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National Library of Australia resource on Angkor and the Khmer Empire

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National Library of Australia resource on Angkor and the Khmer Empire

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This resource provides a large variety of information paired with primary and secondary sources about Angkor and the Khmer Empire.

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The city of Angkor was both the empire's political capital and the centre of spiritual and cultural power. The city was located an equal distance from the great lake of Tonlé Sap and the mountains, and had easy access to flat fertile land which supported the growing population with food.

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This resource explores how to produce a time travel vacation video for a historical period. This will be a great resource for my mini-unit.

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This is a resource by the NSW Department of Education about Angkor and the Khmer Empire. It thoroughly lays out a series of Stage 4 learning sequences that will be a good reference for my assessment task.

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This is a depth study sourced from the NSW Government's Education and Communities on Angkor and the Khmer Empire.
It breaks the unit down into the lessons down into key inquiry questions, links to the syllabus, learning outcomes and activities.
It is a fantastic resource for A. ideas for activities I can include in my own mini-unit and B. how to effectively setup the layout of my mini-unit.

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I sourced this resource from the Week 9 learning materials in Moodle.
It explores the Queensland Governments strategic plan to ensure all children in the state receive a successful education in a safe and respectful environment.

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This video was produced by Foreign Correspondent for ABC Education and would be great video for the start of my mini-unit to peak students interest in the topic.
It provides an array of background information on the empire and only goes for 5:48 minutes.

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ERIC CAMPBELL, REPORTER:

The Greater Angkor Project has been trying to solve two of archaeology's greatest mysteries - what kind of kingdom built temples of the majesty of Angkor Wat and why did it simply disappear? It's taken much of the past ten years to collect the data, matching high-tech imaging from space with aerial surveys.

PILOT:

I'm just going to do a turn here and come over that grove of trees in the north-east corner and, uh... go down low... (Speaks indistinctly)

ERIC CAMPBELL:

What he and his colleagues have found is startling. This rural province was once the world's greatest civilisation, a city of perhaps a million people covering a thousand square kilometres. Small mounds and gullies trace a vast network of temples, moats and villages, all connected by a sophisticated system of canals and reservoirs. Almost every flight on the ultralight reveals a new clue of what once lay below. Thanks to their work, Angkor is now known to have been the largest city in the pre-industrial world, but as Europe entered its Renaissance, Angkor vanished. An urban complex the size of Los Angeles was swallowed up by the jungle.

DAMIEN EVANS:

Basically what we're trying to do is to shed some light on the reasons why Angkor declined in around about the 15th or 16th century. We think that it had something to do with the water management system here, which created environmental problems, which they weren't able to deal with. My part of the project is basically a process of going up in the ultralight and surveying the ground from the air, going back to the office using remote sensing data like aerial photographs and satellite imagery to map all of the features that I see on the ground, things like canals, and then to head out on the ground and verify them.

ERIC CAMPBELL:

It's a painstaking job surveying remote sites that have been covered with forest, cleared for small farms or even laid with mines, but each day is a revelation.

DAMIEN EVANS:

What we're standing on right now would have been a temple site, around about a thousand years ago probably in this area and so this sort of elevated area here is actually the central temple mound and this depressed area here which is a little bit wetter than the surrounding landscape, you can see it actually goes around in a ring. That's actually a classic temple configuration, a moat and mound configuration, which tells us that there would have been a temple here during the Angkor period a thousand years ago.

ERIC CAMPBELL:

And you'd have no idea just walking in here what it was, would you?

DAMIEN EVANS:

No, unless you really knew how to read the landscape. This kind of thing is particularly hard to discover from the ground. Looking at this from the air, particularly on the radar imagery, this sticks out like a beacon.

ERIC CAMPBELL:

And just a little probing brings a tangible link to the people who lived here. So what are we looking for?

DAMIEN EVANS:

Little fragments of anything, ceramics or brick or sandstone. Right there actually, that there is a fragment of a brick, a bit of fired clay that would have been used in a temple wall.

ERIC CAMPBELL:

Do you ever have eureka moments where you think, 'Wow I've really discovered something important'?

DAMIEN EVANS:

Well, basically every time you come across one of these that hasn't been documented before is a eureka moment in some ways, so there's a lot still to be found and it's quite amazing to find a temple site even though, you know, it's just a termite mound in this case.

ERIC CAMPBELL:

For six centuries, Angkor was both the military and technological super power of its day. The kings not only commanded vast armies and built giant monuments to their gods, they also developed the most complex irrigation system the world had ever seen, stripping the landscape and diverting rivers for a vast hydraulic city.

