First of all, I want to find out what you know
about what we use fire for
and what Indigenous Australians today might even use fire for.
My name is Nicole Scrivener.
To prevent future fires.
We are at Sturt Street Community Primary School.
I teach a Year 2/3 class.
I have always been interested, as a teacher,
with Indigenous culture and embedding that in my programs always.
Similar things over here. Keeping warm.
It's been majority a focus on science
so that it's embedded within the Australian Curriculum.
In a bushfire, animals...
NICOLE: However, Indigenous perspective
can be brought in from all different learning areas.
..fairly safe.
This morning, we will be using a comprehension piece
as a springboard into discussing about firestick farming.
When it regrows, the animals come
to get the new plants because they're tastier,
and so that's easier to catch them.
Now, it is a silent film and it's from the 1800s.
Earlier on in my career, I was more timid
about how to go about doing it.
So we've got the rubbing. What do you think is down the bottom?
It's kind of like a bowl
and there's some special grass that you put in it.
From this, the children head off to enact their own role-play
of acting out a firestick farming scene.
So how are you going to show
that you were making fire from that demonstration?
And then you put in your stick.
Today, the children are actually acting out
their own knowledge about firestick farming -
how it happens, the scenery,
the scenario that would happen as a result of that.
That's used to help demonstrate what they know and what they have learnt.
(DIDGERIDOO MUSIC)
The animals would be drawn out with the fire.
Racing towards the billabong, the hunters were by the billabong.
I asked them, "Where would you like your billabong?"
They said, "By the hunters."
They were demonstrating that they knew the procedure.
Overall, I think it worked really well.
Can I get you to tiptoe...?
When we were doing it, I was thinking it would have been nice
to have had the children research some Kaurna language words
to use in the role-play.
Kaurna is the community in the Adelaide city region.
I had them asking me, "Can we present it in front of other classes?"
So there's still...
I think we'll continue with this for a while.
A lot of what we have been doing has been a collaborative effort.
Today, I'm going to be working with a colleague
to look at the Aboriginal Cultural Studies Resource Moodle.
So, basically, it is a framework.
And, because I have helped with its development,
I'm able to take her through the different aspects
and how they interconnect to the curriculum.
So, for Year 5, say.
And have a look across.
You can see that under 'country', "What can we learn about
"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander astronomy?"
So, this might be useful for an inquiry unit on space.
Fantastic. Yes.
Then, it goes on, "How are the students going to get there?"
This is a lot to do with that backward design planning
that we've been using in maths and science ourselves as well.
It all interconnects and links.
So I'm wondering what your focus, inquiry focus is this term?
Last term, we looked at time as a class group.
I'm with my own maths group this term. We'll be revisiting that.
I suppose I can give an example.
Firestick farming and seasons.
"Investigating the seasons used by Aboriginal people,
"comparing them to those used in Western society
"and recognising the connection to the weather patterns."
So that was in 'Measurement and Geometry', the Australian Curriculum.
Some of that information too will be useful in 5/6/7 maths.
-Yes. Yes, of course. -Regarding seasons and times.
-We can link that across. -Yes. Beautiful. Ties in well.
There you go.
It's not about teaching on its own. It is about integrating it.
Science, maths, history, English.
It can be integrated in many different ways
and so it becomes less daunting because it's actually daily practice.