Outdoor learning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures priority can give students opportunities to appreciate and celebrate the beauty of the world’s oldest continuous living cultures. Students can gain a deeper understanding of the significance and impact Australia’s First Peoples’ histories and dynamic cultures continue to have on our world. This priority provides important and engaging contexts for exploring personal, community and group identities. In doing this, it builds understanding about differences and commonalities in systems of knowledge and beliefs.

Outdoor learning provides opportunity to explicitly incorporate knowledge, understanding and skills described in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures priority. Students can engage with and appreciate the lived experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Students can explore Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage and further develop their understanding of connection to and responsibility for Country/Place and the belief systems connected to land, sea, sky and waterways.

Students learn about the richness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander modes of communication and ways of living, and develop appreciation and understanding of uniquely Australian connections to place, people and ways of being. They explore how places maintain and promote health, safety and wellbeing within their community and in the wider community. Students can also be given the opportunity to participate in physical activities and cultural practices such as traditional and contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander games.