Local History Exploration

Overview

This 8-week program for Year 2 students focuses on exploring local Australian history, aligned with the Australian Curriculum (v9) for Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS). The program develops students’ understanding of significant people, events, places and sites in their local community over time, the effects of changing technology, and historical inquiry and communication skills.

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Curriculum Outcomes

• HT1-2: Identify and describe significant people, events, places and sites in the local community over time.
• HT1-3: Describe the effects of changing technology on people's lives over time.
• HT1-4: Demonstrate skills of historical inquiry and communication.

These outcomes guide the learning activities and assessments within the program【5:AC9HS2K01.md†Australian Curriculum, History F-6】.

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Key Inquiry Questions

• What aspects of the past can you see today?
• What do they tell us?
• What remains of the past are important to the local community? Why?
• How have changes in technology shaped our daily life?

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Weekly Breakdown (50 minutes per session)

Week 1: Introduction to Local History and Community

• Learning Objective: Understand what history is and begin to explore significant local places.
• Activities:
  • Class discussion: What is history? What kinds of things can tell us about the past in our community?
  • Show photographs/images of familiar local landmarks.
  • Create a simple class map marking significant places.
  • Introduce the idea of historical significance (social, cultural, spiritual).
• Assessment: Students share one thing they learned about a local place’s past.

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Week 2: Significant People in Our Community

• Learning Objective: Identify a local person important to the community’s history.
• Activities:
  • Storytime: Read an accessible story about a notable local figure.
  • Group brainstorm: What makes someone important in our community’s history?
  • Students draw and label a portrait or scene about that person's role.
• Assessment: Oral sharing with peers about the local person.

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Week 3: Exploring Local Events

• Learning Objective: Describe a significant event from the local community’s past.
• Activities:
  • Use images or tales about a local event (e.g., opening of a community centre, a historical festival).
  • Timeline creation: Students place the event on a simple timeline.
  • Role-play or retell the event in their own words.
• Assessment: Students complete a drawing or short sentence about why the event was important.

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Week 4: Local Sites and Places – Fieldwork Preparation

• Learning Objective: Prepare for a visit/walk to a local site of historical significance.
• Activities:
  • Discuss appropriate behaviour and inquiry questions for the visit.
  • Teach observation skills: what to look for about the past in the local place.
  • Create a checklist or drawing sheet to record observations.
• Assessment: Students demonstrate understanding by completing their checklist in class.

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Week 5: Local Field Trip / Virtual Tour

• Learning Objective: Observe and record evidence of the past at a local site.
• Activities:
  • Field trip (or virtual alternative) to a local historic place or museum.
  • Students use their checklist to note features relating to history (e.g., plaques, old buildings, artefacts).
  • Encourage questions and curiosity about what they see.
• Assessment: Completion of checklist and sharing one interesting discovery.

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Week 6: Technology Changes Over Time

• Learning Objective: Describe how technology has changed people’s lives in the local community.
• Activities:
  • Show images/objects of local technology from past and present (e.g., old telephone vs mobile phone).
  • Discussion: How did life change when these new technologies arrived?
  • Draw or list changes in everyday life due to technology.
• Assessment: Students explain one change technology has made in their home or community.

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Week 7: Communicating Our History

• Learning Objective: Demonstrate historical inquiry and communication skills.
• Activities:
  • Students work in groups to create a simple poster or booklet about an aspect of local history studied.
  • Use drawings, sentences, and pictures.
  • Practice presenting their work to the class.
• Assessment: Group presentations assessed for understanding and communication clarity.

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Week 8: Reflection and Celebration of Learning

• Learning Objective: Reflect on learning and the importance of local history.
• Activities:
  • Whole-class discussion: What have we learned about our local community’s past?
  • Create a “class history book” compiling posters, drawings and photographs from the term.
  • Celebrate with a small exhibition inviting other classes or parents.
• Assessment: Students share reflections on their favourite history learning.

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Teaching Strategies & Considerations

• Use visuals extensively (photos, maps, timelines) to support comprehension.
• Incorporate storytelling and role-play to engage young learners.
• Allow hands-on and sensory exploration, especially during site visits.
• Scaffold historical inquiry skills—asking questions, observing, recording findings.
• Differentiate tasks for varying abilities within the class.
• Leverage local community resources and encourage parental/community involvement.

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Resources Needed

• Local history books and images.
• Maps of local community.
• Materials for posters and drawings.
• Technology objects for comparative activities.
• Permission and logistical support for field trip or virtual tour.

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Alignment with Australian Curriculum (v9)

• Addresses HT1-2, HT1-3, HT1-4 with sequence of inquiry-based learning activities.
• Incorporates historical concepts: continuity/change, cause/effect, significance.
• Builds foundational historical skills suitable for Year 2 students.
• Linkages to cross-curriculum priorities (e.g., Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures can be integrated when identifying local First Nations sites)【5:AC9HS2K01.md†Australian Curriculum History F-6】【6:AC9HS6S02.md†Australian Curriculum Inquiry Skills】.

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This program combines inquiry, communication, and hands-on learning to develop year 2 students' understanding of their local Australian history and encourages appreciation of their community’s heritage and technological changes over time.