HASS · Year 1

Active learning ideas

Communication: From Letters to Screens

Active learning works well for this topic because students need to physically experience the frustrations and joys of slow versus instant communication. Moving, writing, and comparing methods helps them grasp abstract concepts like distance and speed in a tangible way.

• ACARA Content Descriptions
• AC9HASS1K03

• 20–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Stations Rotation
• 30 min · Pairs

Role-Play: Letter vs Text

Pairs act out sending a letter: one writes a note, seals it, and 'posts' it by walking to a mailbox station; the other pretends to receive it days later. Switch to texting: instant exchange using toy phones. Discuss time differences after each round.

How have the ways people talk to each other and send messages changed over time?

Facilitation Tip

For the role-play, assign specific roles like postie, sender, and receiver to emphasize the delays in letter delivery.

What to look for

Give each student a card with a picture of either a letter or a phone. Ask them to draw one way they would send a message using that item and write one word describing how fast the message would arrive.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Stations Rotation
• 45 min · Small Groups

Communication Timeline: Build Your Own

Small groups draw a class timeline on butcher paper, placing pictures of letters, telegrams, phones, and screens in order. Add labels for 'slow' or 'fast' and personal family stories. Present to the class.

How is sending a message by phone today different from writing a letter long ago?

Facilitation Tip

When building the timeline, provide clear time markers (e.g., 1800s, 1950s) to help students place events accurately.

What to look for

Hold up pictures of different communication tools (e.g., a quill pen, a smartphone, a telegraph machine, a laptop). Ask students to give a thumbs up if it's a 'past' way to communicate and a thumbs down if it's a 'present' way.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Stations Rotation
• 25 min · Whole Class

Message Relay Race

Whole class lines up; teacher whispers a message to the front. First student passes it back by 'letter' (written note folded slowly) or 'phone' (whispered quickly). Time both methods and compare accuracy and speed.

What is good about being able to communicate quickly with people who live far away?

Facilitation Tip

In the Message Relay Race, set clear rules about passing messages verbatim to highlight the importance of accuracy in early communication.

What to look for

Ask students: 'Imagine you want to tell your cousin who lives in another city about a fun game you played today. How would you send them a message? How would your grandparents have sent a message to their cousin long ago? What is one good thing about sending a message super fast today?'

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 04

• Stations Rotation
• 20 min · Individual

Pros and Cons Sort

Individuals sort cards with communication methods into 'good for...' categories like speed, pictures, or personal touch. Share one reason with a partner, then whole class votes on favorites.

How have the ways people talk to each other and send messages changed over time?

Facilitation Tip

During the Pros and Cons Sort, provide real examples of each format (e.g., a postcard, a text screenshot) to ground the discussion.

What to look for

Give each student a card with a picture of either a letter or a phone. Ask them to draw one way they would send a message using that item and write one word describing how fast the message would arrive.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teach this topic through contrast and comparison. Start with the familiar (smartphones) and move to the unfamiliar (telegrams) to build curiosity. Avoid assuming students know how old tools worked; demonstrate or show short videos first. Research suggests hands-on timelines and role-plays improve retention of chronological changes.

Successful learning looks like students confidently explaining why letters took days to arrive but texts arrive in seconds, and justifying why people might still choose slower methods today. They should also recognize trade-offs between convenience and personal touch in different formats.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Role-Play: Letter vs Text, watch for students assuming people in the past never communicated with distant friends or family.

  Use the role-play to physically demonstrate the wait time for letters by having students pause between sending and receiving messages. Ask them to reflect on how they felt waiting and what they did in the meantime.

• During the Pros and Cons Sort, watch for students assuming all modern communication methods are superior to older ones.

  Have students pair up to discuss one benefit and one drawback of each format they sort. Prompt them with questions like, 'Would you save a text message forever? Why or why not?'

• During the Communication Timeline: Build Your Own, watch for students thinking telegrams were simply fast letters.

  Ask students to create a mock telegram using the word limit activity. Have them compare it to a letter they write in the Role-Play to highlight the brevity and cost constraints of telegrams.

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Methods used in this brief

• Stations Rotation