the school
environment
• draw and label a place in
the school environment
with suggestions for
positive changes.
Investigating the school environment
• Use the list of ground cover words to develop a worksheet
e.g.
1 (or 2, 3 etc.) - Name:
asphalt
concrete
grass
garden
mulch
footpath
bare dirt
• Organise students into groups of 4 or 5 students, identify
students as 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, to undertake a ‘police walk’ of the
school grounds.
• Start in a spread out line at one end of the school e.g. 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3 … Have all Student 1’s record what is
underfoot onto their worksheet to tally what they see, then
to take a step forward and record etc. Then do student 2’s.
Repeat until all students have recorded ground cover
walked over during the ‘police walk’.
• Tally students’ results and construct a graph from the data.
Identify the features as living or non living. Non living can be
categorised into natural or manmade. Ask:
- what is the most common ground cover? Is this a living
or non living ground cover?
- what are the good things? What are the bad things?
Why?
- what does the information displayed in the graph tell us
about the school environment? How could it be improved
Teaching and learning
for the future?
• Students draw and label a place in the school environment
they would like to change.
They could provide an oral explanation of the changes and the
reasons for the changes.
Assessment strategy
The teacher:
• observes students and evaluates their explanations.
Assessment criteria
The student:
• examines the different ground covers and classifies as
natural or man made
• identifies changes to the school environment and classifies
as positive or negative
• outlines some positive changes that could be made to the
school environment.
Evidence of achievement