AC9HH7K09 Year 7 Humanities and Social Sciences

AC9HH7K09 – 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

how the physical environment and geographical features influenced the development of the ancient society

Elaborations

• explaining the role of topography in providing barriers of defence for city-states, such as the surrounding seas, mountain ranges and river systems; for example, the Axios (Vardar), Strimonas (Struma) and Nestos rivers
• explaining the role of the fertile soil of the Po and Tiber River regions in enabling trade through surplus production
• describing Roman methods to manage resources; for example, water supply through aqueducts and plumbing systems
• explaining how the Nile River enabled the establishment of ancient Egyptian society through farming (including the role of the inundation), transportation, defence (for example, the cataract fortifications) and religion (for example, Hapi, god of the inundation; Khnum, god of the Nile; and Satet, goddess of Nile floods and the Nile cataracts)
• identifying how the environment and harmonious relationships with the natural world were reflected in belief systems such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism
• examining the role of climate in enabling the establishment and expansion of agriculture around the Yellow River and how this supported the ancient society
• describing the impact of topographic features, such as the Himalayas, rivers and seas, on contact with other societies, including trade and warfare

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.