Significant environments
Significant environments is about the geography of the places and the way people
interact with these environments.
HSIE Syllabus references:
SS
CU
EN
CC
ENS2.5 Patterns of place and location
Describes places in the local area and other parts of Australia and explains their significance
ENS2.6 Relationships with places
Describes people’s interactions with environments and identifies responsible ways of
interacting with environments
Students will learn about:
• geographical terminology, e.g. north/south/east/west, Equator, Tropic of Cancer,
Tropic of Capricorn, North/South Pole
• significant natural, heritage and built features in the local area, New South Wales and
Australia, and their uses
• the location of major cities, rivers and mountains in New South Wales and the capital
cities in Australia
• local and other Australian communities
• environmental changes
• groups associated with places and features, including Aboriginal people
• management and care of features, sites, places and environments.
Teaching and learning
Evidence of achievement
Custodians of the land for future generations
The following lesson has been adapted from Topic 5
Belonging to country pp. 44–45 from Talking identity.
• Organise students into groups of three – an investigator, a
reporter, a recorder. In the playground:
- the investigator sits blindfolded on the ground and smells
the air
- the investigator explains to the reporter the sensations of
smells in the environment
- the reporter relays key words to the recorder, who notes
the points.
• Repeat the above activity for sounds and touch, using
hands and bare feet.
• Share the recorded key concepts. The reporters from each
group meet and collate lists of key words for each sense.
Report back and discuss findings with the class.
• Using the text Rak Niwilli, also included in the Talking
Identity kit, identify the diversity of Aboriginal families and
cultural groups and their different environments. Additional
teaching support can be found in Talking identity
pp. 41–42). Discuss:
- what would the environment look like? (water, trees,
rocks, etc.)
- what would the environment sound like? (waves
crashing, birds chirping)
- what would the environment feel like? (hot, windy, sandy)
- what would the environment smell like? (dusty, wet,
salty).
• Make copies of the text Living with the land on p. 76 of
Talking identity. Students highlight key words in the text.
• Discuss Aboriginal people’s special relationship with the
land i.e. emotional, spiritual, and cultural connections to the
land.
• Ask students: would you hear, smell and feel the same
things in the environment in 10 years time? Why or why
not? Relate to the students’ sensory investigation of their
environment.
• Read Belonging - Jeanie Baker. Discuss what the author is
saying about how we use and respect the environment.
Refer to the author’s notes for additional information.
• Read The fat and juicy place - Diana Kidd, in the teaching
kit Talking identity. This text provides a contemporary
example of Aboriginal people’s connection to the land.
HSIE
ENS2.6 Describes people’s
interactions with
environments and identifies
responsible ways of
interacting with environments
• describes features of the
environment using key
concepts in an experiential
situation
• demonstrates an aesthetic
awareness of
environments, both natural
and built, relating these
environments to their key
body senses.
Our place in the world - Mapping and significant places
• Use a world map of countries and capital cities from an
atlas or web site. Refer to The World Factbook.
• Locate Australia in the southern hemisphere and identify the
imaginary line that represents the equator.
• Identify north, south, east and west in relation to Australia.
Identify the imaginary lines of the Tropic of Capricorn and
the Tropic of Cancer, explaining the significance of the
climate between these lines as tropical, with wet and dry
ENS2.5 Describes places in
the local area and other parts
of Australia and explains their
significance
• identifies the location of
Australia in relation to the
equator, Tropic of Cancer,
Tropic of Capricorn and
North and South Poles
ENS2.5 Describes places in
the local area and other parts
of Australia and explains their
significance
• describes different
environments of Aboriginal
communities.
Teaching and learning
Evidence of achievement
seasons.
• Locate countries of origin of students’ families (or overseas
holiday destinations or places in the news) in relation to
Australia. Develop the concept of distance by discussing the
time required and mode of transport used to travel from one
country to another.
• locates and maps cities,
rivers and mountains in
NSW and uses locational
terminology such as north,
south, east, west
• locates and names the
capital city of Australia and
of each state, and the
major cities of regional
centres
• identifies different
Aboriginal language
groups and their location in
relation to self and family.
Our place – Australia
• Use a primary atlas or mapping web site to look at different
maps of Australia and what they represent e.g. settlement,
landform and Aboriginal language groups refer to the Atlas
of New South Wales and Google maps.
Aboriginal language maps and Talking identify pp. 65–66.
• Refer to the notebook Australian locations.
• Locate each state and territory, capitals, major rivers and
mountains, and the location of significant features and
places of interest for each state e.g. Uluru, Great Barrier
Reef, Great Australian Bight, Gulf of Carpentaria. Record in
a retrieval chart.
• Identify the Aboriginal language group of the local area.
Australia – places of interest
• Develop student’s background knowledge to be able to plan
a simple itinerary for overseas visitors or family of significant
places to visit in different states and territories in Australia.
• Assessment: students plan an itinerary for overseas
visitors or family of significant places to visit in different
states and territories in Australia.
• Use the information presented in the retrieval chart to
develop an itinerary of places they would like to visit in each
state and territory.
• Develop some reasons for the inclusion of the selected
features and places they have included in their itinerary.
This will be represented in images and some text.
