k10outline - Year 6 Syllabus

Year 6 SyllabusTest

Year 6 Syllabus

Year Level Description

In Year 6, Humanities and Social Sciences consists of Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business, Geography and History.

Students develop their understanding and application of skills, including questioning and researching, analysing, evaluating, communicating and reflecting. They apply these skills to their daily learning experiences and to investigate events, developments, issues and phenomena, both historical and contemporary.

Students continue building on their understanding of the concepts of justice, rights and responsibilities, and the Westminster system. They investigate Australia's democratic system of government, including state/territory and federal parliaments, and the court system. Students examine Australian citizenship, and reflect on the rights and responsibilities that being a citizen entails.

Students further develop their understanding of economics and business concepts, such as scarcity and making choices, as they explore the ways resources are allocated to meet needs and wants in their community. They consider the effect of consumer and financial decisions on individuals, the community and the environment. Students focus on community or regional issues, with opportunities for concepts to also be considered in national or global contexts where appropriate.

The concepts of place, space, environment, interconnection, sustainability and change continue to be developed as a way of thinking. Students inquire into the factors that shape the diverse characteristics of different places and how people, places and environments are interconnected, including a study of the world's cultural, economic, demographic and social diversity. The development of the students' mental map of the world is extended through a study of the location of countries in the Asia region.

Students are given the opportunity to develop their historical understanding through the key concepts of sources, continuity and change, cause and effect, perspectives, empathy and significance. These concepts are investigated within the historical context of the development of Australia as a nation, particularly after 1900; the factors that led to Federation; and how Australian society changed throughout the 20th century.

Knowledge and understanding

Civics and citizenship

Australia's system of government and citizenship

The key institutions of Australia's democratic system of government based on the Westminster system, including the monarchy, parliaments and courts (ACHASSK143)

The roles and responsibilities of the three levels of government, including the shared roles and responsibilities within Australia's federal system (ACHASSK144)

How laws are initiated and passed through the federal parliament (ACHASSK146)

Who can be an Australian citizen, the formal rights and responsibilities, and shared values of Australian citizenship (ACHASSK147)

Economics and business

Trade-offs and impacts of consumer and financial decisions

Choices about the use of resources result from the imbalance of limited resources and unlimited wants (i.e. the concept of scarcity) (ACHASSK149)

Decisions about the alternative use of resources result in the need to consider trade-offs (e.g. using the land to grow crops or to graze cattle) (ACHASSK149)

The impact consumer purchasing decisions can have on a family, the broader community (e.g. purchasing from the local growers' market or a supermarket chain) and the environment (e.g. pollution, waste) (ACHASSK150)

Businesses provide goods and services in different ways (e.g. shopping centres, local markets, online stores, small independent stores, remote community stores) to earn revenue (ACHASSK151)

Geography

A diverse and connected world

The location of the major countries of the Asia region in relation to Australia and the geographical diversity within the region (ACHASSK138)

Differences in the economic characteristics (e.g. per capita income, energy consumption), demographic characteristics (e.g. population size, density) and social characteristics (e.g. life expectancy, education) of a selection of countries across the world (ACHASSK139)

The world's cultural diversity, including that of its indigenous peoples who live in different regions in the world, such as the Maori of Aotearoa (New Zealand), and the Orang Asli of Malaysia and Indonesia (ACHASSK140)

Australia's connections with countries (e.g. trade, migration, tourism, aid, education, defence, sport) and how these connections change people and places (ACHASSK141)

History

Australia as a nation

Key figures (e.g. Henry Parkes, Edmund Barton, George Reid, John Quick), ideas and events (e.g. the Tenterfield Oration, the Corowa Conference, the referendums) that led to Australia's Federation and Constitution, including British and American influences on Australia's system of law and government (e.g. Magna Carta, federalism, constitutional monarchy, the Westminster system, the Houses of Parliament) (ACHASSK134)

Experiences of Australia's democracy and citizenship, including the status and rights of Aboriginal people and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples, migrants, women and children (ACHASSK135)

