Unit Title: Who is Captain Cook and what were the ramifications of his journey to Australia?

?Year level:

Term:
Team:

2
Raphaelle Vasta, Jake Matthews,
Lillian Willett & Danielle Marr

Year: 2015
Duration: 6 weeks

Subject Achievement Statement and Standard (Australian Curriculum)

By the end of Year 4, students explain how and why life changed in the past, and identify aspects of the past that
remained the same. They describe the experiences of an individual or group over time. They recognise the
significance of events in bringing about change.
Students sequence events and people (their lifetime) in chronological order to identify key dates. They pose a range
of questions about the past. They identify sources (written, physical, visual, oral), and locate information to answer
these questions. They recognise different points of view. Students develop and present texts, including narratives,
using historical terms.
Year Level Description
First Contacts
The Year 4 curriculum introduces world history and the movement of peoples. Beginning with the history of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, students examine European exploration and colonisation in Australia
and throughout the world up to the early 1800s. Students examine the impact of exploration on other societies, how
these societies interacted with newcomers, and how these experiences contributed to their cultural diversity.
The content provides opportunities to develop historical understanding through key concepts including sources,
continuity and change, cause and effect, perspectives, empathy and significance. These concepts may be
investigated within a particular historical context to facilitate an understanding of the past and to provide a focus for
historical inquiries.
The history content at this year level involves two strands: Historical Knowledge and Understanding and Historical
Skills. These strands are interrelated and should be taught in an integrated way; they may be integrated across
learning areas and in ways that are appropriate to specific local contexts. The order and detail in which they are
taught are programming decisions.
Key Inquiry Questions
A framework for developing students historical knowledge, understanding and skills is provided by inquiry questions
through the use and interpretation of sources. The key inquiry questions at this year level are:
Why did the great journeys of exploration occur?
What was life like for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples before the arrival of the Europeans?
Why did the Europeans settle in Australia?
What was the nature and consequence of contact between Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples and
early traders, explorers and settlers?
Inquiry Question/Fertile Question:
How and when did Captain Cooks journey take place?
What other voyages did Captain Cook undertake?
Which places did Captain Cook visit on his journey to Australia?
What impact did Captain Cook have on the exploration of Australia and its original inhabitants, the
Indigenous people?
Unit Rationale/Overview:
In this unit students will have the opportunity to learn about the life, contributions and death of notable British
explorer, Captain James Cook. Throughout the lessons students will engage with information about Captain Cooks
many journeys (including his deadly visit to Hawaii), with specific focus on his voyage to Australia. They will also learn
about his stops along the way to Australia and the events that took place there. Furthermore the students will
undertake a study of the impact that Captain Cooks visit to Australia had on the original inhabitants of Australia, the
Indigenous people.

This unit utilises the Integrating Socially Model of Inquiry.

Students Prior Learning:

The grade 3 achievement standard outlines that students are capable of:
Sequencing events and people in chronological order, with reference to key dates
Pose questions about the past
Develop text, including narratives, using terms denoting time
Cross Curricular Understandings:
General Capabilities (Australian Curriculum)
Literacy
Composing texts through speaking, writing and
creating
Text knowledge
Grammar knowledge
Word knowledge
Visual knowledge

Cross Curricular Understandings (Australian Curriculum)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and
cultures:
How did the Aboriginals react to Captain Cooks
landing in Australia
How they were affected and how did they feel
How did they live before Captain Cook discovered
Australia?

Information and communication technology capability

Investigating with ICT
Creating with ICT
Critical and creative thinking
Inquiring - identifying, exploring and organising
information and ideas
Reflecting on thinking and processes
Analysing, synthesising and evaluating reasoning
and procedures
Ethical understanding
Developing empathy for others
Intercultural understanding
Learn about Indigenous culture

Teaching Strategy
Throughout this unit students will have red and green cars to show their current understanding of the content being
taught. When the teacher asks, students will hold their cards up during the lesson to symbolise their understanding,
green for they understand and the lesson can proceed, and red for the dont understand and require further
clarification. The teacher may re-explain the concept in a different way for the students who dont understand or a
student who does understand may assist their peer (peer teaching).
This method is not mentioned in the lesson but is an overarching strategy that will be used throughout the unit.

