Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Some great sites for spatial literacy


Image above:  A WOW look at a walk in Utah.

Related sites to Humsteach blog
http://spatialworlds.blogspot.com.au
Spatialworlds website
21st Century Geography Google Group
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Geography Teachers' Association of South Australia website
Email contact
manning@chariot.net.au


Spatial literacy galore
Some great spatial literacy sites to explore in the classroom.

A GIS atlas of the US showing diversity, population change, ageing and housing.

 Map projections are one of the fundamental concepts of geography and cartography. Selecting the right map projection is one of the important first considerations for accurate GIS analysis.  The problem with projections (and the reason why there are so many types) is that it is very difficult to represent the curved 3D surface of the Earth on a flat 2D surface of a map; some distortion is bound to occur.

A fantastic tool for understanding dramatic weather news events around the globe, the history of human civilization or how our activities may be changing the future climate.

An interactive map showing hundreds of different criteria to create thematic maps

A  multinational team of researchers led by psychologist and American expat Jason Rentfrow of the University of Cambridge in the U.K. has sought to draw the regional lines more clearly, literally mapping the American mood, with state-by-state ratings of personality and temperament.

An interactive simulation map of births and deaths around the world.

This visualisation shows a world unevenly aglow with television attention.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Connected curriculum


Related sites to the Humsteach blog
Spatialworlds blog
The history room
Spatialworlds website
21st Century Geography Google Group
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Geography Teachers' Association of South Australia website

Email contact
manning@chariot.net.au

YouTube video of the trial at Nuriootpa Primary School.

Is connected curriculum the way to go for geography in the primary school

Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ8Q9jTRjaM&feature=youtu.be and listen to Sue Toone, Principal of Nuriootpa Primary School talk about the connected curriculum Geography trial conucted at her school in October 2011.

The trial focussed on the integration of the draft Australian Curriculum: Geography into the schools connected curriculum. A thematic curriculum focussed in 2011 on the theme of Past, Present and Future, with geography being integrated into the learning modules from Foundation to Year 7.

Thanks to the generosity of the Nuriootpa Primary School students and teachers in giving permission for their teaching materials and reflections to be part of this blog. In particular, thanks to Sue Toone, the Principal for the trial at Nuriootpa Primary School.

Making it real and relevant


Related sites to Humsteach blog
http://spatialworlds.blogspot.com.au
Spatialworlds website
21st Century Geography Google Group
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Geography Teachers' Association of South Australia website
Email contact
manning@chariot.net.au


Authentic learning whilst exploring values


Teaching humanities is not value neutral. Everything we teach can be put into a values context. As a humanities teacher it is inevitable and indeed desirable to work in the area of values clarification and contestability. Whether called values education or not, it is beholden upon humanities teachers, if they want their learning area to be real and relevant (sometimes called authentic learning), to draw out controversial and contentious issues when teaching topics/units.

As Robert Butler says in his article “….it is getting harder and harder in conversation to raise one or other of the most basic subjects in geography – agriculture, glaciation, rivers and population – without a flicker of panic crossing the other person’s face. You are no longer talking about a neutral subject.”

The place of values in education was highlighted by the work of the Commonwealth Values Education between 2002-2008. This program was on about more than values clarification, it was actually playing in the area of enunciating Australian values for Australian schools. The values described for Australian schools in this program were:


Nine Values for Australian Schooling

1. Care and Compassion
Care for self and others
2. Doing Your Best
Seek to accomplish something worthy and admirable, try hard, pursue excellence
3. Fair Go
Pursue and protect the common good where all people are treated fairly for a just society
4. Freedom
Enjoy all the rights and privileges of Australian citizenship free from unnecessary
interference or control, and stand up for the rights of others
5. Honesty and Trustworthiness
Be honest, sincere and seek the truth
6. Integrity
Act in accordance with principles of moral and ethical conduct, ensure consistency
between words and deeds
7. Respect
Treat others with consideration and regard, respect another person’s point of view
8. Responsibility
Be accountable for one’s own actions, resolve differences in constructive, non-violent and
peaceful ways, contribute to society and to civic life, take care of the environment
9. Understanding, Tolerance and Inclusion
Be aware of others and their cultures, accept diversity within a democratic society,
being included and including others.

