Activity 4 (Part one of three): Creating a Map/Pathway

Activity 4 (Part one of three): Creating a Map/Pathway

Note: This activity has three distinct parts. First, students are asked to connect their understanding of maps and mapping by creating their own personal map of a familiar space, noting key landmarks and features. Then in part two, they transition into a deeper activity where they explore the features and techniques of orality and memory. Finally in part three, they integrate these techniques with their personal maps to create memorable and engaging oral narratives that guide someone from the start to the end of their map/pathway.

Focus: This activity integrates mapping skills with an understanding of songlines, encouraging students to create personal maps that incorporate key landmarks and features, fostering a connection to their own environment.

Possible overarching question: How do songlines help us understand the connection between land, culture, and communication in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures?

Step by step guide

• Step 1: Connecting to students' prior learning

• Step 2: Model map making

• Step 3: Personal map or pathway creation

• Step 4: Reflection and sharing

Required Resources:

• Teacher Support Material

• Mapping Materials: grid paper, digital devices if students are creating digital maps, rulers, etc.

• Modelling Materials: Materials for co-creating a class map (e.g., chart paper, markers)

Step 1: Connecting to students' prior learning

Begin by revisiting the last lesson's insights on songlines and their use in navigation and trade. Discuss how the case studies provided specific examples of how songlines guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples through the landscape, marking significant cultural and natural landmarks. Encourage students to reflect on the different purposes of songlines they explored, such as finding food and water, facilitating trade, and conducting ceremonies.

Step 2: Setting the Scene Model Map Making

As a class, co-create a map for a guest visitor to find the classroom from the school gates. Identify various features and landmarks (e.g., the main office, playground, library) to tell the story of the journey. Engage students in brainstorming the key features to include and discuss how to represent them visually on the map. Incorporate elements like symbols, grid references, and a key to make the map clear and informative. You could refer to the map from the Gallery Walk in Activity 1.

Step 3: Creating Personal Maps

Let students know that they are going to create a map to help someone get from one location to another.

Work with students to create a checklist of the elements they could include in their personal maps, using the modelled map as a stimulus.

Have students select a familiar area (e.g., school grounds, nearby park, neighbourhood) to base their map on, ensuring they identify key features (both natural and man-made) that are significant to include. They can spend some time planning their map using the checklist. Encourage students to consider how to convey different aspects of the route and the landscape's features visually.

Students can then move into creating their maps using different mediums that are accessible e.g. digital map, a series of drawings, poster, paper. You may facilitate workshops to teach specific skills that students require.

Step 4: Reflection and Sharing

Organise an informal sharing session where students can view and interact with each other's maps. Encourage interactive feedback by having some students stay with their maps to explain them while others circulate and then swap roles. Alternatively, provide resources for students to give written feedback to each other.

You may wish to give students some time to reflect on their own map and note down suggestions for what they might modify or add from seeing other’s work. Provide time for students to make these modifications.

Students will come back to their maps after learning about orality and memory in part three of this activity.