Teaching Old Stuff with New Tricks

This year has been a year of new ideas. Firstly, this is the first year I have fully implemented the History subject within the new Australian Curriculum. Secondly, it is the first year that I have used iPads in my classroom as a tool for learning and assessment.

Looking back at the year which is rapidly coming to an end, I am excited about the success I have had in using iPads with students to engage in historical inquiry in ways that would not have been possible without digital technology.

Digital technology has enabled me to collect numerous photographs of our local area that students have been able to explore, sort, order and select. Using the iPads, students have been able to examine the images closely. The photographs have inspired questioning, imagination, inquiry and inferring. Photocopied images in black and white would have reduced the quality to the point that many of the photos would have been unrecognisable. Using the original images (if I could even get hold of them) would be impractical and could be potentially damaging.

At our planning meeting for Term 2, we had agreed that students would be required to create a sequence of images and describe how our local war memorial had changed over time. Teachers not using digital technology gave their students three small, poor quality photocopies of images preselected by the teachers and had the students glue these in place and write about the changes. The many students who struggled with writing gave little detail in their descriptions and could only show limited understanding of what this local site reveals about the past.

Students using an app called Sonic Pics on the iPads were able to self-select and sequence three to five images from a collection of about twenty images that they believed best revealed particular aspects of local history. They then spoke freely about the images they had selected, justifying their choices and describing in detail things that had changed in the local area and the significance of the war memorial for the community today.

The iPads enabled young learners to employ higher level thinking skills and to express their own opinions about what they believed was important in the story about the past.

This term, students have been exploring changes in technology (particularly toys) and how these changes have affected the ways people work, travel, communicate and play.

Students are now using Pic Collage (a free iPad app) to manipulate and annotate images before transferring them to Sonic Pics to add audio explanation about how toys and games have changed. Students are able to search for their own images so their choice of subject is much more personal and not restricted by the teacher’s choice.

Of course, the historical inquiry is not restricted to what is able to be done solely with the iPads. Students have examined artefacts from the museum and those brought in from homes, and they have also written to their grandparents and posed questions to them. The grandparents (and aunts, uncles, mothers and fathers who have also responded) have been an invaluable historical source for the students. All of this valuable information collected by the students is now able to be skilfully collated and presented by the students who have become experts in using technology to create and communicate their ideas.

As a teacher, this year’s journey into the past using technology of the present, has been a great learning experience. For the students, using technology has empowered them to participate in genuine inquiry and to share their ideas with others within the classroom and beyond. 

Toys Past and Present

Our History study this term will focus on how toys have changed over time.
This investigation will address the third point in Historical knowledge and understanding in the Australian Curriculum for Year 2:
The impact of changing technology on people’s lives (at home and in the ways they worked, travelled, communicated, and played in the past) (ACHHK046)
The children have written letters to their own grandparents, posing questions about the past, and tapping into their grandparents' wisdom as a source of historical knowledge.
We have also borrowed a collection of "artefacts" from the museum and of course, are using books and other written resources as further sources of historical knowledge.
One web-based resource which has been very useful in introducing some basic concepts is the Welsh produced web site: How toys have changed.
I have created a number of worksheets that I have used with differentiated groups to collect information from this website.
These worksheets are accessible from my google docs.
Worksheet 1 - Simplest sheet - scaffolded sentence writing.
Worksheet 2 - Collecting information about one toy from one period
Worksheet 3 - Collecting information (writing keywords) about a variety of toys from different times.
I hope these resources might be of use to you.

A History Unit for Anzac Day

The Year 2 History component of the Australian Curriculum requires that students know

the history of a significant person, building, site or part of the natural environment in the local community and what it reveals about the past

and that they understand

the importance today of an historical site of cultural or spiritual significance; for example, a community building, a landmark, a war memorial.

Next term, with Anzac Day occuring in the first few weeks, it seems timely to study our local war memorial as we develop some of the history skills that my students will need later in the term when we study our local Show.
I am posting my unit plan here in case it is of use to others. I am so far enjoying implementing the new Australian Curriculum, but it would be great to see what other people are doing so I can know if I am interpreting it as the writers intended. I figure if I post my plans, perhaps others might either do the same, or at least give me some feedback about what they are doing with the new History curriculum.

I am really keen to provide engaging and motivating learning experiences for my students and to avoid too many worksheets. I have used the 5Es Inquiry Process as a structure for the planning - Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate. There are three assessment items for this unit.

There are two files to download because I made it a PDF and one of the pages is landscape so it is a separate file.
Anzac History Plan File 1
Anzac History Plan File 2