Content Descriptions (Australian Curriculum)

History
Knowledge and Understanding

Skills
Sequence historical people and events (ACHHS081)

The journey(s) of AT LEAST ONE world navigator,

explorer or trader up to the late eighteenth century,
including their contacts with other societies and any
impacts. (ACHHK078)

Pose a range of questions about the past (ACHHS083)

Identify different points of view (ACHHS085)

The diversity of Australias first peoples and the long

continuous connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Peoples to Country/Place (land, sea,
waterways and skies) and the implication for their daily
lives (ACHHK077)

English
Language

Develop texts, particularly narratives (ACHHS086)

Use historical terms (ACHHS082)
Use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic,
written) and digital technologies (ASHS087)

Literature
Create literary texts that explore
students own experiences and
imagining (ACELT1607)

Literacy
Write using clearly-formed joined
letters, and develop increased
fluency and automaticity
(ACELY1696)

Assessment Task:
Formative (For): Timeline
After six lesson, students will be assessed on their knowledge on the dates and events of Captain Cooks life given
during the unit. Students will be given dates and events and must match them up and order them chronologically.
The class will be given the opportunity to discuss their timeline with their teacher individually, and as a class, during
which the educator can provide scaffolding. Before discussing as a class, students will form small groups to discuss
their answers and reasoning.

Summative (Of): Journal Entries

Using knowledge gathered throughout the unit in relation to Captain Cooks explorations of Australia and its impacts
on the local inhabitants, students will construct two journal entries, one from an Indigenous perspective and one
from Captain Cooks perspective. Students will take on a persona and describe one historical event, and how that
impacted their character.
Through this assessment students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of different points of views as
well as show evidence of the narrative writing ability.

Reflective (As): Peer Assessment of Journal Entries

During the second lesson of journal writing students will be asked to form pairs. In these pairs students will read
their peers work and focus on providing constructive criticism. Students will be given time to provide and explain
their feedback with one another, as well as use this feedback to improve their assessment piece.

Lesson Sequence
Learning and Teaching Sequence
Lesson Inquiry Phase
Overview
1
Tuning In &
Read students a picture book on an explorer or voyage. Explain to the class that they
Preparing to Find will be undertaking a study on famous British explorer, Captain Cook.
Ask the class about any prior knowledge they have on the topic. In the discussion ask
what the students would like to learn about Captain Cook-What questions might we
need to ask ourselves throughout this unit?
In groups or pairs students are to form some key inquiry question that the class would
need to learn about an explorer.
Re-join as a class to share inquiry questions. Using the students answer create a class
poster of the inquiry questions. Use these as a guide for further teaching. Scaffold
students if important inquiry elements are missing.

Lesson

Inquiry Phase

Overview

Finding Out

Students will do a brief reflection on the previous lesson about Captain Cook and
recapping their inquiry questions. They will then learn about the first voyage of
Captain Cook and where he made port on his way to discover Australia. They will
learn important dates and destinations of Captain Cook. The teacher will write these
dates and locations up on the board and the students will then pretend to be Captain
Cook and write a letter back home to his family.

Lesson
3

Inquiry Phase
Finding Out

Overview
Students will research Captain Cooks final two journeys in their tables groups. The
students will have 20 minutes on either Laptops or iPads to research his final two
journeys and write down these important dates in their history notebooks. Students
will then compare their research with the rest of the class and how the information
differentiates.

Lesson
4

Inquiry Phase
Finding Out

Overview
Students will watch a video that highlights some of the events from last lesson, so they
can see how it followings on. The next two important dates will be explained through
PowerPoint. The class will then proceed to play a game to help demonstrate how life
was back then through a role playing exercise (where each student is given a charter
and they react to the same events). To conclude the lesson students will write down
some question they would like answered about captain cook (for the next lesson).

Lesson
5

Inquiry Phase
Finding Out

Overview
In this lesson students will go over the last important date 14 Feb 1779 (this is where
captain cook dies). The teacher will do this last date as teacher in role. After going over
this last date the teacher will answer questions (prepared) from last lesson and then
proceed to answer any new questions from the class. After this, (not as teacher in
role) ask students questions about the event to see their understanding and listening
skills.

