Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Stone artefact analysis

5 minutes

Find Out: Artefact review

35 minutes

Take Action: First Nations artefact presentation

10 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

research a First Nations archaeological artefact

Success criteria

Students can:

demonstrate key knowledge and skills learned throughout the unit
create an informative piece about a historically significant First Nations archaeological artefact.

Tune In: Stone artefact analysis

Step 1

Pose a question to students:

What do you know about stone tools?

Invite students to share their responses. Based on their knowledge, remind students that throughout the unit, they have learned how stone tools are important cultural artefacts for First Nations peoples.

Step 2

Watch the following videos with your students to deepen their understanding.

Video 1: What is stone artefact analysis? - (vimeo.com/1031019972?share=copy#t=0)

Video 2: Cataloguing artefacts - (vimeo.com/1031021354?share=copy#t=0)

Step 3

After viewing, get students to respond to the following questions about stone tool analysis on the Student Worksheet. Suggested responses are below:

Question	Suggested response
What is stone tool analysis?	Stone tool analysis involves cataloguing various attributes of artefacts to uncover insights about the people who created and used them.
How do the raw materials of stone tools reflect the landscape's geology?	This method reveals information about the raw materials of the tools, such as different types of stone found in specific geographic locations, reflecting the landscape's geology. For instance, people collected stones like basalt for making axes, while sandstone was preferred for grinding seeds.
What insights can be gained through the analysis of stone artefacts?	By understanding where these materials were sourced and how they were transported, traded, or stockpiled, researchers can reconstruct the movements and behaviours of First Nations peoples across the landscape.

Find Out: Artefact review

Step 1

Divide the class into small teams (3-4 students per team). Provide each team with a piece of paper and a pen.

Explain to students that they have 60 seconds to list as many cultural artefacts from throughout the unit as they can remember. Speed is essential in this activity, so students should brainstorm and write quickly in the space provided on the Student Worksheet.

Step 2

Start a 60-second timer and let students begin listing the artefacts. Students can do this by discussing ideas within their team, with one team member acting as the scribe. For a bonus challenge, after the initial 60 seconds, give students an extra 30 seconds to add a brief description for each artefact.

Step 3

Once time is up, ask each team to read their list aloud. Each unique artefact earns 1 point. If they added descriptions, award an extra point for each accurate description. The team with the most points wins! You could reward students with a prize of your choice.

Take Action: First Nations artefact presentation

Step 1

Explain to students that they will complete a summative task to demonstrate the knowledge and skills they’ve gained throughout the unit. Their task is to create a four-minute digital presentation about a First Nations cultural artefact of their choice. The presentation must include one slide on each of the following:

information about the First Nations peoples to whom the artefact belongs
details on the artefact as a primary or secondary source
archaeological methods that were used to identify the item
the significance of the artefact to Australian history.

Outline to students that their final presentations will be assessed with a rubric. Provide each student with a copy of the Presentation Brief and Rubric and guide them through the criteria.

Learning support: Offer multimodal alternatives to students who may find a digital presentation challenging, such as filming an informative video, writing a factsheet, or podcasting.

Step 2

Designate time for students to research and design their presentation. They must choose a presentation tool such as Google Slides, PowerPoint, Canva or Prezi. The presentation should have clear headings, bullet points for concise information, and images, charts, or graphs to illustrate points. Throughout the presentation, they should maintain a consistent style (fonts, colours, and layout).

If time permits, allocate students an additional lesson to finalise and rehearse their presentation.

Step 3

Before submission, direct students to review their presentations and check for clarity, spelling, and grammatical errors. Guide students to review their presentation against the criteria on the rubric to ensure they have included all necessary information.

Once completed, guide students in submitting their presentation via your preferred format.

Step 4 (optional)

Schedule a lesson for students to present their digital presentation.

Reflection

Ask students to think about what they have learned about the topic they have been studying and complete the following sentence stems on the Student Worksheet.

Uphold Our History

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Summary

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