Melba Copland Secondary School is the only 7 – 12 Public School in Canberra. The dual camps school became an International Baccalaureate (IB) candidate school delivering the Middle Years Program (MYP) in 2014. In 2020, to maintain IB accreditation and MYP curriculum development goals, Melba Copland Secondary School (MCSS) is required to develop and deliver an interdisciplinary unit for each year group. The Humanities faculty, including the subjects Language and Literature (English) and Individuals and Societies (Social Studies), nominated to develop the Year 10 unit incorporating elements of History, Civics and Citizenship and English. The MYP provides basic guidance to shape the educational program with a comprehensive framework of concepts for learning. In addition, the Australian Curriculum is used for guidance on content, skills and achievement standards.
The unit, designed to be launched in 2020, has a focus on protest and Aboriginal land rights. MCSS has a comprehensive and proactive approach to cultural integrity and the inclusion of First Nations voices in the curriculum. An extensive collection of resources exists to support learning about land rights and an Augmented Reality, GPS, situated documentary, Protest ’72, was developed to launch the unit. While the majority of the unit will focus on more recent history and protests of the land rights movement, the teaching team thought it important to challenge the concept of when land rights began in Australia with discussion of the Frontier Wars. To that end, this project was developed to introduce students to early conflict in the colony and specifically to the warrior Pemulwuy of the Eora nation who lead the early resistance to the expansion of the settlement. Students will be asked to engage with the story of Pemulwuy to decided if his actions constitute ideas of protest that we still recognise and to discuss the ethics of where the moral line should be drawn in the case of actions where one is protecting their land and people. They will consider the success or lack of in his actions and potential other courses of action. They will also reflect on current views of the Frontier Wars.
Students will produce work in response to this unit taking the role of an investigative journalist. “They would research as historians and write as journalists” (D. Dunn, personal communication, August 18, 2020), an approach to learning and demonstrating understanding not already being explored through the curriculum. They will consider past, present, and future issues of land rights and may directly investigate the frontier wars for their assessment in response to the unit.
The Middle Years Program curriculum design requires 4 key elements as starting points in designing an inquiry: The Global Perspective, Key Concept, Related Concepts, and the Statement of Inquiry. These provide guidance for the development of the unit. For the Year 10 Interdisciplinary unit, the following criteria were selected as the focus.
| Global Perspective | Orientation in Time and Space
· Exploration to develop: Indigenous Understanding |
| Key Concept | Change |
| Related Concepts | English: purpose
SoSE: causality |
| Statement of Inquiry | People use voice to generate protests against injustice that can act as a catalyst for change. |
An MYP unit also requires a range of inquiry questions that students will be given the opportunity to address throughout the unit. These include categories of factual, conceptual, and debatable questions. The inclusion of content about Pemulwuy and the Frontier Wars allows students to consider protest actions that are unfamiliar to them and think ‘outside the box’ in relation to current land rights issues and how the story of Australia came to be. The inquiry questions for this interdisciplinary unit are listed in the table below.
|
Factual |
What are some protests in history? |
| Factual | What are some of the reasons why people have protested or revolted in the past? |
| Factual | What changes occurred in society due to a specific protest movement? |
| Conceptual | How do protest movements cause change? |
| Conceptual | What are the legacies of human rights movements and how do these movements impact our lives today? |
| Debatable | Can protesting make a difference? |
| Debatable | Does personal voice matter? |
Finally, the Australian Curriculum (2020) provides guidance with respect to content and skill development of students. This interdisciplinary unit will provide student the opportunity to develop their understanding and skills across a range of subject areas addressing the following outcomes.
English
- Understand how language use can have inclusive and exclusive social effects, and can empower or disempower people ACELT 1564
- Compare the purposes, textstructures and language features of traditional and contemporary texts in different media ACELT 1566
- Understand how paragraphs and images can be arranged for different purposes, audiences, perspectives and stylistic effects ACELT 1567
- Evaluate the impact on audiences of different choices in the representation of still and moving images ACELT 1572
- Compare and evaluate a range of representations of individuals and groups in different historical, social and cultural contexts ACELT 1639
- Evaluate the social, moral and ethical positions represented in texts ACELT 1812
- Createliterary texts with a sustained ‘voice’, selecting and adapting appropriate text structures, literary devices, language, auditory and visual structures and features for a specific purpose and intended audience ACELT 1815
History
- Background to the struggle of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples for rights and freedoms before 1965, including the 1938 Day of Mourning and the Stolen Generations ACDSEH104
- The significanceof the following for the civil rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: 1962 right to vote federally; 1967 Referendum; Reconciliation; Mabo decision; Bringing Them Home Report (the Stolen Generations), the Apology ACDSEH106
- Methods used by civil rights activists to achieve change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and the role of ONE individual or group in the struggle ACSDEH134
- The continuing nature of efforts to secure civil rights and freedoms in Australia and throughout the world, such as the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) ACSDEH143
- Identify and locate relevant sources, using ICT and other methods ACHHS186
- Identify and analyse the perspectives of people from the past ACHHS190
- Develop texts, particularly descriptions and discussions that use evidencefrom a range of sources that are referenced ACHHS192
- Select and use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and digital technologies ACHHS193
Civics
- The role of the High Court, including in interpreting the Constitution ACHCK092
- How Australia’s international legal obligations shape Australian lawand government policies, including in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples ACHCK093
- Identify, gather and sort information and ideas from a range of sources and reference as appropriate ACHCS096
This unit is yet to be taught and reflection and review is an essential element of the development and teaching of any MYP unit. This process is sure to provide further opportunity for refinement and development of digital literature included in the learning experiences.
Part B: Digital Story Project https://sway.office.com/SXR1Kgk1c0NaSwhR
References
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2020) F-10 Curriculum. https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/#
International Baccalaureate (2015). Fostering interdisciplinary teaching and learning in the MYP. http://marymount.emsb.qc.ca/documents/IB/2016-2017/Interdiscipllinary%20guide.pdf
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