Lesson
6

Inquiry Phase
Sorting Out

Overview
In this lesson students will recap all the previous knowledge learnt so far. Then
students will be asked a series of questions/facts and they will have to answer it using
socrative. We will then have a class discussion about why the answer is wrong or right.
Students will then proceed to do a mini quiz on socrative. After this students will split

into groups and come up with their own question to ask each other and research the
question they got wrong. To conclude this lesson each group will present an
interesting fact found.
Lesson
7

Inquiry Phase
Sorting Out

Overview
Formative Assessment
Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of key dates in
Captain Cooks life. Students will order dates and events, in a timeline, chronologically
to show their knowledge and show their reasoning behind their decisions. The teacher
will use this assessment to inform further teaching as well as use the lesson to scaffold
any misconceptions about dates and events of Captain Cooks life.
The last part of this lesson will involve students discussing with their timelines with
their peers to help scaffold each others learning. After this the teacher will lead a
whole class discussion of the timeline.

Lesson
8

Inquiry Phase
Going Further

Overview
In this lesson, students will enter the classroom and see that their desks and chairs
have been moved around and not placed in any particular place. Students will have to
sit in their desks without moving them back and then have to discuss how this move
makes them feel, creating a word wall with all the words that they think them up.
After this, relate the way the students feel compared to how the aboriginal and
indigenous people may have felt when Captain Cook cam and change the way they
live. Finally, students will have a look at some information on how the aboriginal and
indigenous people lived before Captain Cook arrived.

Lesson
9

Inquiry Phase
Making
Connections

Overview
In this lesson, students will start off by reflecting upon what they did in the last lesson
and introducing the lesson. Student will then read through a text and watch some
videos, taking notes as they go, that is giving the multiple perspectives from an
aboriginals point of view. To finish up, the students will need to write 4 dot points
that will outline the overall perspective from an aboriginals point of view to give an
outlying trend in what the point of view is.

Lesson
10

Inquiry Phase
Making
Connections

Overview
Using information gathered throughout this unit on Captain Cook and the impact his
discovery of Australia had on the Indigenous people, students will develop two
journal entries expressing two different points of view. Students will construct two
different journal entries; one from Captain Cooks perspective and one from an
Indigenous perspective, detailing the day Captain Cook first stepped on Australia.
The students will be assessed on their historical knowledge, ability to see different
points of view as well their ability to structure text appropriately and use language
features.

Lesson
11

Inquiry Phase
Making
Connections

Overview
In this lesson students will continue their journal entries but also engage in peer
assessment. Students will pair up and read their peers work. Students are to give their
peers constructive feedback, which students will use to enhance their work.
This should be the final lesson students work on their journal entries, however try to
allow students extra time if necessary.

Lesson
11

Inquiry Phase
Taking Action

Overview
As the final lesson of the unit, students will have the opportunity to reflect on their
knowledge gained over six weeks by viewing their prior knowledge concept map
(created in lesson one) and expanding upon it.
With this knowledge students will reflect on how the British occupation of Australia
impacted the Indigenous Australians and make suggestions of how the relationships
could have been improved. They will discuss in small groups ideas of how the British
should have begun their relationship with the Indigenous Australians and hypothesise
about the impacts their idea might have had.
Students will then reflect on these recommendations and how they can apply these to
their own lives.

Resources for unit

*For weblinks specific to each lesson, refer to lesson plan.

Picture book: I wish Id sailed with Captain Cook by Leonie Young

Paper
Pens, pencils, erasers, glue, scissors
A2 poster titled Our Inquiry Questions
Whiteboard
Interactive Whiteboard
Whiteboard markers
History workbooks (for students to take notes in)
Laptops
iPads
Captain Cook costume
Age appropriate history books on Captain Cook

Teacher/Student Unit Evaluation

1. Did the unit meet the intent of the curriculum?

2. Did the sequence of learning activities enable students to demonstrate learning effectively?

3. Did the unit effectively incorporate the general capabilities and cross curricular priorities?

4. Was the unit manageable in size and content?

5. Were the resources appropriate for the unit?