DAMIEN EVANS:

What we're on here now is basically the main bank of a canal which stretches 20km from the centre of Angkor to the Kulen Hills in the north and was probably at one stage the main conduit for water, from the water shed in those hills to the centre of Angkor would have filled the moats, the huge reservoirs in the middle of Angkor, all of that water would have come down through here. They would have used a lot of this vegetation for firewood and basically stripped the landscape bare.

ERIC CAMPBELL:

In the end, it couldn't be sustained. The canals and reservoirs silted and collapsed along with the communities. Nature, as always, had the last word.

DAMIEN EVANS:

One of the recurring themes that we see in the history of Angkor is a sort of blind faith in technology and development so what we see is building huge reservoirs and irrigation systems in one particular area and after that system has failed, instead of rethinking the way in which they did things, basically what they did is they just moved to another area and rebuilt it on a grander scale.

ERIC CAMPBELL:

It seems the same mistakes are being repeated in Cambodia today.

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Foreign Correspondent: Mysteries of Angkor - ABC Education

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ERIC CAMPBELL, REPORTER: The Greater Angkor Project has been trying to solve two of archaeology's greatest mysteries - what kind of kingdom built temples of the majesty of Angkor Wat and why did it simply disappear? It's taken much of the past ten years to collect the data, matching high-tech imaging from space with aerial surveys.

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This resource provides a series of virtual videos that allows the viewer to visually explore what the city of Angkor would have been like at the height of the Khmer empire around 1300 C.E.

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This resource was produced by the Queensland Government to help teachers educate their students in safe online practices.

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The history of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy - Video

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The history of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy - Video

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This video explores the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972.
This would be a good resource to include in my mini-unit.

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YEARS: 5-6, 9-10

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established on the lawns of the Old Parliament House in 1972 only to be forcibly removed a few months later.

Why do you think the reporter compares the protest in Canberra to events in Louisiana and Mississippi in USA? What are the protesters chanting?

See if you can find out what happened to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy over the years.
Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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topic_aboriginal and torres strait islander history and culture

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aboriginal and torres strait islander history and culture

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The history of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy - ABC Education

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YEARS: 5-6, 9-10 Why do you think the reporter compares the protest in Canberra to events in Louisiana and Mississippi in USA? What are the protesters chanting? See if you can find out what happened to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy over the years.

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This is a link to the National Museum of Australia that provides a range of curriculum linked teaching resources.
This would be helpful for my mini-unit because of the broad range of information and resources it provides.

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Produced with the generous support of the Gandel Foundation, Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom is a dedicated Australian Curriculum Humanities and Social Sciences resource. It aims to enliven the teaching and learning of History, Geography and Civics and Citizenship through a wide range of student-centred resources.

Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom follows the success of the Museum's Defining Moments in Australian History website and outreach project.

Proudly supported by:

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Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom

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Produced with the generous support of the Gandel Foundation, Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom is a dedicated Australian Curriculum Humanities and Social Sciences resource. It aims to enliven the teaching and learning of History, Geography and Civics and Citizenship through a wide range of student-centred resources.

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I scooped this wonderful link form Elyssia Connolly's Padlet. It provides a range of lesson plans and activities for both history and geography relating to Indigenous culture and reconciliation.

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2023 Lesson Plans and Activities - NSW Schools Reconciliation Challenge

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Many of these resources and activities have been developed in consultation with NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) to ensure that the program meets NSW curriculum outcomes for Stages 3, 4 & 5.

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I scooped this video from Daniel Lyne's Padlet because I found it to be a very effective resource in explaining the implementation of SAMR in the classroom.
It explores

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This resource provides a range of information for teachers to build confidence and capabilities in using technology in the classroom.

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To build confidence and capacity in digital learning you should consider:

developing skills in using digital technologies

supporting teachers to effectively embed the use of digital technologies in their learning and teaching practice

providing support for cultural change.

Arc is the department's digital learning platform, which provides professional learning opportunities for teachers in the use of digital technologies to support learning and teaching. Teachers can link to professional learning providers and organisations including Google, Microsoft, Apple and Digital Learning Services.

The department provides a newsletter that includes professional development, teaching resources, research, and news from schools.

For inf ormation or to subscribe to the newsl etter

The Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership (academy) delivers evidence-based professional learning to Victorian teachers and school leaders. The academy empowers and equips teachers and school leaders to have a lasting, positive impact on students, schools and the system.

