1+Australian+Curriculum

Australian Curriculum

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are strong, rich and diverse. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Identity is central to this priority and is intrinsically linked to living, learning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, deep knowledge traditions and holistic world view. A conceptual framework based on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ unique sense of Identity has been developed as a structural tool for the embedding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures within the Australian curriculum. This sense of Identity is approached through the interconnected aspects of Country/Place, People and Culture. Embracing these elements enhances all areas of the curriculum. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander priority provides opportunities for all learners to deepen their knowledge of Australia by engaging with the world’s oldest continuous living cultures. This knowledge and understanding will enrich their ability to participate positively in the ongoing development of Australia.



Country and Place Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities maintain a special connection to and responsibility for Country/Place throughout all of Australia. Culture Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have lived in Australia for tens of thousands of years and experiences can be viewed through historical, social and political lenses. People Australia acknowledges the significant contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people locally and globally.

The Australian Curriculum: English values Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. It articulates relevant aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, literatures and literacies. All students will develop an awareness and appreciation of, and respect for the literature of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples including storytelling traditions (oral narrative) as well as contemporary literature. Students will be taught to develop respectful critical understandings of the social, historical and cultural contexts associated with different uses of language and textual features.

The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics Students will explore connections between representations of number and pattern and how they relate to aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. They will investigate time, place, relationships and measurement concepts in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contexts. Students will deepen their understanding of the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples through the application and evaluation of statistical data.

The Australian Curriculum: history values Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. It celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories as part of the shared history belonging to all Australians.

General Capabilities:

In the Australian Curriculum students develop ICT competence as they learn to use ICT effectively and appropriately when investigating, creating and communicating ideas and information at home, at school, at work and in their communities. Developed economies and societies are increasingly built on the ICT competence of workers and citizens. The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians states that ‘In this digital age, young people need to be highly skilled in the use of ICT’ (MCEETYA 2008, p.5), and, while schools already employ technologies in learning, they ‘need to increase their effectiveness significantly’ over the next decade. To be successful learners at school and beyond, students need to become ‘creative and productive users of technology’ (MCEETYA 2008, p.8), equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to use ICT in contemporary learning and living. Students develop ICT competence when they:
 * ICT General Capability**


 * Apply appropriate social and ethical protocols and practices in managing and operating ICT
 * Manage and operate ICT: applying technical knowledge and skills; managing data and information efficiently, effectively and appropriately and interacting with ICT for learning
 * Investigate with ICT: planning and refining information searches; locating and accessing different types of data and information and verifying the integrity of data when investigating questions, topics or problems
 * Create with ICT: using ICT to generate ideas, plans, processes and products to create solutions to challenges or learning area tasks
 * Communicate with ICT: exchanging ideas and information with others while adhering to social protocols appropriate to the communicative context (purpose, audience and technology) ..

Students use ICT effectively to record ideas, represent their thinking and plan solutions. They create ICT solutions, independently or collaboratively, for particular audiences and purposes, and use a range of software types and functions to edit a range of data types such as text, images (still and moving), audio and numbers.
 * Creating**

Students select and use appropriate ICT tools safely to share and exchange information and to collaborate with others when creating solutions. They apply generally accepted social protocols when sharing information in online environments, taking into account different social and cultural contexts. They independently establish secure accounts for approved online environments. Students use appropriate ICT to identify and represent patterns in sets of information and to pose questions. They plan, locate (using search engines and basic search functions), retrieve and organise information in meaningful ways, and assess the suitability of information using appropriate criteria.
 * Communicating**
 * Investigating**

Intercultural Understanding
Intercultural understanding is an essential part of living with others in the diverse world of the twenty-first century. It assists young people to become responsible local and global citizens, equipped through their education for living and working together in an interconnected world. It helps them to understand their own cultural traditions, values and beliefs and to engage with the experiences and ideas of others.

Recognising
Students explore and express aspects of their identity as they interact with others. They describe and compare cultural practices such as beliefs, relationships, traditions, and customs, and recognise and respond to cultural diversity in national and regional contexts.

