Activity: Take 3 – Questions To Explore How You Need The Ocean – HASS – Years 4 to 6

Quick summary: Students explore the ways that we are connected to the ocean through the ways we need it. They begin by completing a prior knowledge activity to help them understand that we both need and impact the ocean. They then participate in a guided discussion around a clip from Take 3 For The Sea. This clip explores some of the details around how we need the ocean for a range of factors, including oxygen, food, rain, weather and climate. Students then develop a series of questions to help them guide an inquiry into the question ‘how do we need oceans?’

Take 3 is an Australian charity removing rubbish from the environment through education programs, international campaigns and clean-ups. Take 3’s call to action is simple: Take 3 pieces of rubbish with you when you leave the beach, waterway or… anywhere and you have made a difference.

 

 

 

Learning intentions: 

• Students understand that life on earth is dependent upon healthy oceans
• Students understand some of the ways that humans need or take from the oceans.

21st century skills: 

 

Australian Curriculum Mapping

Content descriptions: 

Depending on the activities you choose, you may meet the following content descriptions:

Year 4 HASS

• Pose questions to investigate people, events, places and issues (ACHASSI073)
• The diversity of Australia’s first peoples and the long and continuous connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to Country/Place (land, sea, waterways and skies) (ACHASSK083)
• The importance of environments, including natural vegetation, to animals and people (ACHASSK088)
• Optional: Present ideas, findings and conclusions in texts and modes that incorporate digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms (ACHASSI082)

Year 4 English

• Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts containing key information and supporting details for a widening range of audiences, demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features (ACELY1694)
• Re-read and edit for meaning by adding, deleting or moving words or word groups to improve content and structure (ACELY1695)

Year 5 HASS 

• Develop appropriate questions to guide an inquiry about people, events, developments, places, systems and challenges (ACHASSI094)
• The influence of people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, on the environmental characteristics of Australian places (ACHASSK112)
• Optional: Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions (ACHASSI105)

Year 5 English 

• Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose and audience (ACELY1704)
• Re-read and edit student’s own and others’ work using agreed criteria for text structures and language features (ACELY1705)

Year 6 HASS 

• Develop appropriate questions to guide an inquiry about people, events, developments, places, systems and challenges (ACHASSI122)
• The world’s cultural diversity, including that of its indigenous peoples (ACHASSK140)
• Optional: Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions (ACHASSI133)

Year 6 English 

• Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, choosing and experimenting with text structures, language features, images and digital resources appropriate to purpose and audience (ACELY1714)
• Re-read and edit students’ own and others’ work using agreed criteria and explaining editing choices (ACELY1715)

Syllabus outcomes: GE2-1, GE2-2, GE2-3, GE2-4, GE3-2, GE3-3, GE3-4, EN2-2A, EN3-2A

General capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking, Literacy. 

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability (OI.2), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures (OI.2, OI.3).

Relevant parts of Year 4 HASS achievement standards: Students develop questions to investigate. They identify the interconnections between components of the environment and between people and the environment. They present findings using geographical terminology in a range of texts.

Relevant parts of Year 4 English achievement standards: Students create structured texts to explain ideas for different audiences. They reread and edit their work to improve meaning.

Relevant parts of Year 5 HASS achievement standards: Students develop questions for an investigation. They identify and describe the interconnections between people and the human and environmental characteristics of places. They present their ideas, findings and conclusions in a range of communication forms using discipline-specific terms and appropriate conventions.

Relevant parts of Year 5 English achievement standards: Students create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts for different purposes and audiences. They edit their work for cohesive structure and meaning.

Relevant parts of Year 6 HASS achievement standards: Students develop appropriate questions to frame an investigation. They describe how people, places, communities and environments are interconnected. They present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of communication forms that incorporate source materials, mapping, graphing, communication conventions and discipline-specific terms.

Relevant parts of Year 6 English achievement standards: Students create detailed texts elaborating on key ideas for a range of purposes and audiences.

Topic: Ocean Conservation, Sustainability. 

This lesson is part of the wider unit of work Take 3 For The Sea – Project-based Learning – Years 4 to 6.

Time required: 60 mins.

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – lead guided discussion, oversee question generation activities.

Resources required:

• Device capable of presenting a website and video to the class
• Generating Questions Factsheet
• Ocean Connection Images (optional)
• Student Worksheet – one copy per student.

Keywords: Take 3 For The Sea, oceans, connections, systems, oxygen, food, climate, weather.

These lessons have been created in partnership with Take 3 and are made possible thanks to their funding partner SC Johnson. Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.