For all the rights and wrongs of this program, yes it was controversial; some excellent work was conducted across Australia in developing the area of values education across schools and in classrooms. Two very significant outcomes of the program were:

an excellent range of values education resources on-line for classroom use

• that the idea of values in education was given exposure and has been embodied in the General Capabilities and Cross Curriculum Priorities of the Australian Curriculum
- integrated across to different extent across the learning areas. As expected values are strongly embedded in the history and geography (and later Civics and Citizenship) curriculums.

Let’s look at both of these separately:

1. Values Education resources

Resources on student well-being, learning area focussed lesson plans and intercultural understanding are particularly useful for the general capabilities.

* http://www.curriculum.edu.au/values/

* http://www.curriculum.edu.au/values/val_about_resources,8768.html

* http://www.curriculum.edu.au/values/about_values_for_australian_schooling_resources,33493.html

* http://www.valueseducation.edu.au/values/val_values_ed_cpl_resources_supporting_student,27447.html (AtvKRqfQ)

*http://www.curriculum.edu.au/values/val_lesson_plans_and_activities,15648.html

To help with mapping the values education resources to the Australian Curriculum the attached document has been developed to ensure that a transition does occur between the previous Values Education program and the Australian Curriculum.


The Australian Curriculum Shape Paper has the following values related ‘Educational goals for young Australians”.


Students:
• are able to make sense of their world and think about how things have become the way they are
• have a sense of self-worth, self-awareness and personal identity that enables them to manage their emotional, mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing
• have a sense of optimism about their lives and the future — are enterprising, show initiative and use their creative abilities
• develop personal values and attributes such as honesty, resilience, empathy and respect for others
• have the knowledge, skills, understanding and values to establish and maintain healthy, satisfying lives
• relate well to others and form and maintain healthy relationships
• are well prepared for their potential life roles as family, community and workforce members
• embrace opportunities, make rational and informed decisions about their own lives and accept responsibility for their own actions.
• act with moral and ethical integrity
• appreciate Australia’s social, cultural, linguistic and religious diversity, and have an understanding of Australia’s system of government, history and culture
• understand and acknowledge the value of Indigenous cultures and possess the knowledge, skills and understanding to contribute to, and benefit from, reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
• are committed to national values of democracy, equity and justice, and participate in Australia’s civic life
• are able to relate to and communicate across cultures, especially the cultures and countries of Asia

In the Australian Curriculum there are 7 General Capabilities and 3 Cross Curriculum Priorities, all value laden and relevant to the 2002-2008 Values Education program:

The general capabilities define knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that can be developed and applied across the curriculum to help students to become successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens. The general capabilities to be included in the Australian Curriculum are:
• Literacy
• Numeracy
• Information and communication technology (ICT) competence
• Critical and creative thinking
• Ethical behaviour
• Intercultural understanding
• Personal and social competence


Note that the last four a reflective of the goals of the previous Values Education program.

The Cross Curriculum Priorities of the Australian Curriculum are both relevant to the lives of students and address the contemporary issues they face. The curriculum gives special attention to three priorities:
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures will allow all young Australians the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, their significance for Australia and the impact these have had, and continue to have, on our world.
• Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia will allow all young Australians to develop a better understanding of the countries and cultures of the Asia region. Students will develop an appreciation of the economic, political and cultural interconnections that Australia has with the region.
• Sustainability will allow all young Australians to develop an appreciation of the need for more sustainable patterns of living, and to build the capacities for thinking and acting that are necessary to create a more sustainable future.


Reading of the Australian curriculum and conducting the filter exercise for the General Capabilities and Cross Curriculum Priorities will clearly show that these value orientated components of the curriculum are well and truly integrated across the learning areas. The Values Education resources are a great resource to use in the Australian Curriculum and should be checked out if wanting to be real and relevant when developing a teaching program.

Meaningful learning with technology








                            
                                                               

Related sites to the Spatialworlds project
Spatialworlds blog
Spatialworlds website
21st Century Geography Google Group
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Geography Teachers' Association of South Australia website
Email contact
manning@chariot.net.au



Making technology meaningful in the geography classroom

Over the years I have often mentioned in geography workshops that if we use technology it needs to be meaningful for learning - not just for technology sake. In our workshop today we explored the area of ICT in the classroom in terms of enhancing learning. Considerable research has been conducted in recent years about the value of GIS in the classroom in terms of improving learning. All of us who use GIS with our students are convinced that it does, but it seems that the research jury is still deliberating. The naysayers in terms of the mandatory use of GIS in the classroom jump on this lack of research validation\verification of the value of GIS for learning. I think it is really more a reflection of the stage we are at in the acquisition of quantative data on the matter and those willing and able to research the impact of GIS on learning.

