AC9HH7K08 Year 7 Humanities and Social Sciences

AC9HH7K08 – Year 7 Humanities and Social Sciences: The ancient world

Strand

Knowledge and understanding

Substrand

The ancient world

This Content Descriptor from Year 7 Humanities and Social Sciences provides the specific knowledge and skills students should learn. Use it to plan lessons, create learning sequences, and design assessments that align with the Australian Curriculum v9.

Content Descriptor

the different methods and sources of evidence used by historians and archaeologists to investigate early societies, and the importance of archaeology and conserving the remains, material culture and heritage of the past

Elaborations

• evaluating various methods for investigating the ancient past; for example, stratigraphy to date discoveries, and DNA testing to identify common diseases and past individuals from their remains, such as Egyptian mummies
• creating a cross-sectional drawing of the earth’s surface from an archaeological excavation to identify the evidence located at various layers (stratigraphy) and what it reveals about change over time; for example, a charcoal layer containing human remains and weapons may indicate the capture and destruction of an ancient settlement such as Troy
• examining the impact of modern infrastructure works, such as the Aswan Dam, on sites of ancient significance
• examining the roles and responsibilities of governments and other bodies, such as UNESCO, in protecting key archaeological sites; for example, the rescue mission to save the temples of Abu Simbel or the campaign for the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece
• investigating world heritage criteria for the listing of significant sites; for example, the Great Wall of China or the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (Qin Shi Huang) or Mohenjo-dara in India

Achievement Standard This Supports

This Content Descriptor contributes to the following Achievement Standard:

Year 7 ASHAHISY7

Year 7 Humanities and Social Sciences Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 7, students describe the historical significance of the ancient past and the histories of early First Nations Peoples of Australia. They identify the causes and effects of events, developments and achievements connected to groups and individuals in Australia and other societies from the ancient past. Students describe the social, religious, cultural, economic, environmental and/or political aspects related to changes and continuities in these societies. They identify the roles and achievements of significant individuals and groups, and the influences on the development of ancient societies. Students explain the importance of heritage sites connected to Australia and other societies from the ancient past. Students develop questions about the past. They locate and identify primary and secondary sources as evidence in historical inquiry. They describe the origin, content, context and purpose of primary and secondary sources. Students identify the accuracy and usefulness of sources as evidence. They sequence events and developments to describe causes and effects, and continuities and changes across societies and periods of time. They describe the perspectives, attitudes and values of the past in sources. They identify and describe historical interpretations about significant events and people. Students use historical knowledge, concepts, terms and evidence from sources to create descriptions, explanations and historical arguments.