The ICT capabilities resource supports teachers to integrate ICT into their classroom. It includes:

an ICT capabilities framework

an online survey

a continuum with practical, learning and teaching resources, including teacher and student work samples, advice for getting started and professional learning resources.

More information

New pedagogies for deep learning

New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL) is a global partnership that implements deep learning goals enabled by new pedagogies and accelerated by technology. 40 Victorian schools participated in the program which finished in 2018.

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To build confidence and capacity in digital learning you should consider: developing skills in using digital technologies supporting teachers to effectively embed the use of digital technologies in their learning and teaching practice providing support for cultural change.

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This is an informative resource that I scooped from Daniel Pittendreigh's Padlet.
After exploring this resource further I very much believe it is important to incorporate the ideas and techniques it presents into my teaching practice to ensure my students feel safe, connected and included in the school environment.

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Welcome to the Student Wellbeing Hub homepage.

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This is a link to the latest version (v9) of the Australian Curriculum.

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The Australian Curriculum, Version 9.0 sets the expectations for what all young Australians should be taught, regardless of their background or where they live.

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This resource provides information on the Teaching Standards that help Australian teachers develop their teaching practice across 4 career stages.

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Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers help you understand and develop your teaching practice and expertise across 4 career stages. By demonstrating the Standards you can have maximum impact on all learners.

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australian professional standards for teachers

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Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

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This resource provides a range of free lesson plans that are directly linked to the Australian Curriculum.
Further exploration would be very beneficial.

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Cool.org (Cool Australia) supports primary and secondary teachers with high-quality, downloadable education resources like lesson plans, worksheets, activities and professional learning courses.

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This is a series of lessons to teach students about being environmentally responsible using a project-based learning approach.
Would be a good reference for Mini-unit.

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About the Movement Take 3 believes in simple actions to address complex problems. Plastic is a material designed to last forever that we often use only once. Poorly managed plastic leaks into the sea. The ocean is downhill from everywhere. Wherever we are, we are connected to the sea. The ocean provides us with the oxygen we breathe and the cli...

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Take 3 For The Sea - Project-based Learning - Years 7 to 10 - Cool Australia

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About the Movement Take 3 believes in simple actions to address complex problems. Plastic is a material designed to last forever that we often use only once. Poorly managed plastic leaks into the sea. The ocean is downhill from everywhere. Wherever we are, we are connected to the sea.

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This resource provides a range of articles and videos for many teaching areas.
It's a good resource for finding information to incorporate into my mini-unit.

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Curriculum-linked learning resources for primary and secondary school teachers and students. Videos, games and interactives covering English, maths, history, science and more!

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This website provides a broad range of information and resources on using ICT effectively in the classroom as well as a range of information on teaching methods such as formative assessment strategies.

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Understanding DT

Engage with the Digital Technologies curriculum to plan, implement and assess effective lessons.

Plan and prepare

Guidance and support to develop and implement a whole-school plan.

Teach and assess

Students can learn to code and create using digital technologies, and find out about relevant careers.

For families

Find out about Digital Technologies to support your child to learn skills, create digital solutions and find a related career.

Programming

This series of three infographics provide an explanation of 'Programming' with relevant examples for each Year band and 'I can' statements

Algorithms

This series of three infographics provide an explanation of 'Algorithms' with relevant examples for each Year band and 'I can' statements.

Data representation

This series of three infographics provide an explanation of 'Data representation' with relevant examples for each Year band and 'I can' statements.

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Support for the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies with lesson plans, case studies, advice for school leaders, activities for students and for families. See links to the digital technologies industry events and programs. Get support with the development of computational thinking and coding skills in Australian students.

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This website provides a range of resources for implementing ICT into the classroom from behaviour management to robot programming to links to expand your PLN and many more.

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Tags: ICT, Computing, Computer Science, edtech, teaching & learning, flipped classroom, education for teachers, teaching the teacher, teach the teacher, teaching resources for teachers, ​education for teachers, teaching the teacher, teach the teacher, teaching resources for teachers.

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I scooped this resource from Ruth Buckley's Padlet.
I was previously unaware of this website and the broad array of resources it provides.
I will definitely be exploring this resource further!

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Curriculum Connect provides free access to curriculum aligned teaching resources, lesson plans and activities, supported by State Library collections.

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This is a fantastic website that is FULL of information on the Mongol Empire.
Would be perfect to collect information from to incorporate into a mini-unit on the Mongols.

