Category: Study Guides for Teachers

This 3 × 1-hour documentary series for ABC TV, Don’t Stop the Music, sees Artemis Media joining forces with pioneering music advocates to get music back into classrooms, and instruments into the hands of kids who need them most. The goal: To show that music has the power to turn schools around, improving brain-power, and hearts and minds.

Since she took the job four years ago, Principal Lee Musumeci has made literacy and numeracy the school’s primary focus and has allotted the majority of the school’s time and budget to it. It’s a common story. In government schools, 80 per cent of kids are missing out on quality music. Australian primary school teachers receive only sixteen hours of arts training in a typical tertiary degree, and a small proportion of that is music. In Finland, where literacy and numeracy rates are among the highest in the world, trainee teachers receive 350 hours of music training.

Principal Musumeci has heard what music can do, and Challis’ new music program has begun. Under the guidance of renowned music educator Micheál McCarthy from WAAPA, the choirs are being transformed and ideas of classroom music teaching are turned on their head. The local branches of the Salvation Army and Musica Viva have donated a stash of shiny instruments. Series mentors and multi-instrumentalists Guy Sebastian and James Morrison will encourage the children to step up and practice, inspiring them with stories of their own musical journeys, and workshopping songs with them. Over nine months, we’ll follow the students at school and at home as they practice and perform for their peers and their families, gaining confidence as they go. Performances from visiting musicians and singers will help to consolidate the exciting new culture of music. In May 2018, a concert at Perth Concert Hall will celebrate how far the children have come. The Challis kids perform alongside some of Perth’s most exciting tertiary ensembles and some very special guest stars.

Throughout the series, we see the benefits of music playing out among the children – tempering disruptive behaviour, bringing serial truants back to the classroom and providing a creative outlet for kids who haven’t excelled in traditional academic areas. The TV series highlights the importance of learning music.

Curriculum Links:

• Music Theory and Practice
• Social Studies
• Education
• Education Theory
• Teacher Training
• Child Psychology
• Child Development

The DVD of Don’t Stop the Music is published by ABC TV and is available for schools.

From loveable family pets to deadly stonefish and endangered whale sharks, Desert Vet (2019) is all things animal-in-the-outback of Western Australia. The four-part documentary series follows career veterinarian Rick Fenny, his daughter Lu (herself an accomplished vet) and his marine biologist son Ed, as they run a veterinary hospital that never sleeps and a remote conservational aquarium on the edge of the world.

CURRICULUM LINKS

DESERT VET IS SUITABLE VIEWING FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS IN YEARS 3 – 6 IN THE LEARNINGS AREA OF ENGLISH, HASS AND SCIENCE. THIS STUDY GUIDE PROVIDES RESOURCES FOR EPISODE 1.

Australian Curriculum English

Year 3

• Listen to and contribute to conversations and discussions to share information and ideas and negotiate in collaborative situations. (ACELY1676)
• Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning and begin to evaluate texts by drawing on a growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features. (ACELY1680)
• Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features and selecting print, and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose. (ACELY1682)

Year 4

• Interpret ideas and information in spoken texts and listen for key points in order to carry out tasks and use information to share and extend ideas and information. (ACELY1687)
• Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning to expand content knowledge, integrating and linking ideas and analysing and evaluating texts. (ACELY1692)
• Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts containing key information and supporting details for a widening range of audiences, demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features. (ACELY1694)

Year 5

• Clarify understanding of content as it unfolds in formal and informal situations, connecting ideas to students’ own experiences and present and justify a point of view. (ACELY1699)
• Use comprehension strategies to analyse information, integrating and linking ideas from a variety of print and digital sources. (ACELY1703)
• Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose and audience. (ACELY1704)

Year 6

• Participate in and contribute to discussions, clarifying and interrogating ideas, developing and supporting arguments, sharing and evaluating information, experiences and opinions. (ACELY1709)
• Use comprehension strategies to interpret and analyse information and ideas, comparing content from a variety of textual sources including media and digital texts. (ACELY1713)
• Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, choosing and experimenting with text structures, language features, images and digital resources appropriate to purpose and audience. (ACELY1714)

