Year 5 unit overview Australian Curriculum: Geography.

Information taken and adapted from: Australian Curriculum,

Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), Australian Curriculum v5.0: Geography for Foundation10,
www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Geography/Curriculum/F-10.

Year 5 Unit Overview

Learning Area

Unit title

Duration of unit

Year 5 Geography

Natural hazards (Flooding)

12 x 70 Minute Lessons

Identify Curriculum
Key/Guiding Questions
Problem - The Sunshine Coast has been issued with a severe fl ood warning which threatens to cause the
next natural disaster! What can we do!?

What is a flood and what are the different types?

What are the impact of floods on people and the environment?
What can we do about preventing reducing, preparing for and responding to floods?
Why is it important to think about this?
What is currently in place in Australia or globally to solve this problem?
What is the location, severity and frequency of these events in Australia?
What are the causes of floods?
What does the data we have collected suggest?
What is the significance of these events to your life today?
What does someone who doesnt know anything about floods need to know to prevent or survive this type of
natural disaster?
How effective is your disaster management plan?

Content Descriptions:

Geographical
knowledge and
understanding

The impact of bushfires or floods on environments and communities, and how people can
respond (ACHGK030)

mapping and explaining the location, frequency and severity of bushfires or flooding in
Australia

explaining the impacts of fire on Australian vegetation and the significance of fire
damage on communities
researching how the application of principles of prevention, mitigation and
preparedness minimises the harmful effects of bushfires or flooding

Observing,
questioning and
planning

develop geographical questions to plan an inquiry about the impact of bushfires or floods on
people and places

Collecting,
recording,
evaluating and
representing

collect, record and represent relevant geographical data and information from sources about the
location, frequency and severity of bushfires or flooding in Australia and a selected country or
world region

represent the locations of bushfires or flooding in Australia and a selected country or world
region on large-scale and small-scale maps

evaluate the usefulness of collected data and represent data and information

Interpreting,
analysing and
concluding

investigate management of spaces within places affected by bushfires or floods and identify the
principles of prevention, mitigation and preparedness as ways to minimise the effects of
bushfires or flooding

Communicating

interpret geographical data and information and infer relationships to draw conclusions to
identify distributions, patterns and trends about bushfires or flooding using spatial technologies

where appropriate.
Reflecting and
responding

Present findings and ideas and reflect on learning to propose actions about the management of
spaces within places.

Unit outline
This unit of work was designed for a Year 5 cohort based on the Geography Curriculum. The focus was creating a unit which
integrates ICTs in an authentic, purposeful manner to transform the learning design and outcome. The topic for the unit is the
impact of flooding on people and the environment. Flooding was chosen as opposed to bushfires due to the location of the
intended cohort given that flooding is much more of a threat to their everyday lives based on the patterns of historical events
in Queensland. The context is provided to the students in the form of an authentic problem relating to their real lives:
Problem - The Sunshine Coast has been issued with a severe fl ood warning which threatens to cause the
next natural disaster! What can we do!?
The unit has been planned with the integration of two major frameworks. Firstly, the content and learning sequence was
designed around the Science 5 Es framework (engage, explore, explain, extend and evaluate (Australian Academy of
Science, 2015) Secondly, the pedagogy and presentation of the teaching strategies to students was designed using the
Technology Cycle (Queensland Studies Authority, 2003).
These frameworks and the integration of ICTs were selected to ensure that the learning experiences provided an authentic,
rigorous, problem-based inquiry sequence which encourages student directed learning and higher order thinking skills.

Students will:

Develop problem solving skills;

Follow an a problem based sequence to find solutions;

Guide their own learning;

Develop their own questions;

Collect and represent data using ICTs;

Interpret data;

Evaluate sources;

Represent locations and features of places using technologies;

Interact with various technologies;

Consider the location, frequency and severity of bushfires and floods using a map;

Present findings.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Students will understand

Students will know and be able to

DK 1 The impact of floods on people and the environment.

PK 1 Develop questions to investigate the topic of flooding to

guide learning.

DK 2 The measures that can be taken by humans to prevent,

mitigate and respond to floods nationally and internationally. PK 2 Collect, record, represent and evaluate information
appropriately.
DK 3 The location, frequency and severity of flooding
nationally and internationally.
PK 3 Identify the locations nationally and internationally
which have been flood affected.
DK 4 How to collect, record, represent and evaluate
information appropriately.
PK 4 Interpret geographical data and information and infer
relationships to draw conclusions to identify distributions,
DK 5 How to be an effective team member.
patterns and trends about flooding.
PK 5 Present ideas to promote actions to the community.

PK 6 To be an effective team member.

Assessment Overview
Students use their knowledge and understandings of the topic developed through the problem based learning approach to
develop a disaster management plan to aid the people of the Sunshine Coast to prevent, prepare, mitigate and respond to a
potential flood in the area. The task will be evidenced in the students group construction of a website demonstrating their
learning and research. They will then use their new knowledge to create and present a Disaster Management Plan in their
groups in a format of their choice. The will finally evaluate their disaster management plans in the form of an individual peer
assessment which will be presented as a blog post.
The learning design incorporates opportunities for students to acquire the skills and knowledge to complete this task as well
as the opportunity for feedback and support throughout. The assessment is to be completed in allocated computer lab time.
Students will be encouraged to access the library computers or work from home to complete tasks outside of this schedule.