Changing values, changing nation - Saint Ignatius' Moodle Community

Explain that the work of the historian is also often
described as a craft or profession. Ask students: What core
values might apply to the work of professional historians?
Is it possible for a historian to indulge in unprofessional
conduct? What might that involve? Record class answers on
the board for later reference.
Distribute Resource sheet 1 and allow students
approximately 15 minutes to study all the extracts.
Suggest that students highlight or underline
statements that they find difficult or for which they would
like more explanation.
Review the extracts and discuss any questions. The ensuing
discussion should develop the idea that the work of
creating history is guided by core values and standards.
What values do the historians suggest are important to
use when considering or writing about the past? Where
do they agree and disagree about the core values of their
discipline?
Ask students to use ideas from the extracts and previous
discussion to draft a ‘Charter for Historians’ which includes
the profession’s core values. It might consist of 5–8
points and be modelled on one of the professional codes
mentioned earlier.
Select several students to read their Charters to the rest
of the class. What similarities and differences do they
note? How can they account for the variety of opinions
among different historians?
Explain how students ought to keep their Charter in mind
as they undertake their work as historians researching
Australia’s history in the 1960s and 1970s.
Activity 2: Australia in the 60s and 70s
Notes for teachers
This activity uses images of the period to acquaint
students with major issues, people and events, and
asks how historical developments are affected by
personal beliefs and societal values. Teachers could
use this model to construct galleries of images or
artefacts as evidence of historical developments and
the impact of values in other times or places.
Begin by engaging students in a discussion about what
they know of Australia’s history of the 1960s and 1970s.
What names and events do they associate with the period?
What words might best describe the period?
Have students read Resource sheet 2. Ask them to
highlight the particular events, people and
movements the author selects as significant. Ask
them to assess if the author presents a particular point of
view of the period.
Students will need access to the Internet and library
resources for the next part of the activity. The aims are:
• to research and select images of Australian people,
events and developments during the 1960s and 1970s
to create captions for these images
• to use images from the album as a basis for developing
a narrative overview of the history of the time, and for
reflection about Australian values at that time.
Begin by browsing the appropriate sections of the time line
at http://www.abc.net.au/archives/timeline/history.htm,
allowing about 15 minutes for this task. Instruct students
to identify four events or developments that they think
brought significant change to Australian life during the
1960s and 1970s. Ask students to justify their choices by
writing a short statement about each one and presenting
the information in a table:
Date Event Significance
Distribute Resource sheet 3 and ask students to
select a ‘gallery’ that they will research. Make sure
that all galleries are covered by an approximately
equal number of students. Have them write a 20–30 word
caption for each photo in the gallery. Then have them use a
think-pair-share strategy to analyse the questions that
accompany the gallery.
Allow 30–40 minutes for students to undertake the initial
research and captioning tasks. Students might undertake
additional out-of-class research online and through library
references. Then have students share results with a partner
who chose a different gallery and with the whole class in
preparation for the next lesson.
156 Values for Australian Schooling – Teaching and Learning Units