Stories of groups of people who migrated to Australia (including from one Asian country), the reasons they migrated (e.g. push–pull factors) and their contributions to society (ACHASSK136)(ACHASSK137)

Humanities and Social Sciences skills

Questioning and researching

Identify current understandings, consider possible misconceptions and identify personal views on a topic (e.g. KWL chart, concept map) (WAHASS50)

Develop and refine a range of questions required to plan an inquiry (WAHASS51)

Locate and collect information and/or data from a range of appropriate primary sources and secondary sources (e.g. museums, media, library catalogues, interviews, internet) (WAHASS52)

Record selected information and/or data using a variety of methods (e.g. use graphic organisers, paraphrase, summarise) (WAHASS53)

Use ethical protocols when gathering information and/or data (e.g. acknowledge the work of others, reference work appropriately, obtain permission to use photographs and interviews) (WAHASS54)

Analysing

Use criteria to determine the relevancy of information (e.g. consider accuracy, reliability, publication date, usefulness to the question) (WAHASS55)

Interpret information and/or data collected (e.g. sequence events in chronological order, identify cause and effect, make connections with prior knowledge) (WAHASS56)

Identify different points of view/perspectives in information and/or data (e.g. analyse language, identify motives) (WAHASS57)

Translate collected information and/or data to a variety of different formats (e.g. create a timeline, draw maps, convert a table of statistics into a graph) (WAHASS58)

Evaluating

Draw and justify conclusions, and give explanations, based on the information and/or data in texts, tables, graphs and maps (e.g. identify patterns, infer relationships) (WAHASS59)

Use decision-making processes (e.g. share opinions and personal perspectives, consider different points of view, identify issues, develop possible solutions, plan for action, identify advantages and disadvantages of different options) (WAHASS60)

Communicating and reflecting

Present findings, conclusions and/or arguments, appropriate to audience and purpose, in a range of communication forms (e.g. written, oral, visual, digital, tabular, graphic, maps) and using subject-specific terminology and concepts (WAHASS61)

Develop a variety of texts, including narratives, descriptions, biographies and persuasive texts, based on information collected from source materials (WAHASS62)

Reflect on learning, identify new understandings and act on findings in different ways (e.g. suggest additional questions to be investigated, propose a course of action on an issue that is significant to them) (WAHASS63)

Achievement standard

At Standard, students develop questions for a specific purpose. They locate and collect relevant information and/or data from primary and/or secondary sources, using appropriate methods to organise and record information. Students apply ethical protocols when collecting information. They use criteria to determine the relevance of information and/or data. Students interpret information and/or data, sequence information about events, identify different perspectives, and describe cause and effect. They use a variety of appropriate formats to translate collected information and draw conclusions from evidence in information and/or data. Students engage in a range of processes when making decisions in drawing conclusions. They consider audience and purpose when selecting appropriate communication forms. Students develop a variety of texts that incorporate source materials, using some subject-specific terminology and concepts. They reflect on findings to refine their learning.

Students recognise that Australia’s democracy is based on the Westminster system, and describe the roles and responsibilities of each level of government and how laws are made. They identify the democratic values associated with Australian citizenship and describe the rights and responsibilities of being an Australian citizen.

Students identify the imbalance between needs and wants, and describe how the allocation of resources involves trade-offs. They identify the advantages and disadvantages of specialisation in terms of the different ways businesses organise the provision of goods and services. Students identify the factors that influence consumer decisions when making choices, and the consequences of those choices for businesses and the consumer.

Students identify the location of Asia and its major countries, in relation to Australia. They recognise the geographical and cultural diversity of places, by describing the physical and human characteristics of specific places, at the local to global scale. Students identify that people, places and environments are interconnected and describe how these interconnections lead to change.

Students explain the significance of an individual, group or event on the Federation of Australia, and identify ideas and/or influences of other systems on the development of Australia as a nation. They describe continuity and change in relation to Australia’s democracy and citizenship. Students compare experiences of migration and describe the cause and effect of change on society.