    
Using the learning emphases in the lower secondary school: Studies of society and environment Choosing, for example, the learning emphasis: 'Challenging stereotypes', the Studies of Asia Curriculum Support Document provides a set of suggestions like those in the table below. (Note that this table is adapted from the original, to make more reference to China rather than other Asian countries.)
These suggestions are student activities which would, in practice, be part of larger learning sequences.
| Ancient civilisations |
Design a timeline to show important inventions in ancient China. (Examples: silk, paper money, cast iron, the seismograph, the rocket.) |
Outline the use of paper money in ancient China. |
Describe the role of the Silk Road in the history of international trade. |
| Local history |
Identify items manufactured in China and used on the goldfields of Australia. |
Describe the role of Chinese diggers on the goldfields of Australia. |
Prepare a profile of a local person who came to Australia from China in the 1980s. |
| Family life |
Identify social concerns of young people in China. |
Construct a graph showing average lifespans of men and women in Australia, China and other countries of Asia. |
Compare the school day of a student in Shanghai with that of a student in Australia. |
| Customs |
Describe the main features of the diet of people in northern China. |
Outline the role of the mother in several Chinese urban and rural families. |
Describe rush-hour crowd behaviour in the Beijing subway. |
| Location |
Identify and suggest reasons for common stereotypes in Australia about Chinese cities. |
Outline issues surrounding the building of the dam on the Yangzi River. |
Suggest reasons for the low population density in hill regions of Yunnan Province, China. |
| Back to Curriculum Guide | Lesson Plan Catalogue |
 Curriculum
Corporation and the Asialink Centre, The University of Melbourne.
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