Australian Curriculum HASS

Year 3

• Locate and collect information and data from different sources, including observations. (ACHASSI053)
• Present ideas, findings and conclusions in texts and modes that incorporate digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms. (ACHASSI061)
• The similarities and differences between places in terms of their type of settlement, demographic characteristics and the lives of the people who live there, and people’s perceptions of these places. (ACHASSK069)

Year 4

• Locate and collect information and data from different sources, including observations. (ACHASSI074)
• Present ideas, findings and conclusions in texts and modes that incorporate digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms. (ACHASSI082)
• The importance of environments, including natural vegetation, animals and people. (ACHASSK088)

Year 5

• Locate and collect relevant information and data from primary sources and secondary sources. (ACHASSI095)
• Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions. (ACHASSI105)

Year 6

• Locate and collect relevant information and data from primary sources and secondary sources. (ACHASSI123)
• Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions. (ACHASSI133)

Australian Curriculum Science

Year 3

• Living things can be grouped on the basis of observable features and can be distinguished from non-living things. (ACSSU044)
• Science knowledge helps people to understand the effect of their actions. (ACSHE051)

Year 4

• Living things have life cycles. (ACSSU072)
• Living things depend on each other and the environment to survive. (ACSSU073)

Year 5

• Living things have structural features and adaptations that help them to survive in their environment. (ACSSU043)

Year 6

• The growth and survival of living things are affected by physical conditions of their environment. (ACSSU094)

An ATOM Study Guide for Desert Vet is available for download.

This compelling, thought-provoking documentary explores one of the most pressing issues facing our society today: the issue of public housing and the ever-increasing rift between the haves and the have nots. All around the world, a wave of gentrification is reimagining inner-city neighbourhoods as governments sell off public housing land in up-and-coming neighbourhoods to profit-driven property developers. The ramifications are enormous: many public housing residents face uncertainty about their future and the cultural ethos of the area shifts dramatically, replacing the sense of community among the marginalised with a very different sense of class, material wealth and gentrification.

CURRICULUM LINKS:

A study of ‘There Goes Our Neighbourhood’ links to numerous learning areas in the Australian Curriculum, specifically English and Humanities and Social Sciences (History, Geography, and Civics and Citizenship). A study of the documentary also addresses the following General Capabilities of the Australian Curriculum: Literacy, Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical Understanding and Intercultural Understanding. It also links to the Cross Curriculum Priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures.

STUDY GUIDE:

An ATOM Study Guide has been created for ‘There Goes Our Neighbourhood‘ and is now available to download.

Australia’s Forgotten Islands (Chemical Media, 2018), is a 47-minute documentary exploring some significant issues facing the people of the Australian External Territory of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean. The islands were originally settled in the 1820s by private merchants, who imported labourers from across South East Asia to work on coconut plantations. Although annexed by the British Empire and later transferred to Australia, the islands were effectively ruled by a single Scottish family for over 150 years.

In 1984, the islanders ended this colonial arrangement by voting to fully integrate with Australia, paving the way for the Cocos Islands to become an Australian External territory. Only two of the 27 islands that make up the Cocos archipelago are inhabited – and they are home to two starkly different communities. West Island has a mostly transient population of contract workers, military personnel and voluntary castaways from the Australian mainland who enjoy all the benefits of sun, sea and duty-free living. While Home Island has a permanent Malay-speaking Muslim population, many of whom are descended from the labourers imported to work on the islands’ coconut plantations nearly two hundred years ago.

The film explores two main issues:

how representatives from both communities are reconciling their differences and asserting their rights as the original inhabitants of the islands to ensure they have a voice in discussions about the islands’ future; and
the implications and consequences of an expanded Australian military presence on the islands Both issues need to be resolved in Canberra.
This film allows students to explore these issues by:

• becoming ‘witnesses’ who present the evidence in the film to an inquiry; and
• by being the ‘jury’ who has to make decisions based on this evidence. In doing so they will explore the colonial history and contemporary character of this unique and little known part of Australia.

