For teachers
Family history related teaching resources
The State Library of Queensland has developed family history related teaching resources for teachers to use and adapt to their individual classroom settings and for others to share and use as they see fit. We would appreciate any feedback concerning the content, format and usefulnesses of these resources.
Branching out (developed for year 3) and Convict history (for year 5) contain a series of student activities plus teacher's notes which outline the purpose and format of the activities. Activities are represented as structured tasks for students to complete - teachers can decide how much and/or how many of the tasks they want completed.
Branching out - an inquiry into family history for year 3
This unit is designed to assist students to investigate their place in generational family levels and to explore the different experiences of family members over time. Through historical research of areas familiar to them and investigating basic family history, students can then represent their findings on a family tree and transform their findings into a family history story book. By familiarising themselves with the State Library family history resources, teachers can apply the concepts of investigating family history research.
Through the activities in this unit, children will engage in a variety of historical inquiry approaches which include:
- identifying sources of information
- asking questions and interviewing to gather information
- researching official documents such as birth certificates
- organising and interpreting photographs
- constructing narratives based on research.
It also aims to encourage children to take an interest in their origins and pursue these further, in conjunction with their parents. In particular, children should come to recognise the many different kinds of family stories, such as the stories of Australia’s indigenous families and the stories of immigrant families.
Exploring identity - an inquiry into Queensland’s convict past for year 5
Unit plan [new window 
187 kb]
Note: Activity 4 has been removed because the web page it is based around no longer exists.
Activities in this unit are designed to assist students to investigate an historic person of convict origin and to explore the family of this person using the facilities of the State Library. For this purpose, Thomas Dowse has been chosen. His details can be found on the State Library’s convict database.
He is of particular interest because he was a strong supporter of the move to separate Moreton Bay from New South Wales. This was accomplished in 1859 and 2009 is the 150th anniversary of this separation. Using the resources of the State Library students will become familiar with Thomas Dowse and the history of his life in Queensland.
Through the activities in this unit, children will engage in a variety of historical inquiry approaches which include:
- identifying sources of information
- asking questions to gather information
- recording information gathered
- researching and interpreting official documents, such as legal records
- interpreting visual sources like photographs
- constructing narratives based on research
The unit has been developed around the Queensland Studies Authority’s SOSE syllabus, Time Change and Continuity.
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Last updated: 3rd March 2011
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