Home/Curriculum resources/Groundwater/Indigenous knowledge informing contemporary water resource issues
Learning Area:
Science
Year level:
Level 10
Suggested timing:
3-4 lessons
Indigenous knowledge informing contemporary water resource issues
This activity is a part of the Groundwater resource.
Misery Island Coastline, Misery Island, Palawa country. Tiffany Garvie. Source: Ngarrngga. © Tiffany Garvie 2023. Used under licence
Students will work in small, collaborative groups to select a contemporary issue for further research and use classroom resources to investigate how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ traditional ecological knowledge is being used to inform identification, management or resolution of the issue.
Suggested timing
3-4 lessons
Lesson 1: brainstorm, discussion and selection of issue for research
Lesson 2: student research
Lesson 3: presentation preparation
Lesson 4: presentations and discussion.
Required resources
Laptop/tablet with internet access
Research resources
Presentation software
Step by step guide
Step 1: Brainstorming and discussion
The teacher could facilitate a classroom brainstorming activity using contemporary issues affecting groundwater resources (either from those listed within the Case studies tab or an issue pertinent to the local community) and manage a classroom discussion to build understanding of the water resource issues.
Step 2: Research in small groups
Students work in small, collaborative groups to select a contemporary issue for further research and use classroom resources to investigate how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ traditional ecological knowledge is being used to inform identification, management or resolution of the issue.
Students can use the suggested resources provided below as a starting point for their research and use a research template (Example: https://leanconstructionblog.com/An-A3-Template-for-Lean-Research.html) to collect information about the chosen issue.
Possible resources for classroom use:
Salt water ingress from farming and rising sea levels (https://asrac.org.au/water)
Water quality and environmental sustainability (https://www.mdba.gov.au/)
Impact of Climate change on water resources (http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/climate-science-data/climate-science/impacts)
Introduced species (https://www.mungallaaboriginaltours.com.au/2016-07-20-04-14-12/wetlands-restoration-project)
Chemical contamination of water
Fertilisers/pesticides/herbicides runoff (http://www.environment.gov.au/water/wetlands/publications/factsheet-wetlands-agriculture)
Fracking (https://www.sbs.com.au/news/what-is-fracking-and-why-is-it-dividing-australia)
Per- and poly fluoroalkyl (PFAS) (http://www.defence.gov.au/Environment/PFAS/)
Step 5: Create a multimodal presentation
Students collate the information from their research and develop a multimodal group presentation to communicate the scientific ideas and information to the class.
Step 6: Research presentation
Students present their research to the class.
Compare the similarities and differences of traditional ecological knowledge that are being used to inform such contemporary issues. This builds understanding of the commonalities and diversities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ knowledge and application of contemporary water management.