Humanities occupies a unique space within the primary curriculum. It explicitly invites students to observe, interpret and engage with the world around them, creating a foundation for authentic learning.
Why use a community resource?
The Victorian Curriculum for Humanities is structured around the “expanding communities model” whereby learners move from familiar people and places through to global social, historical and geographical concepts (VCAA, n.d.; (Hanna, 1958, as cited in Stallones, 2002). While this progression provides scaffolding, the content risks becoming abstract as it moves beyond a learner’s personal context. Place-based learning, therefore, is critical in ensuring that conceptually demanding content remains relevant to the learner by supporting them to connect prior knowledge to new knowledge and experience (Reynolds, 2014 as cited in Green & Price, 2025). Compelling evidence suggests that place-based visits to community resources, such as the one on this website, deepens subject-specific learning while also promoting critical thinking, questioning and civic responsibility (Green & Price, 2025; Reynolds, 2019).
How to select a suitable community resource
Thoughtful selection of a community resource is critical to its effectiveness. Dights Falls, chosen for its cultural, ecological and historic importance, is a site of deep significance to the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Traditional Owners. Their existing education work informed its selection and the activities intentionally build upon the work of the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation (WWWCHA). This ensures Aboriginal perspectives are not only covered in the content, but centered in the experience, mitigating the impact of colonial narratives (Manning & Harrison, 2018).
At a dynamic site like Dights Falls, teachers should be mindful of selecting site features that align directly with learning intentions and curriculum. For example, while the ancient rock strata at Dights Falls are awe-inspiring, the weir is a more appropriate focus for this Year 5/6 unit of work. This feature is a real-world case study of the environmental and social consequences of colonisation. The contemporary fishway further serves as a living example of ongoing efforts to redress these impacts and therefore presents an opportunity for learners to enhance their understanding by examining multiple perspectives on a place (Preston, 2015).
Deepening Student Learning
To engage and deepen student learning, this visit is structured in 3 parts:
1) Embodiment: After an introduction from the Traditional Owners, students undertake a silent dadirri walk (Activity 1), to connect with the landscape (West, Stewart, Foster & Usher, 2012). This aligns with the curriculum aim (Geography) to develop “a sense of wonder, curiosity and respect for places, environments, people and cultures throughout the world”.
2) Building knowledge and understanding: students observe and interact with the various features of Dights Falls, including the weir and fishway. High impact teaching strategies (explicit instruction, questioning, collaboration, feedback) and Aboriginal Pedagogies (non-verbal, Deconstruct/ Reconstruct, Land Links, Community Links) (RAET, 2009) ensure deep, sustained engagement.
3) Skills-based design task: Students translate their embodied and intellectual engagement into a practical design task requiring creativity, collaboration and problem-solving (Activity 2). This builds the curriculum competency of developing informed and active citizens (VCAA, n.d.; Green & Price, 2025).
Throughout the site visit, students utilise a range of multi-modal communication strategies (e.g. yarning circles, non-verbal communication, role play, etc.) that explicitly support the development of the disciplinary language of HASS. That is, the language to articulate cause and effect relationships and to recognise the interconnectedness of social and environmental systems (Custance & Hole, 2024).
In conclusion, meaningful engagement with local places promotes deeper learning across Humanities and Social Sciences and also “greater participation in schooling and a sense of empowerment” (Hacking, Scott & Barratt, 2007, cited in Reynolds, 2009).
References
Custance, B. & Hole, T. (2024). Teaching the texts and language of HASS. Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).
Green, D. & Price, D. (2025). Making humanities and social sciences come alive: Early years and primary education (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Manning, R., & Harrison, N. (2018). Narratives of Place and Land: Teaching Indigenous Histories in Australian and New Zealand Teacher Education. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 43(9). https://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2018v43n9.4
Preston, L. (2015). The place of place-based education in the Australian primary geography curriculum. Geographical Education; v.28 p.41-49; 2015, 28(2015), 41–49. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/aeipt.211771
Regional Aboriginal Education Team Western New South Wales (RAET). (2009). 8 Ways of Aboriginal learning. Retrieved July 8, 2025, from https://www.8ways.online/.
Reynolds, R. (2019). Teaching humanities and social sciences primary 4e. Oxford University Press Australia & New Zealand.
Stallones, J. R. (2002). Paul Robert Hanna: A life of expanding communities. Hoover Institution Press.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). (n.d.). The Victorian curriculum: Humanities. https://f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au/learning-areas/humanities
West R, Stewart L, Foster K, Usher K. Through a Critical Lens: Indigenist Research and the Dadirri Method: Indigenist Research and the Dadirri Method. Qualitative Health Research. 2012;22(11):1582-1590. doi:10.1177/1049732312457596
Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation (WWWCHA). (n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2026, from https://wurundjeri.com.au/.