Unit of Work: The Earths Environment Farming in Australia

Stage 2 Year 4
Focus Question: How does the environment support the
lives of people and other living things?
Outcom
es

Indicators
Unit introduction:
What is a farm?

GE2.1

Describe specific information

about a farm experience.

Use terms related to the

natural and built features of
farms

Duration: 1-9 weeks

Teaching and Learning Strategies

Resources

(Prior to this session, ask the students to bring in any

photographs of experiences they have had on a farm.)
Introduce the unit by showing the students stimulus
pictures of farms. Discuss what they can see in each of
the pictures. Record these words on Wordle to create a
word bank, which can be printed and referred to during
the unit.
www.wordle.net
Divide the students into small groups and explain that
they are to create a concept map on the topic Farms
and come up with a definition of the term farm.
Come together as a large group and share group
definitions. Have a student look up farm in a dictionary.
Use this, and the ideas of each group to create a class
definition using bubbl.us. www.bubbl.us
Allow the students time to share their own experiences of
farms. Have the students share photographs that they
brought in. Encourage the students to tell specific
information about their farm experience. E.g.: the type

A3 pieces of
paper/textas

of farm, its location, what the weather was like, the

crops/animals, machinery, and special jobs on the farm.
GE2.1

Brainstorm different types of

farms in the local area and
within Australia

Atlas

Ask the students to brainstorm different types of farms

that they think exist in Australia. Have the students look
at a map of Australia showing the different land uses.
(Refer to an atlas) Ask them to think about why Australia
has a diverse range of agricultural industries. (Size of
continent, variety of climates.)

GE2.3
Use a map to identify
different types of farms in
the local area and within
Australia
GE2.2
Relate climate and natural
features of the environment
to land use

Have the students identify the predominant farming

activity in their local area or choose a particular type of
farm e.g., dairy. Explain to the students that they are
going to jointly research the features of this type of farm.
Divide the students into groups and assign a different
task to each group. These tasks are related to the
following topics:
Animals and/or plants grown
Location and climate
Products
Machinery
Specific jobs that are done on the farm
Have each group find information on their topic. Come
together as a group and jointly complete a retrieval chart
in which the students contribute the information and
record it under the appropriate heading.
(See appendix for Task Cards and Retrieval Chart)

Worksheet

Research the features of a

type of farm

Identify the products that

originate on a particular farm

Refer to the retrieval chart completed in the previous

session and ask the students to discuss what they know
about this type of farm.

(see
appendix for
retrieval
chart)

Explain to the students that they are going to choose a

different type of farm from that studied as a class, and
complete a retrieval chart based on this farm. Show the
student the retrieval chart and discuss the information
that they need to find.
How did Indigenous
Australians farm?
GE2.2
Investigate how Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander
Peoples knowledge and
practices inform the
sustainable use of resources
eg rotational use of
resources and harvesting

Discuss where the students may find this information E.g,

library, pamphlets, internet.
Butchers
paper/textas

Discuss with the students how and what the

Indigenous people farmed. Brainstorm these as a whole
class.
Watch a video on YouTube of Bill Gammage a historian as
he discusses The Biggest Estate on Earth regarding how
Indigenous people practiced their farming.

Venn
Diagram on
A3 paper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sko-YDIULKY
Identify different types of
Indigenous farming activities
within the local community

VA2.1
Create a fabric collage
representing stone fish traps
Use vegetable dyes to
illustrate varying depths of
water

GE2.1

Show a Venn Diagram to the class. Explain what a Venn

Diagram is. Discuss with students that we are going to
make lists of Indigenous farming and farming today to
find the similarities and differences of these.
Show students a picture of the Brewarrina Fish Traps that
are still in place today. Ask students to discuss what this
picture might be. Explain to students what this picture is
of, what it is used for, a map of where it is and the
Aboriginal name Baiames Ngunnhu and meaning.
http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/ba18e
ab5-1a30-4f5d-af0d-d3f555f56b83/files/nationalheritage-brewarrina.pdf

Arrange river stones to

represent fish traps

Explain to students that they are going to design a fish

trap. Demonstrate the structure of stone fish traps by
arranging river stones on the floor and using found
objects to represent the fish.

