THE LAND DOWN UNDER
J.T. Locklear
Grades 7 or 8
Social Studies
PURPOSE:
To increase the students knowledge of the continent and country of
Australia.
CONNECTION TO THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY STANDARDS:
No. 1 How to use maps and other geographic representations,
tools,
and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a
spatial
perspective. The maps that the students will receive during this
unit will be used to understand the geographic representations of
Australia.
No. 4 The physical and human characteristics of places. Students will be using the actual characteristics of Australia to create the project they will do for this unit.
No. 5 That people create regions to interpret earth's complexity. Part of the unit is to understand why Australia is split into six different regions. Why are the regions split the way they are?
No. 13 How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of the earth's surface. The government of Australia is a little different than the one here in the United States. Cooperation between the different types of people to create the government is very important.
OBJECTIVES:
Students will demonstrate their ability:
1. To give a solid history and geographic explanation of the country of Australia and understand why it is important. The students will also learn how to effectively use a web site in order to pull up information about Australia.
2. To locate and understand the different regions of the country, and to locate important cities, landforms, and water bodies surrounding the island.
3. To use some creativity in designing their own island, by using the physical features of this particular country.
OVERVIEW OF PRESENTATION:
A class of junior high students (seventh or eighth grade) will learn about the continent of Australia through a short unit using films, lecture, worksheets, maps, and the Internet. Some of the more important issues being taught by the teacher should be a concise history of Australia, the description of the physical regions and environment in and around the island, and the population of people throughout the mainland. By the end of the unit, the students should be creating their own island by using the knowledge they have acquired about Australia.
DAY ONE
SPONGE ACTIVITY: Film about the continent of Australia (5-10 min.) The class will come into the room and be situated in their rightful place before the film is started.
OPENING: Discuss the activities for the entire unit at once today. Explain briefly about the projects at hand, and what will be expected of them at the end of the unit. Next, introduce the country of Australia with a quick wrap-up of the film they just viewed, and encourage them to tell about what they, as students, thought was interesting. Their favorite aspects of the country so far.
GUIDED AND INDEPENDENT PRACTICE: Use the web site, "This is Australia." Allow the students to go at their own pace through the Internet, by staying in this program, if every student has availability to a computer, If not, try to get one computer with availability to enhance the screen onto the wall, and walk them through the program, but letting them pick which topics to look at.
EVALUATION:
At the end of class, or for homework, have the kids write a small essay
on what they enjoyed or even disliked about Australia. Make them
use good examples from the film or from the Internet.
DAY TWO
SPONGE ACTIVITY: As the kids come into class, have a word search set up for them to begin. Use any terms they might have learned from the day before, and use terms that you will be using today in class.
GUIDED PRACTICE: First hand out the maps that will be used will in this unit. Have the students locate:
1) the six different political regions of Australia;
2) different landforms such as deserts, mountain ranges, basins,
plateaus, peninsulas, islands off the coast, etc.;
3) and the different bodies of water surrounding the continent.
While locating these different physical features, explain what the
features are, because many students will be learning this for the first
time.
EVALUATION:
Explain to the students that there will be a pop quiz the following
class period over the physical features of Australia.
CLOSURE:
Introduce the project very briefly for the following class period.
DAY THREE
SPONGE ACTIVITY: Pop Quiz, just as explained from the previous class period. The quiz would begin after everyone is in the classroom, and the teacher could pass it out before checking role and doing other beginning paperwork.
OPENING: Explain the project to the class in complete detail. Make sure the students understand exactly what is going on before they split into groups.
INDEPENDENT PRACTICE: Have them split up into groups of 4-6 students, depending on the size of your class. The project will be to develop an island using the physical features of Australia. The students are to use any materials available to them, but they are to draw and label what features are which. (As the teacher, you should make a model yourself, as an example for the students to see. You might even give them enough warning so that they are able to bring creative little things from home to use.) When every group is done, the group should give a 3-7 minute presentation to the class about the name of their island, and the different features that it possesses.
DAY FOUR
INDEPENDENT PRACTICE: Time for the presentations.
CLOSURE: Review the class over what they have learned during the week, and get ready for the final assessment coming tomorrow. The Final Test.
DAY FIVE
EVALUATION:
The test should include the terms off of the word search, any map
skills
taught in class, and the physical features located during the unit.
CLOSURE:
When the test has been graded, and returned to the students, allow
them to ask any questions about the test. The teacher might even
want to pass out evaluation sheets to the students on how to improve
the
unit for next time. **** This unit could be taught over a longer
or shorter period of time depending on the amount of time needed to
prepare
the projects and giving the presentations.
MATERIALS NEEDED:
The teacher will need during this unit, a computer for the Internet work, any film covering Australia, maps, access to the program to make a word search, a test, any materials needed for the project (poster board, markers, magazines, books, rulers, etc. But be creative.)
EXTENSIONS:
This unit could include some other basic skills used in math, such as calculating the distance between cities, or physical features. The history of Australia is very interesting. The unit could also include English, talking about the dialect of Australia. They use a form of English, but different words mean different things. And they are pronounced really different too. Home Economics might even be hit on a small bit. The different cultures of Australia can create different food, housing, and cleaning methods.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
The Hearth Corporation. 'Australia's Founding Fathers, 'Bottom's Up: An Australian Cybertour.' http://www.dfat.gov.au/ausites.html (April 2, 1997).
Novosad, Charles. The Nystrom Desk Atlas. Division of Herff Jones, Inc. Chicago, 1994.
Telstra Springboard. 'This is Australia.' http://springboard.telstra.com.au
(April 2, 1997).
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