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Mongols in World History | Asia for Educators

Mongols in World History

The Mongols' Mark on Global History

The "Barbarian" Stereotype

Most Westerners accept the stereotype of the 13th-century Mongols as barbaric plunderers intent merely to maim, slaughter, and destroy. This perception, based on Persian, Chinese, Russian, and other accounts of the speed and ruthlessness with which the Mongols carved out the largest contiguous land empire in world history, has shaped both Asian and Western images of the Mongols and of their earliest leader, Chinggis Khan.

Such a view has diverted attention from the considerable contributions the Mongols made to 13th- and 14th-century civilization. Though the brutality of the Mongols' military campaigns ought not to be downplayed or ignored, neither should their influence on Eurasian culture be overlooked.

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Mongols in World History | Asia for Educators

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Mongols in World History | Asia for Educators Mongols in World History The Mongols' Mark on Global History The "Barbarian" Stereotype Most Westerners accept the stereotype of the 13th-century Mongols as barbaric plunderers intent merely to maim, slaughter, and destroy.

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This resource was developed by the History Teachers' Association of Australia.
It explores the best approaches to teaching history effectively with a range of resources for further reading and viewing on the topic.

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There is no single 'best' way to teach history. Research suggests that good history teachers know the content, use a variety of approaches, explicitly teach the skills of historical inquiry and analysis, tailor learning opportunities to suit their students' stage of development, and encourage deep understanding.

Activities

There is room for a range of teaching and learning activities in the history classroom: a story well-told by the teacher, a museum display (actual or digital), model-making, the construction of timelines, comprehension and source analysis activities, oral history interviews, site studies, simulated excavations, problem-solving exercises, role plays and debates. Activities like these can be tailored to suit students' stage of development.

Approaches

Approaches to pedagogy can be teacher-centred or student generated, inquiry based or teacher directed, completed individually, in pairs, groups, or as a whole class, and involve digital resources to varying degrees. The important thing is that learning activities relate to each other, encourage historical thinking and lead to the learning goal in a coherent way.

Resources

A variety of resources should be used in the history classroom, including documents, photographs, artefacts and people (as guest speakers or interview subjects). Historical places make great resources: museums, monuments and heritage sites (actual or virtual), particularly in the local area. Film, historical fiction, works of art, history textbooks and history websites offer a wonderful range of resources. Resources can be provided by the teacher or students.

Putting it all together

To teach for historical understanding, teachers need to

become familiar with the historical content and concepts they need to teach

understand the skills and methods of historical inquiry

be clear about the learning goal (knowledge and understanding and skills)

plan a coherent learning sequence to enable students to achieve the learning goal

include a variety of activities and resources appropriate for the learning goal, learning styles and the stage of development of students.

See: Planning to teach for historical understanding (PDF, 113 KB)
Planning a learning sequence using backward mapping (PDF, 109 KB)

Video discussions:

Paul Kiem: a balanced approach to history pedagogy (Video 4:20)
Paul Kiem is a secondary school history teacher and was President of the History Teachers' Association of Australia from 2007-2012.

Simon Forrest: an Indigenous perspective in history (Video, 5:04)
Associate Professor Simon Forrest is a former primary school teacher and is currently Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University.

Kate Smyth: history in the primary classroom (Video, 6:55)
Kate Smyth is a former primary school teacher and is currently Lecturer in Primary Method at Sydney University.

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There is no single 'best' way to teach history. Research suggests that good history teachers know the content, use a variety of approaches, explicitly teach the skills of historical inquiry and analysis, tailor learning opportunities to suit their students' stage of development, and encourage deep understanding.

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This is a website developed by Education Services Australia that provides a broad range of learning resources for Australian schools that are aligned to the Australian Curriculum.

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Scootle provides Australian teachers with access to quality-assured digital learning resources aligned to the Australian Curriculum.

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This website provides a range of resources and links for teachers regarding teaching history and also teaching generally.

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This booklet is a re-working of the earlier QHTA Athenian Democracy publication. While much of the material from the earlier unit is included here, its focus has been changed to suit the theme of Political Systems. The new book has been arranged to follow the QSA Ancient History syllabus requirements to incorporate the Aspects of Inquiry.

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General Capabilities - Humanities and Social Sciences

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General Capabilities - Humanities and Social Sciences

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This resource provides an exploration of the ACARA General Capabilities in Humanities and the Social Sciences.