What did attract my attention when preparing the workshops with the students, was the TPACK model.

The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) conceptual framework espoused by Mishra and Koehler (2006), underpins much of the national directions for describing use of ICT in learning.

The TPACK framework “attempts to capture some of the essential qualities of teacher knowledge required for technology integration in teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted, and situated nature of this knowledge”. Specifically it highlights the complex relationships between three forms of knowledge: Pedagogical knowledge (PK), content knowledge (TK); and technological knowledge (TK).

When TPACK is applied to the use of spatial technologies in the classroom such as GIS it all makes sense. The TPACK model highlights that an idea for using ICT in classrooms must have a sound curriculum fit and meet the pedagogical needs for implementing the idea. Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK)is about the special pedagogical considerations for using technology within your teaching strategies or perhaps for considering new pedagogical approaches afforded by the qualities of the software – what new things can you do, pedagogically?
TPACK is a way of describing how technology pedagogy and content fit together to enable powerful learning. Maybe our “gut feeling” about how good and meaningful for learning GIS is in the classroom can be seen a little clearer though the TPACK framework.

Whilst not wanting to get bogged down in models and theory, maybe the TPACK offers a structure for those wishing to use GIS to develop a learning model to provide the much needed curriculum and pedagogical validation for the use of GIS in the classroom. In fact, way back in 2002 I developed a Spatial Learning Model for the use of GIS in the classroom (see above and attached Powerpoint) which, whilst not using the TPACK terms, was trying to develop a framework to describe the use of GIS in the classroom. Here is a brief summary of the model.

GIS Skill Development
Objective: Students learn the manipulation and potential of the GIS software.
Activity: Demonstration of GIS skills and student self-progression through GIS Skill Development activities. Development of hypothesis methodology introduced.
Outcomes: Students engage with the processes of GIS and develop skills that can be used for a wide variety of applications.

Spatial context
Objective: Students introduced to Geographical concepts such as global referencing, scale, projections, symbols, directions and GIS application concepts such as, geo-referencing, proximity, adjacency, buffering, over-layering etc.
Activity: Experiences and learning involving written material, Internet, workplace visits, videos, quest speakers/demonstrators, examples of GIS work
Outcomes: Students have a spatial context and concepts within which to use GIS skills.

Application
Objective: To provide the opportunity for students to apply their GIS skills in a meaningful way via project development and application.
Activity: Student generated applications of skills and concepts. Students to develop a spatial enquiry in response to a problem or issue and to apply GIS skills to explore and develop possible ways forward.
Outcomes: Students have an understanding of the “real-life” application of GIS to solve/explore spatial questions.

Spatial Understanding
Objective: To reflect on process for the purpose of developing an understanding of spatial trends/processes that enhanced or constrained the spatial decision making of the completed project.
Activity: Students to undertake a report on the developed GIS application that involved analysis of spatial patterns and processes. Report to involve a degree of future projection involving recommendations/social action as outcomes. This stage could include elements of testing to ascertain the levels of understanding of spatial concepts.
Outcomes: Students to have an awareness of spatial concepts such as distribution, patterning, trending, agglomeration, proximity and interdependency as a result of their project analysis.


Combining the TPACK and GIS learning model could provide the much needed framework when we get to the implementation of spatial technology in the Australian Curriculum.

Spatial technology in the primary classroom




Related sites to Humsteach blog
http://spatialworlds.blogspot.com.au
Spatialworlds website
21st Century Geography Google Group
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Geography Teachers' Association of South Australia website
Email contact
manning@chariot.net.au


YouTube video of the trial

Go to http://youtu.be/o3VxAQ22Cog and listen to Adrian Camac and other Victor Harbor Primary School teachers talk about the Years 2, 5 and 7 Geography trial focussing on inquiry and the use of spatial technology across the school.

It can be done in a primary school!

In the last posting the meaningful use of spatial technology in the classroom was explored. This posting focusses on the work of Victor Harbor Primary School teachers and students in 2011 who participated in a trial of the draft Australian Curriculum: Geography. The YouTube video is the documentation of this trial.

