Focus – Geography  – Australian Environments and Science – Living World

Outcomes: *GE2-1 *GE2-2 *ST2-1WS *ST2-4LWS

Students learn about natural environments and explore the Penrith Lakes Area.

Activities include: Introduction to Penrith Lakes and Australian environments, Yowie hunt using compass directions, terrestrial and aquatic invertebrate ‘hands-on’ discovery and bird observation.

Key inquiry questions covered:

Geography: Places are similar and different

• How and why are places similar and different?

Science: Living world

• How can we group living things?
• What are similarities and differences between the life cycles of living things?
• How are environments and living things interdependent?

Focus – History – Community/First Contacts

Outcomes: *HT2-2 Community. *HT2-4 First Contacts

It provides opportunities for students to investigate change over time in the Penrith Lakes area of Sydney, local heritage and the impacts of various eras of human occupancy.

Activities include: Introduction to changing communities, heritage tour and search, cemetery investigation and Aboriginal plant uses hunt.

Key inquiry questions – Community:

• Who lived here first and how do we know?
• How has our community changed? What features have been lost and what features have been retained?
• What is the nature of the contribution made by different groups and individuals in the community?

Key inquiry questions – First contacts:

• What was life like for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples before the arrival of the Europeans?
• What was the nature and consequence of contact between Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and early settlers?

Focus – Geography – Natural Environment

Outcomes: *GE2-1 *GE2-2 *GE2-3

The geographical inquiry process will investigate Penrith Lakes Scheme as a sustainable contemporary geographical land use issue at a local scale.

Activities include: Introduction and tour of Penrith Lakes, water testing using geographical tools, aquatic invertebrate and bird investigation. Evaluation of Penrith Lakes as a sustainable environment.

Key inquiry questions explored:

• How does the environment support the lives of people and other living things?
• How do different views about the environment influence approaches to sustainability?
• How can people use places and environments more sustainably?