When the power goes off, Big Cuz, Nanna, Little J and Old Dog go to the beach. They use bread to catch hermit crabs, which in turn are used to catch a ‘bluebone’ fish. Big Cuz learns how to fish, Nanna makes a fire to cook the fish, and Little J finds a large clam shell to take to school the next day.

Evaluate - Reflect on learning to propose how to care for places and sites that are important or significant

Theme - ECOSYSTEMS

Evaluate what students have learnt (know and can do) from the activities in relation to the HASS_ Geography curriculum.

Assess the success of the module through reflecting on students:

• posing and responding to questions about the typography of the beach environment and sea zones,
• identifying various beach types and identifying how they are defined
• mapping the oceans and seas that surround Australia and sourcing relevant information to respond to questions about them
• collecting data on the threats to fishing and marine life in Australian waters, and suggesting solutions
• reading books/viewing videoed information about people/animals who use the beach in various ways
• responding orally to observations, information and descriptive texts
• recording the relations in an ecosystem between living and non-living organisms
• exploring the traditional tools and technologies used by Aboriginal peoples and/or Torres Strait Island people for fishing and trapping marine animals.

As a culmination of the learning in the module, students could:

• Participate in an excursion to the local beach to make a photo story of an ecosystem in action. Make a wildlife documentary of the excursion.
• Listen to and learn from a visit by an Aboriginal Elder or recognised representative and/or Torres Strait Islander Elder or recognised representative invited to speak with students about, the traditional fishing techniques and technologies used in the local area. Students could learn selected words of the local language related to the focus of their learning.
• Collect and categories a selection of shell and marine exhibits labelling the beach zones they are found in, and their interdependence on other marine organisms(if students can’t contribute suitable objects, contact the state museum who may be able to send some to you).
• Design and create a game based on recognising the threats to an ecosystem. The board game could be based on a ‘Monopoly’ game board, where the participant tolls could be endangered species, and the street squares could be replaced with the names of oceans, seas and significant waterways, beaches and coastal towns in Australia. The questions could relate to ecosystems, types of beaches and threats to the environment.

Student evaluation tools

Students could self-evaluate their learning using a ‘monitoring’ journal (physical or digital) where the teacher lists the key understandings and concepts students needed to acquire through the module.

Where applicable, a self-evaluation could be constructed as a poll rating their responses using:

• Kahoot
• Quizlet

Use Early Years writing using rubrics to provide feedback to students.

Students can use a learning worm to evaluate their work, adapted from:

• Learning Worm 

Teacher reflection tools

Reflect on your teaching of the module. What worked well? What needs more work? What would you add/change/omit in future? Ask students to rate your efforts and recommend areas for improvement. You may wish to refer to broader resources for reflection or for gaining feedback, for example:

• Demonstrating impact 
• ‘How-to’ guide: Learning walks 
• Reflection on Practice Tool