Integrated Studies

Year Level Description

Integrated curriculum and inquiry develop the Year 5 student's skills across a number of subject areas – Geography, Business & Economics, Health Education, History and Science – and are closely linked to the Year 5 Learning Journey.

By the end of the year students are expected to:

• locate appropriate resources and select relevant information;
• compare information from different sources;
• use a range of effective note-taking skills;
• prepare and deliver a range of presentations that demonstrate knowledge and skills related to the topics.

Business and Economics

The Year 5 curriculum gives students the opportunity to explore the importance of economic and financial decision-making in everyday life. They consider the concept of opportunity cost and examine why decisions about the ways resources are allocated to meet needs and wants in their community involve trade-offs.

Students examine the choices made by consumers and businesses arising from the concept of scarcity. The limited resources available means that unlimited needs and wants cannot be met, so choices about what to purchase and how goods and services are produced and distributed must be made. Students consider factors influencing these choices and the strategies that help with these decisions, as well as the effect of consumer and financial decisions on individuals, families, the community and the environment.

Work is an essential part of society. Students consider the nature of work, and the influences on the way people work in today’s society, and potential influences in the future. Students identify particular enterprising behaviours and capabilities and why they are important in everyday life. The emphasis in Year 5 is on personal, community or regional issues or events, with opportunities for concepts to be considered in national, regional or global contexts where appropriate.

By the end of the year students are expected to:

• understand the difference between needs and wants and why choices need to be made about how limited resources are used;
• identify types of resources (natural, human, capital) and explore the ways societies use them in order to satisfy the needs and wants of present and future generations;
• investigate the nature, and explain the importance, of enterprising behaviours and capabilities;
• understand influences on consumer choices and methods that can be used to help make informed personal consumer and financial choices;
• make decisions, identify appropriate actions by considering the advantages and disadvantages, and form conclusions concerning an economic or business issue or event.

Geography

The primary focus for Year 5 is on the concepts of place and interconnection. Students’ mental maps of the world are further developed through learning the locations of the major countries in the Asia region, Europe and North America. The scale of the study goes global as students investigate the geographical diversity and variety of connections between people and places.

When exploring the interconnections between people and environments, students examine how environmental characteristics such as climate and landforms influence the human characteristics of places. They also examine how human decisions and actions influence the way spaces within places are organised and managed. They learn that some climates produce hazards such as bushfires and floods that treaten the safety of places and gain an understanding of the application of the principles of prevention, mitigation and preparedness as ways of reducing the effects of these hazards.

By the end of the year students are expected to:

• describe and explain interconnections within places and between places, and the effects of these interconnections;
• represent the location of places and other types of geographical data and information in different forms including diagrams, field sketches and large-scale maps that conform to cartographic conventions of border, scale, legend, title, north point and source – using digital and spatial technologies as appropriate;
• interpret maps and other geographical data and information using digital and spatial technologies as appropriate, to develop identifications, descriptions, explanations and conclusions that use geographical terminology;
• locate the major countries of Europe and North America, in relation to Australia and their major characteristics of place in at least two countries from both continents;
• undretsand the impacts of bushfires or floods on environments and communities, and how people can respond;
• describe Australia’s connections with other countries and how these change people and places.

Health Education

The Year 5 curriculum supports students to develop knowledge, understanding and skills to create opportunities and take action to enhance their own and others’ health, wellbeing, safety and physical activity participation. Students develop skills to manage their emotions, understand the physical and social changes that are occurring for them and examine how the nature of their relationships change over time.

The content provides opportunities for students to contribute to building a positive school environment that supports healthy, safe and active choices for everyone. They also explore a range of factors and behaviours that can influence health, safety and wellbeing.

By the end of the year students are expected to:

• explore how identities are influenced by people and places;
• investigate community resources and strategies to seek help about health, safety and wellbeing;
• plan and practise strategies to promote health, safety and wellbeing;
• practise skills to establish and manage relationships;
• examine the influence of emotional responses on behaviour, relationships and health and wellbeing;
• recognise how media and important people in the community influence personal attitudes, beliefs, decisions and behaviours.

History

The Year 5 curriculum provides a study of colonial Australia in the 1800s, and their development of Australia as a nation. Students look at the founding of British colonies and the development of a colony. They learn what life was like for different groups of people in the colonial period. They examine significant events and people, political and economic developments, social structures, and settlement patterns. Students learn about the way of life of people who migrated to Australia and their contributions to Australia’s economic and social development.

The students will apply the following historical concepts and skills to the historical knowledge: sequencing chronology, using historical sources as evidence, identifying continuity and change, analysing cause and effect and determining historical significance.

By the end of the year students are expected to:

• describe the social, economic and political causes and reasons for the establishment of British colonies in Australia after 1800;
• understand the nature of convict or colonial presence, including the factors that influenced changing patterns of development, how the environment changed, and aspects of the daily life of the inhabitants, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
• describe the causes and the reasons why people migrated to Australia from Europe and Asia, and the perspectives, experiences and contributions of a particular migrant group within a colony;
• describe the stories and perspectives of people who migrated to Australia, including from one Asian country, and the reasons they migrated;
• understand the role that a significant individual or group played in shaping and changing a colony.

Science

In Year 5 the curriculum focus is on recognising questions that can be investigated scientifically and undertaking invetsigations. Students explore how changes can be classified in different ways. They broaden their classification of matter to include gases and begin to see how matter structures the world around them.

Students develop a view of Earth as a dynamic system, in which changes in one aspect of the system impact on other aspects. They consider Earth as a component within a solar system and use models for investigating systems at astronomical scales. They see that the growth and survival of living things are dependent on matter and energy flows within a larger system.

Students begin to see the role of independent, dependent and controlled variables in performing experimental investigations and learn how to look for patterns and relationships between variables. They develop explanations for the patterns they observe, drawing on evidence.

By the end of the year students are expected to:

• understand that living things have structural features and adaptations that help them survive in their environment;
• understand that the growth and survival of living things are affected by the physical conditions of their environment;
• understand that solids, liquids and gases behave in different ways and have observable properties that help to classify them;
• understand that changes to materials can be reversible, including melting, freezing, evaporating, or irreversible, including burning and rusting;
• understand that the Earth is part of a system of planets orbiting around a star (the Sun);
• understand that sudden geological changes or extreme weather conditions can affect the Earth’s surface.