Learning Sequences

For History teachers and students

Developed by HTAA (The History Teachers' Association of Australia)

About this Resource

The three units of work included in this resource were designed to support teachers and students working with the Australian Curriculum: History. While the primary aim has been to complement topics studied at the Year 9 level and target relevant achievement standards, it is also hoped that the units may have a wider application in modelling a number of things:

  • The importance of embedding any historical inquiry in a learning sequence that supports students in developing the knowledge, understanding and skills to build towards meeting the challenges of a meaningful final assessment task.
  • The need to carefully select source material and scaffold activities if students are to have a productive experience with sources.
  • The importance of directing students towards accessible sources that will engage and reward historical inquiry.

Achievement Standards

Each of the units targets elements of the Australian Curriculum: History’s Year 9 Achievement Standard of the Australian Curriculum: History, as outlined in the table below.

Year 9 Achievement Standards Selected Elements Targeted in Unit Activities Targeted in Major Task Marking Guidelines
Analyse the causes and effects of events and developments and make judgements about their importance. Unit 2
Explain the motives and actions of people at the time. Units 1,3
Explain different interpretations of the past. Unit 3
Sequence events and developments within a chronological framework, with reference to periods of time and their duration. Unit 2
Interpret, process, analyse and organise information from a range of primary and secondary sources and use it as evidence to answer inquiry questions. Unit 3 Units 1, 2, 3
Examine sources to compare different points of view. Unit 3
Develop texts, incorporating student and other historical interpretations. In developing these texts, use historical terms and concepts and reference evidence identified in sources. Units 1, 2, 3 Units 1, 2, 3

General Capabilities

Either in the their lead up activities or in options suggested for their culminating assessment tasks, each of the units provides an opportunity to develop a number of the General Capabilities outlined in the Australian Curriculum: History.

Literacy ICT Capability Critical & Creative Thinking Personal and Social Capability Ethical Understanding Intercultural Understanding
Unit 1 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Unit 2 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Unit 3 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

This resource was produced by the History Teachers’ Association of Australia and was funded by the Australian Government.

These units were developed by Jonathon Dallimore (Unit 1), Kate Cameron (Unit 2) and Paul Kiem (Unit 3). Paul Kiem was the project manager and editor.

The Units

  1. Unit 1 - World War I - Enlistment and Fighting on the Western Front
  2. Unit 2 - Investigating the 1852 Gundagai Flood
  3. Unit 3 - Foundation Story - Melbourne