Victor Harbor Primary School Australian Curriculum: Geography tial: A trial using Years 2, 5and 7 draft AC: Geography curriculum, with a focus on inquiry and the use of spatial technology across the school.

The trial focussed on the following areas relevant to the development of the ACARA Australian Curriculum: Geography curriculum – both areas frequently explored by the Spatialworlds blog:

* The meaningful integration of spatial technology skills for all year levels to enhance spatial thinking.
* The nature and uniqueness of inquiry learning in geography.

The trial used the draft Australian Curriculum: Geography curriculum for Years 2, 5 and 7

The Year 2 curriculum builds on student learning about places in earlier years by exploring people's connections with other places. Students then expand their geographical knowledge by finding out about these other places and using an increasing variety of information sources. Their spatial understanding is extended from reviewing the use of spaces to examining how distance influences the places they go to. The inquiry process continues to be guided and students are introduced to geographical tools and skills that help them answer their questions.

The Year 5 curriculum for geography has a focus on building students' ability to explain their world in a geographic way. It requires increased critical and analytical thinking. Students consider contemporary places and the functions they serve. This builds on their spatial knowledge of Australia in Year 4, by analysing the spatial distribution of human populations and activities, such as retailing and tourism at national and regional levels. The Inquiry and Skills strand builds on students' analytical, decision-making and evaluation skills. They draw conclusions on issues and consider different viewpoints when thinking about what could or should happen in the future. Students reflect on the effectiveness of their inquiry, how their thinking is different to that of others and how it has changed as a result of their learning.

Year 7 Unit: Why People Live where they do?

This unit focuses on investigating the reasons why people decide to live where they do, at a variety of scales and in the context of the environmental, economic, social and other factors that might influence decision making. The ability to choose where to live is not always available to people and it should be recognised that the unequal distributions and concentrations of populations has consequences. There is a specified focus on Australia, Asia and South America at particular points in the unit.


Thanks to the generosity of the Victory Harbor Primary School students and teachers in giving permission for their teaching materials and reflections to be part of this blog. In particular thanks to Adrian Camac, the lead teacher for the trial at Victor Harbor Primary School.

Being creative


Related sites to Humsteach blog
http://spatialworlds.blogspot.com.au
Spatialworlds website
21st Century Geography Google Group
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Geography Teachers' Association of South Australia website
Email contact
manning@chariot.net.au


Looking for values in some statements from the readings

Even from Gilbert and Hoepper on values and authentic experiential learning have values embedded which can be challenged and explored. Have a go at defining the values to contest in the following statements.

1. Empathy cannot be measured or assessed, so why do we teach it?
2. It Is not the place of schools to teach values.
3. Teaching values is akin to social engineering.
4. Whatever values are identified as core values are always contestable in terms of culture and socio-economic group.
5. Is it healthy to create open-minds?
6. Debating is a polarising and zero-sum activity which does not prepare students for the real world.
7. Students only really learn thoroughly when they do, as opposed to being told.
8. Teachers should avoid controversial issues in the F-3 years of schooling.
9. It is impossible for a teacher to be unbiased.
10. Teachers cannot avoid influencing students with their views.
11. Teachers should never give their view on a controversial issue.
12. Some form of social action should always be part of values exploration.
13. Service learning should always be part of humanities classes.
14. Authentic learning is the most powerful type of learning.
15. Effective group work relies on structure and explicit instruction by the teacher.
16. Role plays and simulations can be a destructive learning experience if not well thought through.
17. Learning is incomplete without reflection time integrated into the program.

All points of view worth discussing when exploring real and relevant learning.

Creative or not?



Words are not required

Click here to see some images related to birth, settlement, people, survival and ... beautiful, awe-inspiring, frightening, puzzling and just geography.

42 stunning photographs on things related to (over) population. What can one say when a picture is worth a 1000 words? It is worth even more if the geographical questions of what? where? how? why? and so what? are asked over and over when looking at the photographs. I set my students the task to select the three photographs they found the most interesting, personally and geographically. They all came up with different choices, chosen for different reasons and with very different ways of looking at the same images.

My three were:



Delhi India. Wall to wall people!


People gather to get water from a huge well in the village of Natwarghad in the western Indian state of Gujarat


A terrace of codonopsis pilosula, a traditional Chinese medicine also known as dang shen, in Min county, Gansu province in China.


