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Cleveland District State High School

Title: "Memories of War"

School Profile:

Name	Cleveland District SHS
Location	The school is located in Cleveland in the Redland Shire which is a bayside district east of Brisbane, S.E. Qld
Cultural mix	The population of the school consists of a typical cross section of the Australian community. There is a small but significant Aboriginal population in the Shire. The International character of the school is developing as we undergo accreditation as an "international school".
Sector	Secondary
Size	The school has approximately 1200 students.
Socio-economic status	The school has a typical cross section of the community who support public education.

Program Coordinator:

Name	Russell J. Turner
Position/role in school	Senior teacher based in the Social Science Department

Project Overview:

Where did it fit in the school?	The project "Memories of War" is part of the "Australians at War" unit that has developed in the Year 10 SOSE program.
Why was this project chosen?	The project was chosen as it fitted the guidelines and within the time frame (to be undertaken in Term1 2005) this unit was the most appropriate. Also the project allowed this unit to be reviewed as part of the longer term evaluation of our program.
Which students were involved?	In the SOSE program in year 10 students choose electives from a range of units throughout the year. In 2005 there were 4 classes of "Australians at war". The project involved 1 class trialling the unit fully and another class following the unit closely. The other two classes used elements from the "Memories of War" unit. The field excursion was open to students from all classes who chose to attend.
How long did it run for?	Preliminary work began on the project in December 2004. The Making History workshop was run in Feb 2005 and once this in-service was completed work began in earnest. Units in the Year 10 SOSE program run approximately six weeks. The unit ran from March until April (concluding just prior to ANZAC day). At the end of that time students nominate their next topic and classes are re-organized accordingly. The outcomes of the project will be reviewed by the staff and further developed for 2006.

Outcomes Addressed:

KLA	Strand	Outcome
SOSE	Time continuity and change	5.3 Students collaborate to locate and systematically record information about the contributions of people in diverse past settings. 5.5 Students identify values inherent in historical sources to reveal who benefits or is advantaged by particular heritages. 6.1 Students evaluate evidence to demonstrate how such accounts reflect the culture in which they were constructed. 6.3 Students collaboratively identify the values underlying contributions by diverse individuals and groups in Australia.

Project Outline:

What did you achieve?	The "Memories of War" unit allowed a fresh approach for year 10 students studying the "Australians at War" topic. Students were actively involved in the program. Given the nature and interests of the class their involvement and commitment were quite positive to the unit. The submissions by the students were evidence of student involvement and non-submission rate was much lower than for other topics by this year level group. An introductory power point was developed using images scanned from personal collections. Students were involved in a webquest using the State Library of Qld Picture Qld collection of images. Two field activities were also part of the project. One to a local museum (the Redlands Museum) in class time and one on a field excursion to Brisbane. This field day was part of the project and a workbook was created for both of these field activities. A major focus of the unit was the assessment task where students had to create 9 items for a "memory box" of a soldier. Three of these items had to be located and included in the assessment collection. The other six items had to be "re-creations" by the students for a real or imagined Australian at war. Class time and assistance was provided for students.
How did you go about it?	The Commonwealth History Project School grants 2004-2005 information sheet was read and sample 2 was selected as the format to follow- Focussing on one historical literacy and on an idea from one of the "Making History" books. An outline was produced and rough estimates of costs etc were made. This was then discussed with the HOD and a submission faxed. Towards the end of 2004 a letter was received stating we were successful in our application. Attendance at a followup workshop conducted by Dr Brian Hoepper to prepare for the project occurred on 4^th February 2005. Objects relating to Australians at war were collected and scanned to create a powerpoint for use by students.(A good way to collect materials is to appeal to staff and/or students. It is amazing what materials are in the possession of the community.) This related to the assessment item which included "creating" 6 items that could have belonged to an Australian at war. To create workbooks contact was made with the Redlands Museum and the Military Memorial Museum.This involved preliminary visits and the examining of the displays to write activities for the students to complete. Staff of both of these facilities were extremely co-operative. The Redlands Museum put on a special display for the students and organized local ex-service personnel to help show students around. Complimentary powerpoints were created for the Redlands Museum and Military Memorial Museum to help students complete follow up activities from the field days. Worksheets to accompany school text book were created. An interim report was completed in mid-April and submitted via fax. Members of the project were involved in a telephone conference on 16^th May 2005 to discuss the final report format. This involved approximately 45 minutes. The final report and the "tidying up" of the project involved a day with TRS and additional "home" time to complete.
Any pitfalls or problems?	The problems confronted by copyright regulations meant that the nature of the unit needed to be reconsidered. As well the restrictions regarding information going on department websites also meant a change of direction in the planning.
What did it cost?	The application sought a $2000 grant- with reproduction costs, TRS time, support for the Excursion, and production of the resources.
Extra materials	Unit overview and suggestions for teachers new window 240k Assessment task sheet-SOSE report new window 639k Cleveland Anzac Park worksheet new window 820k Student survey form new window 195k Redlands Museum booklet new window 633k Redlands Museum slideshow new window 464k Anzac Square booklet new window 580k Anzac Square slideshow new window 348k Military Memorial Museum worksheet new window 856k Military Memorial Museum slideshow new window 279k Memories of War slideshow new window 482k Picture Qld WebQuest new window 343k

Resources Used:

What CHP resources did you use and how?

The idea for the assessment task came from the "Making History" Middle School units book, in the section "Red Menace". There is a "further activity" on page 21 for students to locate genuine historical items and to "create" six items based on research and then to complete a "research form".

What other resources did you use?

The State Library of Qld site for Picture Qld is a good source of images. The web address is http://www.pictureqld.slq.qld.gov.au.

Which Historical Literacies were addressed and how?

Research skills- gathering and using evidence, analysing sources (including artefacts, documents and graphics), identifying the origin of sources and their ownership.

This was addressed primarily through the assessment task- which was a research task (see task sheet).

Also the field activities and webquests further provided opportunities to examine and analyse artefacts, documents etc.

Evaluation:

Overall Outcomes	As a result of this project an introductory powerpoint was placed on the Curriculum server for all students to access via computer. Student workbooks were created for use in the Redlands Museum and the Military memorial museum. Students completed class activities including a webquest and research assessment item. A survey was created and conducted with students.
Reflection	Initially the project was going to link to the "Australians at War" unit through a case study of the Red menace section of the Making History Middle school units section on the Korean War. However due to the difficulty of getting source materials that would be copyright "free" the project broadened to "Australians at War" with examples from a wider range of theatres. Also the unit fitted better into the SOSE program if not restricted to the Korean war. An "in-service" will be needed for the SOSE staff and familiarization with the unit so that the trial can be extended to more classes for 2006. Access to computers in the school meant that having 4 classes following this program was not possible.
Student Comments	"Cleveland Anzac Park visit was interesting" "This topic was better than anything else" "I rate the unit a 5 (out of 5)" "It looked an interesting topic"
What help are you prepared to offer teachers who want to contact you?	If people have enquiries I could reply. School address is Cleveland District SHS PO Box 808 Cleveland 4163 or they could email to rturn3@eq.edu.au

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