INTEGRATED STUDIES: ‘ENGAGE IN ASIA’ STUDIES
Unit Title: CHINA
VELS Standard: Level 3
Disciplines: English, Mathematics, SOSE, The Arts, History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship
Interdisciplinary: Interpersonal Development, Thinking and Creativity, ICT.
Understandings: Students will understand ....
On a world map, Australia is part of the Asian region and China is its largest member.
Asian people, in particular Chinese people, have made major contributions to our Australian society and economy.
Due to its size and position, China is of growing importance to Australia.
People in China come from diverse cultural groups that have particular forms of cultural expression, eg special foods, clothing, decorations, singing, dance and ceremonies.
People of China use the local environment to satisfy their needs for food, water, work or services.
Essential Questions:
1. What is a multicultural society?
2. Why is it important for Australians to know about their regional neighbours?
3. How is Chinese society different from our own?
Knowledge: Students will know ....
· The names of all Asian countries.
· The geography, history and significant festivals and customs of China.
· How to compare and relate different aspects of their lives with Chinese children of their own age.
· That the values of respect and discipline play an integral part in Chinese society.
Skills: Students will be able to...
· Locate and name Asian countries using maps and Google.
· Research and organise information related to Chinese life, geography and history.
· Recognise features of natural and built environments in China using examples and make simple comparisons.
· Explore how the people of China express their identity through clothes, language and cultural activities.
· Identify similarities and differences in the cultural expression of groups and communities in China.
· Recognise how communities in China care for their environment including exploring concepts about threatened or endangered animals and over population.
· Identify some symbols used by the people of China to represent them, eg, flags, money, designs, flora, fauna.
· Describe the similarities and differences between as aspect of their life in Australia and the same aspect life in a Chinese culture, eg schooling and food.
· Describe how people in China rely on their natural environment to provide work, food and water, eg farming and fishing, room for housing.
Students will be given the following Bloom’s Taxonomy and will choose activities from the grid during class time to complete them.
LEVEL 3 / Bloom’s Taxonomy: Six Thinking Levels for Learning
You must do at least 2 from each line.
Knowing
1 point / Understanding 2points / Applying
3 points / Analysing
4 points / Creating
5 points / Evaluating
6 points
Verbal / List all the countries in Asia. / Find a recipe for a popular Chinese food. Follow it and make the dish. Present it to the class.
Take photos for your portfolio. / Write a 200 word report about the Great Wall of China and explain why it was built and why it is important even now. / Look at recent photos of China using Google images then answer this question in your Integrated Studies book -How is Australia similar to China? / Create and record a TV advertisement for tourism in China.
Present to the grade on the IWB. / List all the countries in Asia. Can you explain why some maps of the region are different?
Mathematical / Find the highest and lowest daily temperatures for 5 different cities in China on one day. / Demonstrate your understanding of China’s monetary units by naming the coins and notes. Find out what the current conversion rate of Chinese money into Australian dollars. / Calculate the distance between 5 major cities in China.
Compare this to the distance between the capital cities in Australia. / Use a graph to show a fact about China. Make sure your graph is labeled clearly and be prepared to present your work to the grade. / Create a 24 hour timeline for a Chinese student, noting the differences to your own life. / Rank the top 10 Chinese cities according to population and give reasons why they are where they are.
Visual/ Spatial / Locate and show where a recent natural disaster has happened in China. Give some detail as to the effect it had on the people of the region. / Draw or make a traditional costume for a person in China. You may wish to research minority groups and their special costumes for special days. / Make a poster promoting China. / Use a Venn diagram to present information about an aspect of life in China. Clearly label the diagram and write 5 true statements about the information displayed. / Design a model of an Asian dragon. / Imagine you are going to visit China in 2050. Write/draw what you expect to find when you get there.
Kinesthetic / Name all the major sports played in China. / Teach the grade a game children play in China. / Make a model of a traditional Chinese hutong. / Dress up in a traditional Chinese costume and describe to the class what you are wearing and when you would wear it. / Create a short play depicting a Chinese fable or legend.
Perform to the grade. / Survey 20 people & find out which Chinese icon they know best. Display as a graph. Write why you think some are more popular than others.
Musical / Listen to a number of songs made in China. List them. / Write a report on a Chinese songwriter. / Make/ play an Asian instrument and demonstrate them to the grade. / Compare Chinese music to Australian music. / Compose your own song to do with China. / Perform a Chinese song at Monday morning assembly.
Interpersonal / Cooperate with a partner and present a 3 minute speech to the class about China. / Work with someone to complete a diorama of a famous Chinese place. / Be the teacher!!
Teach the class some Chinese words. / Interview someone about life in an Asian country. The person you interview has to have been there. / Teach the class how to write something using brushes and water color paints. / Create and run a class debate about an issue in China.
Intrapersonal / Find out and list all the major languages spoken in China. / Compare schooling in Australia to the schooling in China.
(Appendix 1 sheet) / In a 3 minute speech to the class, tell us about someone you admire who is from China. / Create a PowerPoint presentation to show information about China. Include clip art from the internet. / Create a kite using colors associated with China. / Write a biography on the life of a famous Chinese person.
Naturalistic / Use a map of China to indicate the types of natural landscapes of the different regions. / Explain the life cycle of an Asian animal. / Use clip art from the internet and auto shapes to show your understanding of endangered animals in China. / Identify and describe why some animals in China are endangered. / Paint a typical Chinese scene using water color paints. / Argue for or against the statement ‘Each Chinese family should only be allowed to have one child.’
The bold ones will be assessment tasks for your portfolio. We will do them in class.
You must choose a minimum of 8 activities and aim to achieve at least 50 points for your tasks.
We will discuss the marking criteria together and determine your grading during personal conference times.
Resources:
‘Snapshots of Asia: China’ Curriculum Corporation 1998
‘Engage in Asia’ DEECD online information
Appendix 1: Schooling in China
SCHOOLS IN CHINA
Look carefully at the pictures above. What can you see? Do you think that Chinese schools are very different from our schools? Write about things that may be the same or may be different.
Things that may be the same / Things that may be different