Activities & Observations

  • Elder Visit Welcome (9:00-10:30 AM): Aboriginal Elder shared traditional toolmaking and bush tucker knowledge 
  • Time Capsule Ceremony (10:45-11:30 AM): Buried children's artifacts with predictions about future discovery 
  • Ancient People Role Play (1:30-2:30 PM): Transformed dramatic play area into ancient settlement 
  • Week Reflection Circle (2:45-3:15 PM): Children shared favourite discoveries and new questions 

Professional Practice Elements Engaged 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Cultures - Deep Engagement: Respectful Engagement with Indigenous cultures needs appropriate procedures and authentic relationships (Harrison & Greenfield, 2021):   

  • The culture learning experience: The Elder Teaching: Shown the processes of making and using digging sticks, told a Dreamtime story of the creation of the first tools  
  • Children responses:   
  • Helen: the stick is our food-seeking brushes!   
  • Ayusha: "We can make digging sticks for our garden?"  
  • Jack: My nana had these sorts of tools when he was small. 

Cultural procedures followed: Cultural procedures followed: Utilizing Indigenous knowledge with respect: To be able to utilize Indigenous knowledge in a manner that is respectful, the proper way to carry out the procedures must be known (Price, 2012):  

  • Acknowledgment: Elder stepped out and performed and children listened with respect 
  • Gift Exchange: Children gave out native plants growing in service garden  
  • Story Protocol: Sit in circle, do not interrupt stories when they are sacred  
  • Demonstration of Gratitude: All the children said thank you to Elder personally with eye contact  

Indigenous Perspectives Embedding:   

  • Related old-fashioned tools with ongoing investigations by the children    
  • Put in place continued rapport with the local indigenous community 

Declarations, Conventions, Obligations, and Codes

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - Article 30: Children have the right to learn and use the language and customs, and religion used in his family (United Nations, 1989)  

Implementation Evidence:  

  • The cultural knowledge of Aboriginal child recognized and imparted to other peers  
  • Families that speak more than one language are motivated to exchange multicultural cultural traditions of digging and farming.  
  • Diversity embraced in the aspect of religion when discussing about various creation stories  
  • Home languages were encouraged during telling stories and talking about artifacts  

Ethics Application in Professional Code: Early Childhood Australia Code of Ethics can be used to make professional decisions (Early Childhood Australia, 2019):  

  • Respect of families: Fancy varied cultural interpretations of the past and traditions  
  • Cultural sensitivity: Asked the community prior to inviting Elder  
  • Child protection: Cultural student teaching was also child-friendly and respectful  
  • Professional boundaries: Recognised shortfalls of my cultural knowledge 

Wellbeing and Wellness - Holistic Approach  

The wellbeing of children uses a physical, emotional, social, cultural, and spiritual definition (Sanson et al., 2019): Spiritual Wellbeing:  

  • Elder made children feel like they are parts of something larger through his stories   
  • Time capsule event brought about a feeling of continuity and hope of the future  
  • Cultural guidelines gave order and meaning on common experiences  

Cultural Wellbeing:   

  • The social backgrounds of all the children were accepted and discussed within the cultures   
  • The indigenous children were made to feel that their culture is honored and respected  
  • Non-Indigenous children became aware of cultures and respectful of the cultures  

Environmental Wellbeing:  

  • Linked personal practices to a commitment to Country, and to people coming after us.  
  • Traditional knowledge had led to the development of knowledge of sustainable practices  
  • Engendered stewardship of the environment with time capsule vows 

Play Pedagogies - Culturally Responsive Play 

Cultural learning and connection: when played in a respectful manner, dramatic play may be used as a vehicle toward such learning and connection (Fleer, 2019):  
Dramatic Play Extensions:   

  • Ancient settlement: Children enacted the role of hunters, gatherers, toolmakers and storytellers  
  • Cultural integration: Intake of both past and current features in a cultured way   
  • Problem-solving play: What would be the way ancient people would solve this problem?   
  • Group storytelling: The members of the ancient communities developed tales by children.   

Education by Play:  

  • Mathematical concepts: Measuring, trade, resource distribution at an ancient settlement  
  • Scientific thoughts: Validation and comparison of the customary versus the contemporary approaches  
  • Social studies: The work of the community and collaboration  
  • Language acquisition: Cultural exchange of new words the new vocabulary that comes with cultural exchange is a point in its favor. 

National Quality Standards - Quality Area 1 (Educational Program and Practice) 

Standard 1.1 - Learning Framework Implementation: Programs need to be able to show a strong application or integration with approved learning frameworks (ACECQA, 2020): EYLF Outcome 2 - Connected with and contribute to their world:  

  • Children acquired sense of belonging in the current culture narrative  
  • Tied the past, present and future with a time capsule project  
  • Were respectful of Indigenous knowledge systems and culture 
  • Proven environmental responsibility cognizance (Department of Education and Training, 2022)  

Standard 1.2 Child-centered Programming: In quality programs, genuine interests and questions of children are addressed (Fleet et al., 2020):  

  • Elder visit as a child-centered topic appeared because of genuine curiosity of children in relating to the way people used to live in the past  
  • Children making decisions on what to put in time capsules all by themselves regarding their interest.  
  • The situations created out of the theories of children on ancient life became role plays.  
  • Personal cultural knowledge was in vogue and was included 

Assessment and Planning Integration 

Weekly Assessment Summary: Children in general progressed by a lot in:  

  • Scientific inquiry skills: Observation to the hypothesis testing  
  • Cultural awareness: Rim-lighting to the whole picture   
  • Teamwork: Essentials in action and in depth  
  • Communication skills: Descriptions down to explanation  

Examples of assessing individual progress: the learning journey should be captured through individual children (Carr, 2019):  

  • Emma: The girl that is not afraid to touch soil now oversees diggings  
  • Nathan: Cultivated as an observer to an active member of group investigations  
  • Jackson: Developed simple drawings to serious scientific drawings  
  • Jovana: Has become an outgoing participant to a confident provider of cultural knowledge   

Week 3 planning: the topics the children have shown an interest in and want to know more about:  

  • But how do we save things for the future? Preservation / conservation research   
  • Whatever are the tools currently in use? Comparison of modern technology and ordinary technical tools   
  • So, what are the ways we dig deep holes? Exploring engineering and construction  
  • what tales' commentators of some far-off future will ring up against us? Documentation in the community