Related links
Geogaction
Spatialworlds website
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
'Towards a National Geography Curriculum' project website
Humsteach blog

GeogSplace blog

Follow Spatialworlds on Twitter


Email contact

manning@chariot.net.au

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Playing with questions

Related sites to Humsteach blog
Spatialworlds
Australian Curriculum Portal
Geogaction
DECD Learning Resources for Australian Curriculum
DECD Achievement Standards Charts 
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website

Geography Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of Australia

Scoop.it 


Course details on FLO



Quality Inquiry Questions:  a difficult genre


In a previous Humsteach postings I explored the Nature of inquiry ('what direction with inquiry').  In this Humsteach posting I will explore the need for and nature of inquiry questions in the curriculum documents of the Australian Curriculum: Geography.

 “The purpose of an inquiry question is more important than its form. They are about meaning-making and not knowledge acquisition.”  Wiggins and McTighe

 Part 1

 Inquiry learning is:

• research focussed
• real/authentic
• constructivist
• process based
• scaffolded
• about promoting, enhancing and guiding student learning
• the art of questioning – good questions
• problem based learning

and …

• does not hand over responsibility for learning to the students
• provides searching questions and guidance
• promotes engagement
• involves the development of scenarios for stimulus
• involves inquiry based decision making

What do all these mean?

It all sounds great but are there any downsides to inquiry based learning



 Part 2: In the Australian Currciulum

 
A contentious aspect of the development of the Australian Curriculum: Geography has been the need and desirability of developing inquiry questions throughout the F-10 curriculum. Over the past two years, they have been in, then out, then in and then … etc.  The reason for this vacillation lies firstly in the conflicting views over the inquiry questions. One argument against them is that they will unnecessarily guide the approach (encourage a teacher directed approach) to the curriculum and take away the opportunity for students to develop their own inquiry questions. On the other hand, some have thought that the inquiry type questions are necessary because they will provide a source of inspiration for teachers to develop high quality geographical inquiry which may be beyond students in the first instance and be required to guide the ‘non-geographer’ geography teacher. The other reason for the in and out scenario for the inquiry questions is that it is extremely hard to develop high quality questions which focus on conceptual understandings rather than just finding answers to content.

This impasse set me on a quest to find out what is being said about developing high quality inquiry questions. This in turn led me directly to the learning design and backward planning gurus of Wiggins and McTighue. 

The following thoughts have been inspired by their work, my own experience in schools and as a curriculum writer in developing ‘questions beyond the worksheet’. It is certainly worth having a good read of their work on learning design and consider the need to start with the end in mind. In the case of the Australian Curriculum: Geography, that end in my view should be the Achievement Standards 

If I was to develop the Inquiry questions for the year levels of the curriculum the question should be crafted to:
·   inquire into the big ideas and understandings of the year level


·    provoke discussion as an open question (never to be a closed question inviting a yes/no response)


·    limit reference to specific content. To do so one needs to blur their eyes to the content. And focus on the learning/assessment requirements (achievement standards in the Australian Curriculum).


·   involve a degree of contestability – making balanced judgements based on content studied


·    make connections to prior learning and possible future connections in the curriculum narrative.


·    stimulate and focus thinking,

·    not require prescriptive answers.

·    provide opportunities to open up inquiry with multiple pathways of thought

·    not be a checklist of the facts to learn.

·    enable the students to extend the question and in turn own the inquiry.

·    focus on meaning-making and understanding and not the recall of facts


·    the question should raise further questions – not just an answer.

·    be rhetorical to promote thinking.

·    3-4 fundamental understanding questions per unit.

·    accessible in terms of language to students and the ‘non-geographer’ teacher.

·   recognisable in the Content Descriptions and Achievement Standards of the curriculum.

·   identify the relevant concepts for the unit in the questions.

·   be conceptual and abstract requiring the teacher to model and develop contexts to demonstrate – not teach them through content questions.

In essence the questions developed must be crafted so that the teacher can understand them – hence these questions are primarily focussed on the teacher to design their program.

To help with developing ‘more than worksheets’ questions I have gathered this list of lead-in phrases – they may serve to steer us away from the ‘teacherly’questions as Wiggins and McTighe call them.

