Critical Reflection and bibliography 

The Rocks Discovery Museum and Foundation Park are both important pedagogical sites for k-6 HSIE education. This is due to the sites being able to transcend theoretical historical concepts (continuity and change) into tangible realities. Within the NSW History K-6 Syllabus, stage 2 is required to partake in inquiry-based learning, surrounding the human experiences of colonisation, contact and early colonial settlement (NESA, 2024).

The Rocks Discovery Museum

  • This site is the foundation of source analysis and observational evidence. Through being confronted with clear archaeological artefacts (e.g. convict stonemasonry, First Nations tools) children are able to transcend from passive learners in a classroom to historical ‘detectives’ (Barton & Levstik, 2004). The museum has four chronological exhibits which are presented as a structural narrative of cause and effect by highlighting how Port Jackson was transformed from Gadigal Country to a convict colony, and then an urban trade centre

Foundation Park

  • Foundation Park is utilised for its spatial accuracy of working-class colonial terraces in the 1870’s, highlighting the continuity and change over time. Standing within the tangible evidence of life in the 19th century, children must change perspectives and view the world from a different societal class which links physical geography and historical inquiry (Karskens, 1999).

 

Object-based and place-based learning in a history KLA moves instruction from conventional rote learning to experimental inquiry (Harrison, 2010). The effectiveness of linking these sites together, from an educational vantagepoint, lies within the connection between embodied spatial imitation and object-based learning.

  1. Embodied learning at Foundation Park = the foundational theory of experimental education (Dewey, 1938) states that learning is increased when students can interact plainly with their physical environment. Foundation Park eliminates Karskens theory of the abstract distance of historical textbooks. The children being able to physically see and step into the 3m x 3m room, allows them to experience the spatial confides tangibly. This physical involvement builds deep historical empathy within learners which enables stage 2 to understand working-class life as a lived human experience (Cooper, 2014).
  2. Object-based inquiry at The Rocks Discovery Museum = Levstick and Barton (2015) state that the use of primary sources is essential in the psychological foundation of primary school aged children. When stage 2 is able to observe physical artefacts, the children are engaging with inductive reasoning, which will withdraw natural inferences about everyday survival, punishments, and the cultural individualities of colonial and First Nations people of Sydney Cove.

 

Linking artefacts from The Discovery Museum and on-site, tangible investigation, this excursion caters to a wide range of learning styles and abilities, while supporting differentiation instruction in HSIE (Reynolds, 2019). Research done by Cooper (2014) suggests that historical thinking demonstrated in primary children can build complex understandings of evidence, timelines, and perspectives when enabled to measure, shape, and visually investigate real-world environments. Integrating classroom lessons, with resources from the Discovery Museum and Foundation Park allows children to deepen critical thinking/evaluating skills, build their individual evidence-based arguments, and understand how actions from history continuously shape Australia’s physical metropolitan landscape presently (502 words).

 

References

Barton, K. C., & Levstik, L. S. (2004). Teaching history for the common good. Routledge.

Cooper, H. (2014). The teaching of history in primary schools. Routledge.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. Touchstone. https://www.schoolofeducators.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/EXPERIENCE-EDUCATION-JOHN-DEWEY.pdf

Harrison, N. (2010). Teaching indigenous perspectives in the 21st century classroom: An exploration of quality pedagogy in Australian schools. In Delving into diversity: An international exploration of issues of diversity in education (pp. 99–107). Nova Science Publishers.

Karskens, G. (1999). Inside the rocks : The archaeology of a neighbourhood. Hale & Iremonger.

NESA. (2024). Human society and its environment K–6 - course overview | NSW curriculum | NSW Education Standards Authority. Curriculum.Nsw.Edu.Au. https://curriculum.nsw.edu.au/learning-areas/hsie/hsie-k-6-2024/overview

Reynolds, R. (2019). Teaching humanities and social sciences in the primary school (4th edn). Oxford University Press.