My Chosen community resource, Mount Annan Botanical Gardens provides teachers with an opportunity to deliver authentic learning experiences that strengthen the teaching of the HaSS cirriculum. The community resource as well as the learning experiences ive designed will assist teachers in achieving learning outcomes in the strand Geography and also intergrate cross curriculum priorities such as ATSI H & C. Some examples of other perspectives integrated into the learning experiences include sustainability, continuity and culture. Authentic learning is crucial in the humanities and and social sciences cirriculum  (HaSS) because it gives students real-life contexts where knowledge is lived, applied and made meaningful (Reynolds, 2019). When students are given the opportunity to directly engage with landscapes, places and cultural knowledge systems, they will begin to understand the interconnectedness of people, environments and histories in ways that classroom learning is limited to achieve. 

 

My community resource also encourages place-based learning and experiential learning. Students will get the opportunity to sketch, annotate, and document plant features, whilst on the excursion which provides them with tangible observation. As Wolkfore and Margaretts (2017) emphasise, learning becomes deeper and more lasting when students are engaged in constructing their own knowledge.  Both ‘the connections garden’ and ‘the fruit loop garden’ within the botanical gardens, offers a space where students can investigate how humans, such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have interacted with and cared for plants over time. This directly aligns with the geography outcome of describing features of environments and how people use and sustain them.

 

Reynolds (2019) argues that authentic learning experiences allow students to explore meaningful, open-ended questions rather than just basing learning on remembering rote facts. My resource, ‘Fruit Loop Garden Journal,’ and the annotatable map scaffold students to ask questions like: How do plants survive in different conditions?’ What lessons can humans learn from plants about living sustainably?. These inquiry-based questions represent the type of problem-solving and critical thinking skills students need to be active and informed citizens.

 

The opportunity for students to engage in Aboriginal knowledge throughout both the 'Connections Garden' and the 'Fruit Loop Garden'  allows students to gain cultural responsiveness, which is a key part of the Australian curriculum. By engaging with Aboriginal knowledge of plants, such as how indigenous people use rough leaves as sandpaper, students become exposed to indigenous perspectives on caring for country. As Reynolds (2019) notes, HaSS learning should support students to appreciate diverse ways of knowing to understand that knowledge systems are embedded in cultural practices. For students this is not only a great academic exercise but also a good way of recognising the living connections between people and our environment. This example is an authentic form of learning that challenges stereotypes, deepens cultural awareness and allows students to be respectful learners. 

 

Furthermore, the use of spaces within the botanical gardens develops student agency. My digital resource I listed for learning experience two (Plant Explorer, Padlet) allows students to curate, upload, and share their discoveries, transforming them from passive receivers of information into knowledge builders. Woolfolk and Margetts (2017) stress that agency and motivation are enhanced when students feel their contributions matter and when learning tasks connect to real-world relatable outcomes. By encouraging students to generate a shared digital archive of sustainability practices and cultural plant knowledge , students create a resource that not only supports their own learning but also represents their collaborative inquiry. This process embodies the cross-curriculum goal of preparing students to participate, contribute, and take responsibility within their communities. 

 

In my opinion, Mount Annan botanical gardens, specifically the ‘Connections Garden’ and ‘Fruit Loop Garden,’ is an outstanding community resource suitable for stage 2 students because the environment provides different authentic, hands-on experiences that cannot be replicated within a classroom. By combining the physical space of the gardens with the digital and text/visual resources i’ve provided,  allows  curriculum outcomes in geography to be achieved. These resources will also guide students to observe, record, and analyse their surroundings whilst making meaningful connections to Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander knowledge and environmental sustainability.

 

I am confident that the overall learning experiences this community resource offers will support students to be empowered to learn so they can become active and informed citizens!

 

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