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Australian Landscapes and Landforms - Videos

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Australian Landscapes and Landforms - Videos

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This is a curated resource by ABC Education that provides a range of videos on Australian landscapes and landforms.
These videos would be perfect to integrate into a mini-unit.

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this resource contains images and voices of people who have died.
Earth is a dynamic place, with moving tectonic plates, environmental processes and human actions shaping its features.

Join Shona from Geoscience Australia and explore the formation of Australia's coastal, desert and mountain landforms and landscapes.

Discover how Earth's forces have created these landforms and the processes that continue to shape each landscape.

Investigate how humans use landscapes and create changes to the natural environment that may need to be managed over time.

Head out with some students from Canberra High School for some fieldwork activities and learn how to report your findings.

Table of contents:

1. Earth is moving

Have you ever felt the Earth move? Sometimes the Earth's crust can shift beneath us and cause hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. Geomorphology is the study of these movements. It investigates how they form the physical features we see on the Earth's surface, such as mountains, ridges and valleys.

Shona from Geoscience Australia explains to us the role of tectonic plates in causing these movements and hazards. Tectonic plates have been moving for billions of years - colliding, separating or sliding against each other. The boundaries of these tectonic plates are where we find most geo-hazards occurring, in particular along the Ring of Fire, which is around the edge of much of the Pacific Ocean.

2. Landscape types

Our world is made up of many unique physical features. We can categorise these features into various landscapes such as coastal, mountain, desert and riverine by identifying landforms that are found in each. For example, a beach is a landform that is characteristic to a coastal landscape, and a valley is a characteristic landform found in a riverine landscape.

There are many processes that shape the Earth's landforms and landscapes. The interaction of tectonic plates, wind, waves, water and even plants and animals can alter a landscape. These changes can occur rapidly, perhaps due to a hazard or climatic event, or extremely slowly, such as through the creation of a karst landscape formed over thousands of years from dripping rainwater. All changes highlight the dynamic nature of our Earth's surface.

3. Coastal landscapes

Being an island, Australia is bordered by many unique coastal landscapes where the land meets the sea. When visiting a coastline, you may often comment on the weather, as you are more exposed to the force of the wind and waves, and the temperature and rainfall. Being exposed to these elements also has a significant impact on coastal landscapes.

Common coastal landforms such as cliffs, beaches, bays and rock formations are all shaped by three key processes. The process of weathering is when elements such as wind, rain or temperature weaken a landform, causing it to break down. Erosion is another process, which involves the removal of soil, sand or rock from a coastal landform. The final process, deposition, adds soil, sand or rock to a landform. Waves, wind, rain, plants and animals can all cause these processes to occur.

4. Twelve Apostles

The Twelve Apostles is an example of how dynamic our coastlines are. These stacks were originally part of mainland Australia, however, constant erosion from wind and waves created caves in the limestone cliffs. Over time these caves expanded into arches and eventually stacks, separated from the headlands. With two stacks crumbling earlier this century, only seven Apostles remain standing today.

The Eastern Maar peoples have lived in this area for tens of thousands of years. Steeped in history, this unique area is valued and protected as a marine national park. This prevents any damaging human activity from occurring that could disturb the environment.

Coastal management is often required when processes such as erosion or human activities are shaping the land dramatically. Management of the Twelve Apostles is necessary to handle the demands of tourism with purpose-built facilities such as boardwalks, kiosks, walking tracks and car parks, which aim to limit human interference with the natural environment.

Things to think about

1. 1.Why would seeing a stack crumble be such a spectacle for a scientist studying geomorphology? Think about the time frame of their work.

2. 2.What types of human activities are not allowed in a marine national park?

3. 3.What should be respected and valued when visiting a marine national park?

4. 4.Identify some positive and negative impacts of coastal management practices on visitors and the environment.

5. Deserts and semi-arid landscapes

The most significant characteristic of a desert is its dry environment. In these arid locations, it barely rains. Did you know that 70 per cent of Australia is classified as arid or semi-arid? There are 10 named deserts in Australia.

The processes of weathering, erosion and deposition shape desert landforms. This can happen due to strong winds that create rock formations, rivers that carve canyons or dunes accumulating more sand over time.

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in Central Australia contains two amazing landforms that have been shaped and transformed due to natural processes for more than 550 million years. Over time, changes to the management of these landforms have occurred to respect their cultural significance to Anangu, the traditional owners.

6. Uluru and Kata Tjuta

Uluru and Kata Tjuta are two prominent desert landforms in central Australia. Rising high above the land, they are constantly weathered and eroded, and they change over time. This occurs due to a variety of environmental processes such as temperature changes, which causes rock to crack, and rainwater run-off, which can shape the canyons and valleys in the rock.