To what extent…?
What makes …?
How can ...?
When is it …?
Why should …?
Why would …?
How does …?
How do you know …?
How is …?
What do …?
When should …?
When is …?
How would …?
What should …?
How much does …?
Is there a …?
How well …?
In what ways might …?
What would happen if …?
Under what conditions …?
On balance …?
Why …?
Why would one say that …?
Why do you think that …?
How would you respond …?
Who is …?
Evaluate …?
Analyse…?
How accurate is the …?
How well can …?
When do you …?

  
Having said all that, it is a huge challenge to develop high quality inquiry questions based on these premises. When writing the questions one often falls back into old habits of focussing on the content of the curriculum, rather than the understandings based on the concepts. I defy anyone to create excellent question without trialing them with teachers and students as they become familiar with the curriculum content.

Inquiring about inquiry in AC: Geography and History




Related sites to Humsteach blog
Spatialworlds
Australian Curriculum Portal
Geogaction
DECD Learning Resources for Australian Curriculum
DECD Achievement Standards Charts 
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website

Geography Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of Australia

Scoop.it 


Course details on FLO


The same but different

Inquiry is the preferred methodology in the Australian Curriculum: History and Geography. 

  In the lecture Adrian said that Inquiry learning is:

• research focussed
• real/authentic
• constructivist
• process based
• scaffolded
• about promoting, enhancing and guiding student learning
• the art of questioning – good questions
• problem based learning

and …

• does not hand over responsibility for learning to the students
• provides searching questions and guidance
• promotes engagement
• involves the development of scenarios for stimulus
• involves inquiry based decision making

What do all these mean?

It all sounds great but are there any downsides to inquiry based learning



Here are the details of how inquiry is addressed in these curriculum documents. Note, that inquiry in geography is different to that described in history. The same but different to keep the disciplines distinctive when using inquiry!

Inquiry in geography: an attempt to articulate and show geographical distinctiveness

“... process of inquiry by which students learn new geographical knowledge and deepen their understanding. This is developed through investigations that involve observations or questions (for example, about environmental, social, cultural and economic features) the collection and interpretation of information to develop conclusions; and reflection on the overall process. Inquiries may be undertaken by individual students, or collaboratively, and may vary in scale, geographic context, and the time taken for the investigation.”

The process of geographical inquiry ... is described in the curriculum under five headings, which represent the stages of a complete investigation. Over each two-year band, students should learn the methods and skills specified. Every investigation need not follow every step; the inquiry process may follow loops, in which students go back to an earlier stage to ask more questions or to undertake more analysis. Furthermore, not all inquiry requires the collection and processing of information, as the starting point could be a concept, or an ethical or aesthetic issue, which can be explored verbally. Many inquiries should start from the observations, questions and curiosity of students.

Observing and questioning: Developing questions about something that has been observed, experienced or thought about.

Planning, collecting and evaluating: Deciding how to investigate a question or find an answer to a problem, and identifying possible answers to test; collecting information from a variety of primary sources and secondary sources, such as text-based resources, statistics, images, maps, aerial photographs, satellite images, samples and objects, fieldwork, sketches, interviews, and reports; and evaluating information for reliability and bias.

Processing, analysing, interpreting and concluding: Making sense of the information gathered through textual analysis and interpretation, by processing it into maps, tables, graphs and diagrams. Identifying order, diversity, trends, patterns, anomalies, generalisations and cause and effect relationships, using quantitative and qualitative methods appropriate to the type of inquiry; and interpreting the results of this analysis and developing conclusions.
Communicating: Communicating the results of investigations using combinations of communication methods (verbal, audio, graphical, visual, mapping and text-based), which are appropriate to the subject matter, purpose and audience.

Reflecting and responding: Reflecting on the findings of the investigation and relating these findings to existing knowledge; reflecting on the process of the inquiry, and on the strengths and weaknesses of the method of investigation chosen; deciding what action is needed in response to the results of the investigation, by applying the criteria of environmental sustainability, economic costs and benefits, and social justice; and reflecting on the actions.


In history inquiry is described as:


One of the aims of the course is to develop student:
• capacity to undertake historical inquiry, including skills in the analysis and use of sources, and in explanation and communication

Historical Skills strand

• The skill strand promotes skills used in the process of historical inquiry: chronology, terms and concepts; historical questions and research; the analysis and use of sources; perspectives and interpretations; explanation and communication.
Inquiry questions

• Each year level from Foundation to Year 10 includes key inquiry questions that provide a framework for developing students’ historical knowledge,and skills