The Great South West Edge

the great South west edge

Year 4Geography - Caring for our national landscapes

Australian curriculum learning objectives

ACHGK022[1]- The importance of environments to animals and people, and different views on how they can be protected.

Resources required

• Australia’s National Landscapes series – Great South West Edge[2]captioned video
• Websites for images and additional information:
• National Landscapes[3]
• Australia’s Southwest[4]
• Sustainable Environment[5]
• Australian Map, GoogleEarth and GoogleMaps
• Example of a blank Australian map[6]
• Worksheets 1 and 2 x class set

Lesson outcome:Students will identify and explore strategies to protect particular environments that provide the habitats for animals.

Lesson outline

1. Introduction:Introduce the lesson by introducing the location, the Great South West Edge. Explain that it is a place in Australia that is a national landscape and the implications of this title. Make connections with prior knowledge and ascertains gaps in knowledge by creating a brainstorm using the name, the Great South West Edge. This brainstorm can be used as the basis of a theme wall or class SMART Board Notebook. Ask the following scaffolding questions:

a)Who has heard of the Great South WestEdge?

b)Who has been to the Great South WestEdge?

c)Why would a place be called the Great South WestEdge?

d)Where would it be located?

e)It is part of Australia. Where would it be located? What states/territories would it be near?

f)What might the landscape look like?

1. Activity 1:Introduce the necessary vocabulary for the lesson by writing the following terms of the board: environment, ancestors, unique, custodians, traditional, contemporary, habitat, wildlife, conservation, preservation. Definitions will be created by the students or teacher depending on prior knowledge. Assist students in connecting these new terms to their brainstorm on the board.

1. Activity 2: Teacher/students locate the Great South WestEdge on a map, then on GoogleMaps and GoogleEarth. Students add to brainstorm: screenshots, words and drawings/pictures to represent their new knowledge.

1. Activity 3: Students label an Australian map with the location of the Great South West Edge. This should be done as a pair activity, with one member acting as a scribe and the other the locator of information. These roles may be alternated.

1. Activity 4:IntroduceAustralia’s National Landscapes series – Great South West Edge. The video needs to be played with closed caption functionand paused frequently to ascertain comprehension, accomplished through the asking of literal questions. Write keywords from the video on the whiteboard, using student suggestions. The video should then be played in its entirety to reinforce comprehension and add any additional words/terms. These terms are to be defined by the teacher and/or students where possible.

1. Activity 5:Provide students with Worksheet 1, based on the video. Students will use the information written on the brainstorm/whiteboard to complete the cloze passage.

1. Activity 6:The video should then be played once more whilst the students check their answers. The teacher will stop video to replay correct answers.

1. Activity 7:Ask students why it is important to maintain cultures and traditions, and how they would feel if their homes were destroyed. How would they feel if there were no more kangaroos? Ask students what they think is the most important cultural icon(explain term) to them and what would change if it no longer existed. Stress the importance of preservation and conservation.

1. Activity 8:Provide students with Worksheet 2. Students will use the information written on the brainstorm/whiteboard to complete the sections. Section 1 should be explained, as it needs to contain three special things about the region. Section 2 then must be explained as ways people can protect and preserve these special things.

Opportunity for further activity

Students could replicate the classroom brainstorm in their own books, or using a SMARTBoard Notebook or equivalent, using images provided by the teacher from the relevant websites.

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