Interacting
Students identify variability within and across cultures in relation to specific situations and events. They explain similarities and differences between cultural groups. This includes looking for similarities with people they think of as being unlike themselves and differences with people they consider to be similar. They explain aspects of their own cultures in ways that others can understand in an effort to reach mutual understanding.

Reflecting
Students reflect on how intercultural encounters have affected their thoughts, feelings and actions. They accept that their point of view is one of many and begin to see themselves as others may see them.

Empathy
Students demonstrate sensitivity to the feelings and needs of others. They ask, ‘How do I imagine others might feel?’

Respect
Students respect the right of others to be different. They appreciate the richness that cultural diversity brings to the Australian community. They acknowledge the continuous and enduring presence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Australia.

Responsibility
Students contribute to the development of positive relationships between people from different cultural groups with whom they interact. They identify ways people can work together within diverse communities.

**Critical and Creative Thinking** Critical thinking is at the core of most intellectual activity that involves analysing and evaluating information, solving problems, developing an argument and using evidence in support of that argument, drawing reasoned conclusions and using information to achieve outcomes. It includes thinking processes such as sequencing, extrapolating, comparing, contrasting, questioning, inferring, hypothesising, appraising, testing, analysing, evaluating and generalising at increasingly complex levels. Creative thinking enables the development of new ideas and their application in specific contexts. It includes generating an idea that is new to the individual, seeing existing situations in a new way, identifying alternative explanations and finding new ways to apply ideas to generate a positive outcome. Creative thinking is closely linked to innovation and enterprise, and requires characteristics such as intellectual flexibility, open-mindedness, adaptability and a readiness to try new ways of doing things.

Inquiring – identifying, exploring and clarifying information
Students prioritise and evaluate ideas and information. They can sequence, paraphrase, elaborate on and condense information. Through questioning they investigate issues beyond their surroundings and categorise information from multimodal sources. They use knowledge gained in one area to apply new meaning in an unrelated context.

Generating and developing ideas and possibilities
Students recognise there are numerous possibilities for solving a problem and predict or imagine the outcomes of the application of these solutions. They match ideas from a range of contexts to make unusual or unexpected combinations. Through visualisation strategies (e.g. diagrams and mind mapping), they reflect on, investigate and evaluate what is possible, persisting with new approaches when initial ideas do not work.

Analysing, evaluating and synthesising information
Students identify gaps in knowledge and solutions and seek further information to interpret data. They gather pertinent information from a range of sources and look for logical relationships between propositions. They use concrete, pictorial and digital models to facilitate logical reasoning and test propositions against a range of criteria and standards.

Reflecting on thinking, actions and processes
Students evaluate the conclusions and outcomes of their thinking strategies and contemplate changes. They form personal theories, construct analogies and explain and justify their solutions and processes against identified criteria. They focus on constructive personal insights.

CONTENT DESCRIPTORS

English:
 * Knowledge and Understanding **
 * 1) What contribution have significant individuals and groups made to the development of Australian society? History y6
 * 2) Identify and locate a range of relevant sources [|(ACHHS120] skills
 * 3) Locate in Show us who you formation related to inquiry questions in a range of sources. [|(ACHHS121)]
 * 4) Compare information from a range of sources. [|(ACHHS122)]
 * 5) Use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and digital technologies
 * 6) Identify points of view in the past and present [|(ACHHS123]
 * 1) Make connections between students’ own experiences and those of characters and events represented in [|texts] drawn from different historical, social and cultural [|contexts] [|(ACELT1613)] y6
 * 2) Identify and explore ideas and viewpoints about events, issues and characters represented in [|texts] drawn from different historical, social and cultural [|contexts] [|(ACELT1619)] y7
 * 3) Use [|comprehension strategies] to interpret and analyse information and ideas, comparing content from a variety of textual sources including media and [|digital texts] [|(ACELY1713)] y6
 * 4) Use [|comprehension strategies] to interpret, analyse and synthesise ideas and information, critiquing ideas and issues from a variety of textual sources [|(ACELY1723)] y7
 * 5) Compare the [|text structures] and [|language features] of [|multimodal texts], explaining how they combine to influence [|audiences]  [|(ACELY1724] y7
 * 6) Analyse strategies [|authors] use to influence readers [|(ACELY1801)] y6