The traditional owners, known as Anangu, view Uluru as an ancestral creation from the beginning of time that holds spiritual value. This creation period is known as Tjukurpa (pronounced "chook-uh-pah"), which is kept alive through ceremony, song, story, art and dance. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is jointly managed by Anangu and the Australian government and is recognised as a World Heritage Site for its unique natural and cultural values.

7. Mountain landscapes

A mountain landform is defined as a place that rises at least 300 metres from the surrounding area. These prominent landforms are shaped by the force and movement of tectonic plates. When two plates collide, fold mountains may develop. Block mountains arise along fault lines in the Earth's crust, and volcanic mountains are formed when molten rock rises up and then hardens as it flows onto the Earth's surface.

The Great Dividing Range stretches along the east side of Australia and is the largest mountain landscape in the country. However, in comparison to mountain ranges on other continents, it is not very tall. Scientists theorise that the Great Dividing Range was formed when tectonic plates pulled apart, forming an expanding rift valley, and that over time the eastern side of the Australian continent was uplifted.

8. Mount Kosciuszko

Within the Australian Alps region of the Great Dividing Range stands Australia's highest mainland mountain peak, Mount Kosciuszko. The landform has been shaped by faulting, folding and erosion caused by the past movement of glaciers over the mountain. Kosciuszko National Park now has bowl-shaped cirque lakes that were scraped out by glaciers as they moved over the rocky surface.

Kosciuszko National Park holds significant value to many people. For thousands of years, it has been Ngarigo Country with particular sites recognised as gathering points for ceremony, trade, burials and marriages. The Australian Alps is heritage listed - with the wetland that includes Blue Lake and Hedley Tarn receiving international recognition as an important site. Furthermore, it contains Australia's main snowfields, bringing tourism to the area.

9. Human impacts on landscapes

Humans can alter and change landforms and landscapes by transforming them to suit their needs. For example, developing the land for housing, farms and mining disrupts natural systems and environments, but it is required to cater for our growing population. And in Australia, almost 90 per cent of the population lives in urban areas (towns and cities).

Humans can alter the natural flow of waterways and are responsible for human-induced climate change, which may rapidly increase the natural processes of erosion, deposition and weathering.

10. Introducing fieldwork

A key part of studying geography is conducting fieldwork to investigate our environment. In preparation for fieldwork, it is important to develop a research question and choose a site that is local and has been shaped by humans or natural processes. Think about how you would classify your site in terms of its landscape.

In order to investigate the fieldwork site in depth, it is helpful to develop some sub-questions and take along the materials you may need to measure, record and observe what you see. Once you have collated the necessary data, you will be able to put together your fieldwork information. This display or report will aim to answer the research question and all sub-questions using evidence such as photographs, maps, graphs and sketches.

11. Fieldwork activities

Preparing for fieldwork involves planning activities and actions that you may wish to conduct while onsite. Initially, it is helpful to research the site and collect some historical data from secondary sources . This information may guide the primary data you wish to collect and the tools or materials required to do so.

A field sketch is a very common fieldwork activity used to record what you see in the landscape. It includes annotations, which help to answer the research question. An activity survey provides data on how a place is used by humans. It requires observation of an area and a tally, which can later be represented graphically. Collecting photo evidence is also an important fieldwork activity, as it helps convey your research findings and is visually appealing. After each activity, you can summarise your findings by writing an answer to your specific sub-question. All this data and evidence will be collated onto your fieldwork display to help you answer your research question.

Acknowledgement and credits

Copyright
Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2020 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Geoscience Australia and the Geography Teachers' Association of Victoria.
Made in collaboration with Geoscience Australia and the Geography Teachers' Association of Victoria.

With thanks to Shona Blewett (Geoscience Australia), Katrina Davey, Danielle O'Leary and Genevieve Newton (Geography Teachers' Association of Victoria) and Canberra High School.

Produced on Ngunnawal Country.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this resource contains images and voices of people who have died.

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topic_aboriginal and torres strait islander history and culture

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aboriginal and torres strait islander history and culture

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Geography: Landscapes and Landforms - ABC Education

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this resource contains images and voices of people who have died. Join Shona from Geoscience Australia and explore the formation of Australia's coastal, desert and mountain landforms and landscapes. Discover how Earth's forces have created these landforms and the processes that continue to shape each landscape.