Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: Recording change over time

30 minutes

Find Out: Building bridges between culture and science

15 minutes

Take Action: Applying lessons learned

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions and success criteria

Students will:

explore how we know that the climate has changed over the history of the Earth and how people have previously responded to these changes.

Students can:

identify how the climate has changed in Australia and how First Nations peoples have and continue to display resilience to these changes
consider how we might apply First Nations peoples’ expert knowledge to Australia's future climate change events.

Tune In: Recording change over time

Ensuring psychological safety and inclusivity:

Before beginning this lesson, it is essential to account for the experiences of any First Nations students in your class. It is important not to isolate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in how the material is taught. Some First Nations students may have important insights or contributions which should be welcomed. However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students should not be expected to contribute any more than other students.

Step 1

Ask students: How has the climate changed over the past 200 years?

Students may suggest changes in:

temperature
sea level
weather
ice coverage at the north and south pole
amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

Share the Climate Change Indicators Presentation with your students.

Step 2

Ask your students. How do we get this data about climate change indicators? Since colonisation over the past 200 years, Western science has recorded and collected this data by taking measurements and recording. What about before this? What do we know about the climate of Earth before this approach was used to record data and events?

Continue through the Climate Change Indicators Presentation and look at some of the data analysis methods we use, including:

ice cores
sediment cores
tree rings
coral skeletons.

Step 3

Highlight to students that we have built up a picture of a changing climate through recorded and collected data. Ask students, what other ways have humans recorded information over time? Suggestions might include:

stories, myths, legends, fairy tales
paintings and artworks
songs
dance.

Explain that due to colonisation, the information that is recorded in these ways has been greatly affected by the pressure to abandon or undermine ancient knowledges and methods, as a way to accommodate for new technologies developed through Western science and thinking.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have the oldest living continuous culture in the world. Their knowledge about a changing climate has been passed down for generations in oral forms. It is sometimes shielded through sacred cultural practices that are not widely shared, due to worries about whether this knowledge is valued in Western science.

At this point, you may want to clarify or go through any disaster-related vocabulary with students using this glossary.

Find Out: Building bridges between culture and science

Step 1

Outline to your students that today we are going to explore examples of how climate change information has been captured in the cultural practices of First Nations Australians. Before you begin the activity, lead a class discussion to survey your students about what they know about methods Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples use to care for Country and climate.

Divide students into groups of 3–4 and provide them with the Student Worksheet and one of the following Case Studies:

Human refugia in Australia during the Last Glacial Maximum and Terminal Pleistocene: a geospatial analysis of the 25e12 ka Australian archaeological record	Human Refugia in Australia
Aboriginal Memories of Inundation of the Australian Coast Dating from More than 7000 Years Ago	Aboriginal Memories of Inundation
Murujuga Desert, Tide and Dreaming: Understanding Early Rock Art Production and Lifeways in Northwest Australia	Murujuga Desert, Tide and Dreaming
The Oldest Story Ever Told	The Oldest Story Ever Told

Step 2

Invite students to complete the following questions on their Student Worksheet:

What climate change events does this research paper target?
What traditional cultural knowledge did this research article reference?
How did this group of First Nations peoples display resilience to climate change?
Does your paper reference the First Nations peoples whose knowledge was used? If so, write their name here. If not, why do you think they were not credited?

Step 3

Come back together as a class and discuss your findings. Identify where there is overlap and where there are gaps in information.

Take Action: Applying lessons learned

Step 1

Explain to students that in our current scenario of human-accelerated climate change, it is forecast that we will experience some of the changes to climate discussed in these case studies. Using the Student Worksheet, choose one of these scenarios, review the ways in which the First Nations peoples from the case study historically displayed resilience and adapted to a changed scenario, and propose how these methods could be applied to our current scenario. This includes:

How could we apply this adaptation in the current world?
What do we need to start doing now to mitigate and prepare for success in that scenario?

Reflection

In this lesson, we have explored the importance of valuing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' knowledges and methods in understanding our climate. The cultural knowledge that First Nations peoples strengthens all Australians' understanding of the climate. Thinking about the past 65,000+ years of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' experiences on Country, what other areas of science do you think could incorporate cultural knowledge to enhance and develop our understanding of the natural world and the impact of human activity on it?

Climate Insights from the World's Oldest Culture

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Lesson Guides and Printables

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Climate Insights from the World's Oldest Culture

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Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables

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