Ancient Cultures Explored

Overview

This engaging 60-minute lesson for Year 6 students in New Zealand explores ancient cultures, focusing on how they lived, their beliefs, and how they preserved their history through cultural practices and artefacts. Inspired by the idea of catacombs but avoiding themes of death, the lesson highlights ancient cultural sites as rich sources of cultural expression, community values, and storytelling.

Curriculum Links

Learning Area: Social Sciences (Year 6) Achievement Objective: Understand how people’s perspectives on places and environments are influenced by culture and history, and how these influence their identity and sense of belonging. Key Competencies:

• Thinking: Using creative and critical thinking to make sense of information and ideas.
• Using language, symbols, and texts: Interpreting and using cultural symbols and artefacts to communicate ideas.
• Relating to others: Recognising diverse cultural perspectives and practices and describing their importance.

Social Sciences Curriculum References (New Zealand Curriculum Refresh):

• Explore the ways people make sense of their surroundings and their culture.
• Understand how and why people preserve stories, events, and cultural practices.
• Investigate how cultural groups maintain their identity and express their beliefs through artefacts and sites.

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Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will:

• Identify and describe key features of ancient cultures focusing on their cultural practices, beliefs, and artefacts (not death-related).
• Explain the importance of preserving history through cultural practices and artefacts.
• Develop appreciation of different cultural perspectives and the way ancient communities expressed identity.
• Communicate their understanding through creative and collaborative activities.

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Resources

• Images and illustrations of ancient cultural artefacts, structures, and artistic expressions (e.g., murals, pottery, symbols).
• Paper, coloured pencils, and craft materials for creative tasks.
• A map showing locations of various ancient cultural sites (world-wide and from New Zealand's Pacific cultural context).
• Large printouts or slides with guiding questions and prompts.

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Lesson Structure (60 minutes)

1. Introduction and Context (10 minutes)

• Engage students with a question: "How do you think ancient people shared their stories and beliefs? How did they remember important things?"
• Show images (avoiding death-related ones) of ancient cultural sites, including colourful murals, decorated pottery, carved objects, symbolic artefacts, and architecture (like cave paintings, temple walls, and ancient meeting places).
• Highlight that everywhere, including ancient New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, people created ways to preserve their stories and cultures for future generations.
• Briefly mention catacombs as examples of cultural sites but focus on their cultural significance — as places revealing beliefs, art, and community life — rather than death.

2. Group Discussion: What Is Culture? (10 minutes)

• Define culture simply: "The ways people live, their beliefs, stories, arts, and celebrations."
• Facilitate small-group chats about what cultural practices and artefacts students or their families know. Invite sharing about stories, art, or traditions they value and why.
• Guide students to connect this to how ancient people preserved their culture through art and objects.

3. Explore Ancient Artefacts (15 minutes)

• Present images/descriptions of several ancient artefacts or symbolic objects from various cultures worldwide (including Māori or Pacific examples where relevant), discussing:
• What might it have been used for?
• What story or belief might it represent?
• How does it tell us about the people who made it?
• Have students work in pairs to choose one artefact and jot down what it might tell us about that culture.

4. Creative Activity: Cultural Storytelling (15 minutes)

• Students design their own cultural artefact or mural on paper that tells a story or shows a belief important to them or their class community. They can use symbols, drawings, and colours to represent ideas.
• Encourage students to think about what they want others to remember about their culture and community through their creation.

5. Share and Reflect (10 minutes)

• Each student or pair briefly shares their creation, explaining its meaning and how it could help pass on stories to others.
• Facilitate a whole-class reflection:
• Why is it important to keep these stories and objects safe?
• How do artefacts help people understand cultures long ago?
• How can we be respectful towards cultures and their historic places?

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Assessment and Follow-Up

• Formative assessment: Observe students’ participation in discussions and creativity during the activity.
• Written reflection prompt (optional): "Why do you think ancient cultures made art and kept stories? How does this help us today?"
• Assessment aligns with curriculum expectations that students explore cultural perspectives and express understanding through communication and critical thinking.

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Teaching Considerations

• Ensure content is inclusive and respectful of Aotearoa New Zealand's bicultural and multicultural context, including Māori perspectives and Pacific cultures.
• Use explicit vocabulary teaching linked to cultural artifacts and social studies language (e.g., culture, artefact, symbol, belief, preserve).
• Scaffold discussion for students from diverse language backgrounds by using visual supports and sentence starters.
• Encourage empathy and respect for different cultural worldviews.

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This lesson leverages the intriguing idea of ancient cultural preservation through artefacts and sites like catacombs, reframed to celebrate culture, identity, and history in alignment with the New Zealand Curriculum’s social sciences objectives and key competencies. It blends inquiry, discussion, creative expression, and reflection tailored to Year 6 students for meaningful engagement and understanding.