Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes	Part A: Connecting to Country
45 minutes	Part B: Classification
30 minutes	Part C: Local animals
30 minutes	Part D: Researching, conclusions and implications

Part A: Connecting to Country

Step 1.

Commence the lesson by activating some prior knowledge and facilitating a brief discussion about the meaning of regeneration and asking students to provide some examples and concepts they saw in the Regenerating Australia film that pertains to the importance of connecting to land and Country.

Step 2.

Present students with this video explaining What is Regeneration and use the password EDU_RA. Discuss the prompts below:

What does regeneration mean?
What is an example of an idea or concept that relates to regenerating land and Country?
What outcomes can we expect if we are more connected to land and Country?

Step 3.

Present the Indigenous Australia Art Print by David Foster and ask if students have ever taken part in a ‘Welcome to Country’ or ‘Acknowledgement of Country’ ceremony. Where and when did it occur? What did it mean to them?

Foster Type Indigenous Australia Art Print

You can prompt students to consider what is written in the artwork and ask them why the artist chose to write the words across the map (on varying angles)?

Step 4.

In the Welcome to Country section of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies website, Ngunnawal Elder Jude Barlow talks about the importance of Country and the difference between being welcomed to Country and an acknowledgment. Navigate the website as a class, and conduct a brief think, pair, share activity to discuss the meaning of Country and why it is essential to know and acknowledge the traditional land, language group, clan or nation our home/school is located on.

Step 5.

Invite students to fill in on their worksheet what Country is. You can also share with them the quotes about understanding Custodianship and what 'Country' means for Aboriginal people provided in the Teacher Content Information section of this worksheet.

Step 6.

Ask students to refer to the link of the map of Australia featured on the Aiatsis website on their Student Worksheet. Invite students to use the space in their worksheet to write their own unique acknowledgment of Country. There is a useful template for planning an Acknowledgement of Country on the Creative Spirits website .

If you would like to further explore local Aboriginal Stories, knowledge and perspectives with your class by asking them if they know of a story of a creator spirit that shows up in their landscape? Or an Aboriginal Dreaming Story of how the lands and waterways were created? You could source a book, story, or painting from a First Nations person and share the story with the class, or invite your students to research a story. Once everyone has a story, invite them to pair up with another student in the class and allow some time for them to share the story they found with their partner. Pairs will then stop and swap to listen to the story their partner found.

Part B: Classification

Step 1:

Discuss the importance of classification. Imagine if you went to buy something from Coles and all the products were just randomly put on the shelves. It would take you days to find everything you needed! To make products easy to find, stores classify goods as dairy, meat, baking, cereals etc. Similarly, scientists classify living things into five kingdoms – Animals, Plants, Fungi, Protist and Monera. Each kingdom then has its own classification system in order to identify species. This makes it easier to name organisms and identify new species.

A simple type of classification system is known as a dichotomous key. Show the following key from the BioNinja website to explain how invertebrates (animals without backbones) can be classified.

Step 2.

Ask students from groups of 2 or 3 (max) and then go into the playground and collect 10 leaves. The leaves they collect must have as much variety as possible as this will make the classification task easier. This shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes, and ensure you remind students that they will be categorising the leaves when they step back inside.

Step 3:

Back in the classroom – each group is given a sheet of butcher paper, a tape dispenser and a marking pen. Students create a leaf dichotomous key to classify their leaves. This is a challenging task, and the students will need encouragement. Discuss differences like shape, texture and unique features.

Step 4.

Ask students to draw and write on the butcher paper using the marking pens. They can stick the leaves into position using sticky tape. Once finished, the dichotomous keys can be stuck up around the classroom.

Students can ‘test’ the classification keys by picking a leaf at random from the playground and starting at the top of the key, following down the key using observations about their leaf and seeing if they end up at a final leaf that is the same species as the one they picked.

Discussions on the challenges of classifying can be very helpful in making students aware of scientific processes.

Step 5:

Remind students that they can sketch their dichotomous leaf key into their worksheet.

Part C: Local animals

Step 1.

As a class, head into the playground with mobile phones or iPads and ask students to take photos of all the different animals they may find in 10 minutes.

If your school is in an urbanised area or students find it challenging to locate and photograph animals in the schoolyard, suggest that students focus on birds and insects specifically. You can also encourage them to look for clues of animal life such as footprints, feathers, nests and droppings. Perhaps there are nocturnal animals in the area that leave their traces behind in the light of day! Remind students not to touch the 'animal clues' they find.

Remind students not to move rocks, logs, interfere with animals' habitats etc. Ensure you explain the importance of not touching any animals (or 'animal clues').

Step 2.

Back in the classroom, ask students to access a shared Google Doc OR collate the data on the whiteboard and invite students to input the type of animal and the location photographed (one location per animal in this case)

The spreadsheet can be straightforward – a sample is below:

Students can list some of the animals they photographed and sketch them in their worksheet, and if you would like to create a competition out of the task, you might want to prompt students with a prize for the students or group that photographs the most incredible diversity of animals.

Step 3.

For homework, students use their phones to take photos of animals in their local area and upload the data to the shared spreadsheet.
This data will build a picture of the diversity and population of animal species in the local area.

Step 4.

Look at the data as a class. Students will be very excited to share some of their experiences and will be interested to find out what animals other students have found. This exercise will build a sense of the diversity and number of animals around the school.

Part D: Researching, conclusions and implications

Step 1.

Ask students to use the internet to research animals' diversity, which could once be found in their local areas. Some students may locate animals that are now extinct or can no longer be found. This will lead to biger discussion later.

Step 2.

Then, prompt students to compare their findings from Step 1. to the data collected in the spreadsheet and discuss the similarities and differences.

Step 3.

Facilitate a brainstorming exercise with your class and workshop three ideas or concepts that would enable us to reintroduce original wildlife to the area to Regenerate Australia. Some examples could include native bee hotels, bird boxes, frog hotels, establishing native plants, or even mulching the gardens. This could be a good opportunity for the class to learn/talk about the biodiversity of their local ecology and why biodiversity is vital to healthy ecosystems and life. Students can explore further and learn how to restore habitats and build homes for native wildlife by visiting the Backyard Buddies website.

While facilitating the brainstorming, ensure students understand and that you dissect how the city is becoming more urbanised and the importance of retaining nature. Urban green spaces reduce heat and cooling costs, and enable children to play, laugh, breathe in the fresh air and explore flora and fauna. For more information or examples of green spaces and how to revitalise our planet, visit the Nature Conservancy Austalia website.

Some examples are listed on the site:

grow plants indigenous to your area
provide some open water
provide shelter for wild visitors
control pets and pests
avoid using chemicals.

Reflection

Invite your students to reflect on the following:

What went well?
What could have been better?
What changes would you make to improve the lesson?

Differentiated learning

Extension

Invite students to research both the scientific and Indigenous names for the plants and/or animals encountered in this lesson.
Invite students to discover more about the significance of a traditional Aboriginal Welcome to Country. If your school can connect with your local Registered Aboriginal Party (RAP) and Elders, consider investing in an Elder to deliver a Welcome to Country and possibly a smoking ceremony at your school.
Provide students with these links to the Regenerating Australia website where they can learn more about Healing Habitats, Wilding (bringing nature back into) Our Towns and Cities, and other stories of regeneration. Ask them to report back on an area of interest and reflect on why they find it interesting/inspiring.

Provisions for learning support

Students are put in mixed ability groups to assist those students requiring learning support by their more able peers.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

The Land Where I Live: Discover, Classify, and Regenerate

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Summary

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