Gold

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Teaching and Learning Proforma -
GOLD! GOLD! GOLD!

(Big idea - To explore the impact of goldmining on Australia's environment.)

Intended Outcomes:

Children will -

Use an inquiry methodology
Utilise prior knowledge of the topic to enhance and extend their learning experiences
Discover that gold has many properties that make it unique
Understand that gold has been a resource valued by people for many years
Investigate the importance of gold to Australia's growth and development
Develop an appreciation of what it means to be a goldminer
Describe, explain and present ideas in a variety of ways
Research, investigate and record information from a variety of sources
Work co-operatively in small groups

Engaging students:

Discuss what children know about the importance of gold in the world over the centuries.

What is known about gold? eg the purity is measured in carets; it will not stain or lose its colour, even in fire; when gold is scratched it leaves a colour the same as gold; it is soft; it is sometimes mixed with copper and silver to make alloys.

An excursion to the Beaconsfield Gold Mine will be incorporated into this unit.

List words relevant to the topic 'gold'. Words can be added to this list throughout the unit. Discuss the meanings of the words.

Books will be set up to create an 'interest centre'.

In groups record facts they already know about gold and questions they would like answered. Discuss these as a class. Add these facts to the 'interest centre'. Add new facts as they arise.

Refining (students’ questions, ideas and teacher’s intentions):

Early discoveries - The first goldmine was opened in about 1500 BC by an Egyptian Pharaoh.
Romans first to mine.
Modern era of gold rushes began in America in 1849, then spread to Australia and South Africa.

Extending:

Read 'The Golden Years', In the Past, p 82 -83. Children answer questions on Response Sheet 14.

Children to discover more about life in Australia after the first finding of gold.
Various art, mapping cloze, comprehension, and other English activities will be utilised.
(Each child will have a booklet to work through.)
Topics to research include:

Reasons why the government discourage the search for gold
The effects of the gold rush on the cities - Australia's booming population
Getting to the goldfields
Life on the goldfields - kinds of people that went to the goldfields
Major goldfields
Famous characters
Immigrants
Equipment used
Eureka
Licenses

Discovering Australian History is a useful resource full of activities for the above topics.

'At Mt Alexander', In the Past, p 84 88 read to the class. Pause to discuss certain aspects. Children complete the cloze sheet on Response Sheet 15. Discuss the construction of a class mural based on pictures in the book.

In a class group, read and discuss the text 'People at the Diggings', In the Past, p 89 - 90.

'The Chinese Camels', In the Past, p 91 -94 read. This passage has examples of metaphor, simile, personification, descriptive comparison and descriptive words. also, features of punctuation - commas, colons, semicolons, exclamation marks and hyphenated words - add to the overall effect of the passage. Children complete response sheet 16.

'Law and Order on the Goldfields', In the Past, p 95 -102 read and discussed. In groups identify major components in the article. Display created 'wall stories' or comic strips that illustrate and describe the events portrayed in the article on the classroom wall.

Using resource sheet 11 children recount events in 'Law and Order on the Goldfields'.

Read 'The Roaring Days' by Henry Lawson to the class. Discuss the poem.
Give groups of four each a copy to cut up into four verses and ask them to negotiate who will have which verse.
Ask each group member to:

paint a picture illustrating his or her verse on a large sheet of art paper
practise reading the verse aloud
combine with the others to practise reading the four verses in order, to discuss possible sound effects, to decide how the paintings might be combined with the poetry and to perform the poem for the class.

Reflecting on what we have learnt

Children will revise the unit by completing the In the Past crossword on response sheet 17.

Discuss with children the impact the discovery of gold had on Australia.

Population boom - immigration
Types of work
Building of roads and railways
Development of towns
Abolition of licenses
Trade Unions
Voting

Teaching Resources:

Brown, Doug & Monoghan, Bob Comprehension 6 Longman Cheshire Pty Limited Melbourne 1994

Brown, Doug & Monoghan, Bob Grammar 6 Longman Cheshire Pty Limited Melbourne 1995

Eshuys Guest Phelan Discovering Australian History Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd South Melbourne 1996

Fletcher, Helen Cloze in on Themes Book 1 Holding Educational Aids (Australiasia) Pty. Ltd.

Garoni, Dennis Practical Projects Longman Cheshire Pty Limited Melbourne 1990

Walters, Lynley Non-fiction Cloze and Comprehension Activities Book 4 Longman Cheshire Pty Limited Melbourne 1993

Rigby English - Teachers Resource Book, Student Response Sheets, Upper Primary B Rigby Heinemann 1993 Singapore

Ashton Scholastic Senior Topics - Gold

Videos -
Australian Goldrushes Yrs 4 - 6
Sovereign Hill: a story of Gold

Educational Kits -
Gold Rushes of the 1850s

Internet resources -
    The Goldfields Internet Project http://www.ballarat.edu.au/external/sovhill/eureka.htm
    Creating a Goldfields Slide Show http://www.serct.schnet.edu.au/capc.sose/popwell.htm
    Australian Mining History http://www.ballarat.edu.au/external/bgold/minehist.htm
    Gold 150 http://www.ballarat.edu.au/krause/external/sovhill/gold150/sovhill.htm
    Ballarat Mining History http://goldfields.ballarat.net.au/history.html
    The Goldfields Towns and Attractions http://www.atn.com.au/vic/west/towns-c.htm

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