CURRICULUM LINKS:

Curriculum Links:

The film could be used at middle-senior years (9-12) to explore aspects of the Australian Curriculum in:

Geography:

• Place and space

History:

• Colonialism
• Migration

Identity Politics:

• Australian Security issues

Civics and Citizenship:

• Nationalism
• Electoral system
• External Territories

Media Studies:

• Documentary form

English:

• Communication
• Argument

‘Australia’s Forgotten Islands’ study guide is now available.

‘Wayne‘ is the true story of 1987 World Motorcycle Champion Wayne Gardner’s triumphant journey from riding a five-dollar dirt bike to the international summit of motorcycle sport. The film is also a love story, with Wayne’s girlfriend, Donna-Lee Kahlbetzer, never far from the action.

Hailing from the working-class town of Wollongong in Australia, Wayne quickly excels in local motorcycle racing. After dropping out of high school and being fired from his tube-making apprenticeship, Wayne has to rely on his dogged determination to fulfil his dream.

Wayne’s bare-knuckle riding style catches the attention of Mamoru Moriwaki, leader of a Japanese team and engineer of almost mythical status. Never one to let an opportunity slide, Wayne accepts Moriwaki’s invitation to race in England and beyond.

Against all odds, Wayne wins his first race and permanently stamps his name on international motorcycle racing. However, like a fish out of water, the Australian is lost without his girlfriend Donna who is the cornerstone to his success. With Donna at his side, Wayne climbs the ranks of Grand Prix motorcycle racing quickly. But along with the fame and fortune comes tragedy and trauma and in the sophisticated world of Grand Prix, Wayne clashes with riders who are more calculated and refined than the larrikin kid from Wollongong.

Wayne fulfils his lifelong dream of becoming 500cc World Champion in 1987, however, his good fortune does not last long. Honda redesigns his championship-winning bike and Wayne quickly learns it is rife with mechanical problems. Things go from bad to worse when Honda signs Wayne’s arch nemesis, Yamaha rider Eddie Lawson, behind his back. Wayne is devastated by what he perceives as Honda’s betrayal. When Wayne arrives at the inaugural Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, exhausted from a frenzy of media appearances and with the odds stacked against him, Wayne is inspired to perform at his best. With a roaring crowd of 100,000 urging him on, Wayne triumphantly wins the race and hearts of all Australians that day.

Success often means pushing oneself and those around you to the absolute limit. The attributes that allowed Wayne to be a world champion ultimately take their toll on his relationship with Donna, but the two remain close friends. Now, as determined as ever, Wayne supports his sons, Remy and Luca, as they begin their international motorcycle racing careers.

CURRICULUM LINKS:

This study guide to accompany ‘Wayne’ has been written for secondary students in Years 10–12. It provides information and suggestions for learning activities in Australian History, English, Health and Physical Education, Media, and Sport and Recreation. ‘Wayne’ may be of interest to students completing TAFE certificate courses in the areas of Sport, Fitness and Recreation. As a curriculum resource, ‘Wayne’ expands and enriches students’ understanding of human experiences. Students can discuss how individuals with ambition and determination such as Wayne Gardner can make a difference in their life, in their chosen career and in the lives of others.

The activities within this study guide provide opportunities students to:

• share their responses to the story told by ‘Wayne’;
• engage in a detailed analysis of the film’s story and production elements;
• analyse the representation of ideas and attitudes in Wayne;
• develop and justify their own interpretations of Wayne;
• define how participation in sport can influence an individual’s sense of identity and belonging;
• develop a knowledge and understanding of motorcycle racing as a sport and Wayne Gardner’s contribution to this sport;
• use research skills and a range of primary and secondary sources to investigate subjects explored in the film;
• create a range of texts, make presentations and contribute actively to class and group discussions.

In addition, the empowering nature of the story told by ‘Wayne’ makes it a relevant resource for student welfare programs. It is important that students are provided with strategies to support their learning about themselves and others. Students with well-developed social and emotional skills find it easier to manage themselves, relate to others, develop resilience and a sense of self. Within this frame of reference, ‘Wayne’ provides opportunities for students to learn to:

• manage their emotions and behaviour;
• persevere in overcoming obstacles;
• set personal and academic goals;
• develop self-discipline, resilience, adaptability and initiative.

An ATOM Study Guide has been created for ‘Wayne: The Wayne Gardner Story’ and is available to download here.

