Discovery Map – Creating Country Science

Students will engage with the Creation Stories of 3 different Aboriginal Language groups throughout Australia. Through their engagement with these Creation Stories, students will develop an understanding of the deep spiritual and cultural knowledge of the Gija, Adnyamathanha and Jaara peoples and how their physical landscape was created. Students will then apply Western scientific knowledge, terms and language to their learning to further understand how these particular Language groups’ Country was formed. Students will represent their learning using a variety of mediums and First Nations knowledge frameworks within inquiry-based models of learning. Students will uncover how ancient knowledge should be valued in modern times and how these significant sites can be co-managed to uphold cultural heritage, values and contemporary custodial responsibilities.

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Cross Curriculum Priorities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures

Country/Place

A_TSICP1 First Nations communities of Australia maintain a deep connection to, and responsibility for, Country/Place and have holistic values and belief systems that are connected to the land, sea, sky and waterways.

Culture

A_TSIC2 First Nations Australians’ ways of life reflect unique ways of being, knowing, thinking and doing.

People

A_TSIP2 First Nations Australians have sophisticated political, economic and social organisation systems, which include family and kinship structures, laws, traditions, customs, land tenure systems, and protocols for strong governance and authority.

A_TSIP3 The significant and ongoing contributions of First Nations Australians and their histories and cultures are acknowledged locally, nationally and globally.

Curriculum Links

Science

AC9S8U04 describe the key processes of the rock cycle, including the timescales over which they occur, and examine how the properties of sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks reflect their formation and influence their use

AC9HG8K01 geomorphological processes that produce different landscapes and significant landforms

AC9S8H02 investigate how cultural perspectives and world views influence the development of scientific knowledge

AC9HG8K05 the causes and impacts of a geomorphological hazard on people, places and environments, and the effects of responses

AC9S8I08 write and create texts to communicate ideas, findings and arguments for specific purposes and audiences, including selection of appropriate language and text features, using digital tools as appropriate

English

AC9E8LA01 recognise how language shapes relationships and roles

Humanities and Social Sciences

AC9HG8K02 the location and distribution of Australia’s distinctive landscapes and significant landforms

AC9HG8K03 the spiritual, aesthetic and cultural value of landscapes and landforms for people, including Country/Place of First Nations Australians

AC9E8LE01 explain the ways that ideas and points of view may represent the values of individuals and groups in literary texts, drawn from historical, social and cultural contexts, by First Nations Australian, and wide-ranging Australian and world authors

AC9E8LY08 apply learnt knowledge to spell accurately and to learn new words