Year 7 Science · Unit 4 · Lesson 12
Master Worksheet
Learning Goals
Reading a seasonal calendar
This simplified table shows how some Nations might link a sky event to an event on Country through the year. Study it, then answer the questions below. (The exact links differ for each Nation and each place.)
| Time of year | Sky event | Event on Country |
|---|---|---|
| Cooler season begins | Seven Sisters appear | Certain foods become available |
| Mid year | Emu in the Sky looks like it is running | Emus are nesting; eggs can be collected |
| Later in the year | Emu in the Sky looks like it is sitting | Time to leave nests alone |
| Any month | Full Moon or new Moon | Largest tides for fishing and gathering shellfish |
(a) Using the table, write down which sky event would tell someone that emu eggs can be collected.
Scenario
Earlier in this unit you learned that science builds reliable knowledge by observing something again and again until you are sure of the pattern. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples did exactly this with the night sky over tens of thousands of years, recording the knowledge in story, song and Lore. Your task is to explain clearly why this counts as careful, repeated science, and to use one well-known example to support your answer.
(a) Choose one example from the lesson, such as the Emu in the Sky, the Seven Sisters or the Moon and tides. Describe the sky event and the event on Country it predicts.
(b) Explain the steps that turned this single observation into reliable, predictive knowledge. Use the words observation, repeat and predict in your answer.
(c) Evaluate this statement: "Knowledge passed down in story and song cannot be real science." Do you agree? Justify your answer, referring to how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander astronomical Knowledges were tested over thousands of years.
Wrap Up
In one sentence, what was the main idea of this lesson?