Ten Australians spend a week together. Five have a history of mental illness. Five do not. The question is – Who’s Who?

‘How ‘Mad’ Are You?’ is a two-part series that queries the extent to which mental illness defines one’s identity. With one in five Australians experiencing mental illness every year, these are pertinent question to be asking. By challenging the misconceptions and stereotypes around mental illness, the program aims to break down the stigma and initiate a discussion around mental health. In implementing a reality television format that draws on the groundbreaking 1972 Rosenhan social experiment, ‘How ‘Mad’ Are You?’ avoids exploiting the experiences of the participants to instead explore the difficulty of drawing a line between being mentally ‘ill’ and mentally ‘well’. In this way, ‘How ‘Mad’ Are You?’ attempts to shift from a binary understanding of mental illness to instead consider mental health as a spectrum upon which everyone sits. The program opens up a dialogue regarding the current means of diagnosing mental illness, and asks the viewer to consider the complexities of human behaviour and experience, and to confront their own assumptions about mental illness in the process.

CURRICULUM LINKS:

‘How ‘Mad’ Are You?‘ is a two-part series that queries the extent to which mental illness defines one’s identity.”

‘ can be linked to the following areas within the Australian National Curriculum:

• Health and Physical Education, Years 7-10
• Geography, Year 10

At the senior secondary levels, it is also suitable for students studying the following:

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Values and Ethics
• Society and Culture
• Media Studies

It relates to the following General Capabilities within the Australian Curriculum:

• Personal and Social Capability
• Ethical Understanding
• Critical and Creative Thinking
• Intercultural Understanding

One of the key focus areas within Health and Physical Education is mental health. ‘How ‘Mad’ Are You?’ presents a means for students to explore and discuss key curriculum topics around preventative health strategies, the factors that shape identity and the role of others in supporting individual’s identities, and the behavioural and contextual factors that influence the health and wellbeing of diverse communities. Similarly, human wellbeing is a key focus in Year 10 Geography, and links can be made to the spatial variations in wellbeing in Australia, and initiatives to improve wellbeing. ‘How ‘Mad’ Are You?’ provides an example of a non-government initiative to improve awareness around mental health and wellbeing. Psychology is an increasingly popular junior elective and subject for senior study, and students consider human behaviour and biology across a range of key learning areas, including Science and Human Society and its Environment. ‘How ‘Mad’ Are You?’ enables students to think through questions around social experiments and the ethics of various approaches, as well as the way in which social values and understandings of behaviour and psychology have changed over time.

Ask the Doctor is a factual series that tackles the health issues currently faced by our nation and the current treatments medical technology can offer to address this issue. This series further explains the future of healthcare

The series follows the journey of Dr Shalin Naik, Dr Renee Lim and Dr Sandro Demaio as they go around the country to answer the questions that perplex our minds. They discuss the medical myths and how amazing the human body is.

What do you think are the biggest health issues facing Australians? Has this changed over time?

Who do you think is ultimately responsible for the health of Australians: individuals, the government, or the medical establishment?

These and more questions are asked in this factual series.

This series can be linked to the following subjects in the Australian Curriculum:

• Health and Physical Education
• Science

And the General Capabilities of:

• Ethical understanding
• Critical and Creative Thinking

It is supported by an ATOM Study Guide.

Blasko is a documentary about Australian singer-songwriter Sarah Blasko. The film is suitable for secondary students in Years 9–12 undertaking English, Media and Music.

Having been recognised as a pioneer in Australian indie music and nominated for numerous awards, Sarah Blasko is one of Australia’s most successful singer-songwriters. She now braves her way to a uniquely challenging musical endeavour thus far.

In a one-of-a-kind approach to composition and performance, Blasko shows Sarah and her trusted collaborators in a live theatre space as they write an album from scratch. In this hushed high-concept setting, inspiration and creativity flow as the musical artists embark on a task that is unlike any other.

This documentary helps students expand and enrich understanding of human experiences. Music students develop personal awareness of the expressive and aesthetic qualities of music and music-making. Media students can use Blasko to describe, analyse and interpret a professional media production in terms of how it communicates ideas to a specific audience.