Identity development and the formation of active informed citizens are fundamental goals for the education of all young Australians. These goals are reflected in curriculum documents and frameworks that guide the teaching practice of early childhood teachers in education and care settings and in the early years of formal schooling. In this unit, you will interpret and compare curriculum documents for the ways in which views of children and their connections to the world are constructed. You will review contemporary literature to evaluate and recommend pedagogies that support continuity of learning and transitions to formal schooling for young children and their engagement with the concepts, substance and structure of the Australian Curriculum for Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS). You will create and justify practical resources for teaching HASS from Foundation to Year 2 by constructing an annotated bibliography of books, artefacts, people and places that present opportunities for developing children’s literacy and numeracy capabilities at the same time as they acquire knowledge and understanding of content from the Geography and History strands of the curriculum. Your annotated bibliography will be compiled as a pedagogical resource that includes teaching strategies and learning activities for using the resources in early years classrooms to support the inclusive participation, engagement of, and respect for learners from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, including children who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

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Continue to reach out to students to encourage engagement with the unit materials.