Stage 3 • History • NSW HSIE K–6 (2024)

The site study connects strongly with the History focus areas “History uses sources to construct narratives of the past” and “Historical sources present perspectives on the past.” Students build historical knowledge and vocabulary while using sources to develop and communicate interpretations.

Stage 3 Syllabus Outcomes

Targeting Stage 3 (Years 5–6), this study centres on outcome HS3-HIS-01: examines and describes the development of Australian colonies and Australia as a nation, using sources as evidence. Students examine historical sources to construct narratives of the past, interrogating photographs, journals, and physical artefacts to build critical historical literacy.

 

 

Learning Intentions

  • Investigate a historically significant site using historical inquiry. 
  • Analyse primary and secondary sources and identify their usefulness and limitations
  • Distinguish observation, inference and evidence. 
  • Compare experiences and perspectives represented through sources.
  • Corroborate evidence and construct an evidence-based historical narrative. 

Perspectives in historical inquiry

Students discover that historical sources present diverse perspectives on the past. Through guided investigations, learners compare the personal experiences of servicemen, servicewomen, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service personnel, questioning who created each source, whose voices are amplified, and how commemoration shapes national memory.

Success criteria

  • I can explain why the Australian War Memorial is historical significant 
  • I can analyse what a historical source reveals and identify its limitations.
  • I can distinguish an observation from an inference.
  • I can compare experiences and perspectives represented in sources.
  • I can support a historical claim with relevant evidence.
  • I can explain how choices about commemoration shape understandings of the past.