A detailed tour itinerary is not the intent of this work. Stage 2
students are expected to identify some places of significance
in each state and territory, including the capital city and some
major features. This work could be ongoing and occur
alongside the other HSIE lessons.
Use the names of significant places to search the Picture
Australia web site and Google Images.
Assessment strategy
The teacher:
• analyses students’ selection and presentation of places of
significance in each state and territory.
Assessment criteria
The student:
• selects significant places and features of different states
and territories to include in a travel itinerary
• participates in collecting information on different places and
features
• discusses reasons for including places and features in their
Teaching and learning
itinerary
Evidence of achievement
Teaching and learning
Evidence of achievement
Features of the environment
• Use the streetscape and maps of the local area to identify
changes to the local area. Local councils or historical
societies may have a photographic record of the main street
in the local area and how it has changed over the years. A
name place search on Picture Australia can also provide
images.
• Print out photographs and sketches to create a streetscape.
In groups, students organise images into a known
streetscape.
Discuss:
- features of the environment that remain constant
throughout the passage of time e.g. the big tree, a
specific landform feature
- why these features may remain yet others disappear
- changes in landuse, housing and industry over the period
of time and why these changes may have occurred e.g.
people’s needs and wants may have changed.
• Discuss the streetscape:
- are there many original houses?
- are new houses like the old ones?
- why and how are they different?
- how can we find out what styles of housing exist?
• Read Window - Jeannie Baker (or My place - Nadia
Wheatley). Identify visual elements that are used to show
change over time e.g. items on window sill, signage,
balance and use of colour between the natural and built
environment. Students use graphic organiser to identify and
describe environmental changes marked by the character’s
birthdays in Window - Jeannie Baker. For example: from
birth to 2 years old, from 2 to 4 years old etc. For each
change, the student needs to explain why the author has
chosen to alter these elements in her artwork.
ENS2.6 Describes people’s
interactions with
environments and identifies
responsible ways of
interacting with environments
• identifies how the
environment has changed
over time to meet needs
and wants.
Our environmental responsibilities: debate
Discuss the fact that people can have different points of view
about an issue. As a lead up to the task complete a structured
activity where students are guided through the thought
process involving different points of view about specific
environmental issues.
• Select an environmental issue relevant to the local
environment e.g. land clearing, new subdivision, irrigation
practices, putting in a new road, converting a park or
bushland to sports fields, building a new shopping centre,
putting in a road or railway tunnel, building a new dam.
• Students work in their groups to develop arguments for and
against the point of view of the person they have chosen to
represent e.g. builder/developer, environmental
conservationist, Aboriginal person, teenager, young mother,
father, shopkeeper, local business owner, elderly person.
• Organise a teacher directed informal debate, alternating
between affirmative and negative points of view. Encourage
all students to contribute fairly and concisely to the debate.
ENS2.6 Describes people’s
interactions with
environments and identifies
responsible ways of
interacting with environments
• participates effectively in
an informal class debate
on a particular local
environmental issue
• expresses an
understanding of the
different points of view on
an environmental issue.
Teaching and learning
Evidence of achievement
Assessment strategy
The teacher:
• analyses students preparation and contribution to the
debate.
Assessment criteria
The student:
• participates effectively in a teacher directed informal class
debate on a particular local environmental issue
• presents a point of view with examples
• expresses an understanding of the different points of view
on an environmental issue.
Issues and considerations
• Watch the Discovering Democracy video segment Joining
in featuring Ian Kiernan talking about Clean Up Australia Day.
Discuss and list the strategies used in Clean Up Australia Day
to improve the environment. Or use the version of Joining in
available on TaLe.
The web site Ollies World Action Town provides additional
ideas for acting locally to improve the environment.
• Investigate work the local council may be doing in the
following projects. Ask a council officer or a nominated
volunteer to visit the class to talk about a specific local
project associated with:
- keeping Australia beautiful
- Tidy towns
- coastcare
- Landcare
- bushcare
- rivercare
- Earth Day network.
• Encourage students to select one feature or place suitable
for student civic action e.g. a bare roadside verge, weed
infested creek, graffiti on the bus shelter or a park that
needs upgrading. Write a class letter of support, detailing
the environmental problems and some solutions.
ENS2.6 Describes people’s
interactions with
environments and identifies
responsible ways of
interacting with environments
• identifies some
organisations concerned
with the care of features,
places and environments
in the community
• evaluates the necessity of
caring for and conserving a
feature, site or place
• develops an action plan to
improve a selected
location.
Civic action
• Students identify a local issue from the debate, or a feature
of the environment that they want to improve (see: Issues
and considerations lesson)
• Decide what environmental civic action they can take.
Consider safety factors. This may include:
- writing to council or local media about unsafe or
unhealthy areas of the local environment
- writing to council to ask for paint and then painting over
graffiti in the bus shelter
- bringing in gardening equipment from home and
spending the afternoon weeding the creek
- writing to council for trees to plant on the roadside verge;
then planting, watering and protecting
- collecting litter in a local park or roadside area.
• Take before and after photos of the project and include a
ENS2.6 Describes people’s
interactions with
environments and identifies
responsible ways of
interacting with environments
• undertakes a course of
civic action to improve a
particular environment
• records events and
improvements made to the
particular environment.
Teaching and learning
report in the school newsletter.
Evidence of achievement