What are the names of

machinery on farms and
what role do they play?

Invite an Aboriginal community person in, to discuss the

local area and how Aboriginal people in our community
used the environment to farm crops, animals, medicine,
shelter and tools.

Describe the purpose of a

White cotton
fabric, liquid
water colour
or pre-mixed
powdered
vegetable
dye, water,
large round
brushes,
plastic
cover, river
stones or
pebbles

piece of farm machinery

GE2.2
Discuss the ways in which
farm machinery has changed
over time
Suggest advantages and
disadvantages in the
changes that have occurred
in farm machinery over time

Predict how farm machinery

may look in the future
GE2.1
What are the affects of
farming on the
environment?
Identify issues related to
farming and land care

Show the students a selection of pictures of farm

machinery. For example: a machine used to milk a cow, a
plough, a fruit picker, a combine harvester, tractor etc

Ask the students:

What job does this piece of machinery do on a
farm? (Milks a number of cows at one time)
How do you think that this job was done prior to
the introduction of this machine? (eg. Milk a cow by Worksheet in
Appendix
hand)
What are the advantages of using such a machine?
(Increased production of milk, quicker)
Can you think of any disadvantages?
Can you think of how this machine might change in
the future
Explain to the students that they are going to choose one
of the pictures of machines on display. They are going to
complete a worksheet with questions and illustrate how
the machine might look in the future.

GE2.2

Suggest possible ways that

farmers may care for the
land

Ask the students to think about the ways in which they

can care for the environment, eg. placing rubbish in the
bin, recycling and planting trees.
Suggest to the students that farmers also have a
responsibility to take care of the land that they are using.
Ask the students to suggest some of the environmental
problems that they think may occur due to farming. Lead
them in the discussion to identify issues such as:
use of chemicals
over stocking
erosion
weeds
pollution of waterways
salinity
clearing of land and wildlife habitats
Explain each of the issues and ask the students to think
about what farmers might be able to do to reduce these
problems. Eg. plant trees to replace those cut down,
reduce the chemicals, plant native grasses to reduce the
effect of erosion

GE2.1

GE2.2

What types of farming

does your local
community provide?
Identify different farming

Information about some of these issues can be found at

http://www.greeningaustralia.org.au or by looking in the
archives section at http://www.abc.net.au/landline/

Digital
camera or
Ipad

activities in Australia
Identify issues related to
farming and land care

Suggest possible ways that

farmers may care for the
land

Organise an excursion to a farm. Encourage the students

to relate what they have learnt during the unit to what
they see on the farm. While on the excursion, discuss
aspects such as:
type of farm
climate
crops/animals present
machinery
specific jobs
where the products go from the farm
environmental issues
In following session, brainstorm what they have learnt
from the Farm excursion. Using Popplet on the Smart
Board add the photos that students took to help them
remember what happened and may help in putting the
excursion activities in chronological order.
https://popplet.com
Ask the students to record what they know about farming
in Australia, including an Indigenous perspective and
write it as an exposition. (This can be used as a possible
assessment task.)

APPENDIX:
Task Cards
Where do you
find this type of
farm in
Australia?

Can you describe

What plants or
FARM MACHINERY
the climate
animals would
where
these
you find on this
What is
the name
of your machine?
farms are found?
type of farm?
What job does this piece of machinery do on a farm?

What products
originate from
this type of
farm?

How do you think that this job was done prior to the introduction
What machinery
What special
of this machine?

is used on this
jobs are done on
type
farm?
this
type of
What are
theofadvantages
of using such
a machine?
farm?
Can you think of any disadvantages?

Can you think of how this machine might change in the future?
Draw a picture to show your ideas.