HASS · Year 1

Active learning ideas

Food and Cooking in the Past

Active learning works because this topic blends abstract historical facts with tangible, sensory experiences. When students handle real or replica tools, taste preserved foods, or simulate past processes, they connect abstract ideas to concrete memories, which strengthens long-term understanding.

• ACARA Content Descriptions
• AC9HASS1K03

• 25–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Stations Rotation
• 30 min · Pairs

Role-Play: Past Market Stall

Students work in pairs to set up stalls with pictures of past foods like bush tucker or farm produce. They role-play trading with classmates using play money or shells, then discuss how this differs from supermarket shopping. End with a class share of favourite past foods.

How did people cook food before there were stoves and microwaves?

Facilitation Tip

For the Past Market Stall role-play, assign specific roles like vendor, customer, or historian to ensure every student participates and stays engaged throughout the exchange.

What to look for

Show students pictures of different food preparation tools from the past (e.g., a mortar and pestle, a cast iron pot) and present-day tools (e.g., a blender, a microwave). Ask students to sort the pictures into 'Past' and 'Present' categories and explain their reasoning for one item.

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

Activity 02

• Stations Rotation
• 45 min · Whole Class

Demonstration: Fireless Cooking

Demonstrate safe cooking methods using solar ovens made from boxes and foil, or stone boiling with hot water and pebbles in bowls. Students observe and draw steps, then try making damper dough. Compare to microwave use at home.

How did people get their food before there were supermarkets?

Facilitation Tip

During the Fireless Cooking demonstration, dim the lights or use a single candle to simulate open-flame cooking and help students focus on the sensory experience of heat and smoke.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Imagine you need to store apples for the winter without a refrigerator. What are two ways people in the past might have done this?' Encourage students to recall and share methods like drying or storing in a cool place.

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

Activity 03

• Stations Rotation
• 40 min · Small Groups

Experiment: Food Preservation

In small groups, students salt cucumber slices, dry apple rings in sun, and observe over days. Record changes in journals with drawings. Discuss why these methods worked before fridges.

How did people keep food fresh before there were refrigerators?

Facilitation Tip

In the Food Preservation experiment, assign small groups to test one method per group (salting, drying, or smoking) so students can compare results side by side and discuss reliability.

What to look for

Give each student a card with a picture of a food item (e.g., a piece of fruit, a piece of meat). Ask them to write down one way people in the past might have cooked or preserved this food item before modern appliances.

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

Activity 04

• Timeline Challenge
• 25 min · Individual

Timeline Challenge: Food Journey

Individually, students draw a personal timeline of a meal from farm to table today, then add past versions. Share in pairs to sequence class timelines on a wall.

How did people cook food before there were stoves and microwaves?

Facilitation Tip

On the Timeline: Food Journey, use string and paper clips to create a physical timeline students can move along as they add events, making sequencing interactive and memorable.

What to look for

Show students pictures of different food preparation tools from the past (e.g., a mortar and pestle, a cast iron pot) and present-day tools (e.g., a blender, a microwave). Ask students to sort the pictures into 'Past' and 'Present' categories and explain their reasoning for one item.

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

A few notes on teaching this unit

Experienced teachers approach this topic by grounding abstract ideas in sensory and social learning. Start with the familiar (modern foods) and move backward in time to provoke curiosity. Avoid overgeneralizing past diets as ‘hard’ or ‘boring’—instead, highlight the ingenuity and cultural richness of historical foodways. Research shows that hands-on experiments and role-plays build empathy and deepen understanding of cause-and-effect relationships in history.

By the end of these activities, students will confidently describe how past communities sourced, prepared, and preserved food using evidence from role-plays, experiments, and timelines. They will also compare past and present practices with accuracy and detail.

---

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Role-Play: Past Market Stall, watch for students assuming past diets were limited or unappetizing.

  Use the role-play to showcase abundance by assigning vendors to offer seasonal foods like roasted game, dried fruits, or preserved fish. Ask students to describe the flavors and textures they imagine tasting during the exchange.

• During the Experiment: Food Preservation, watch for students assuming all food spoiled quickly without refrigerators.

  After the experiment, have groups share their results and discuss why some methods worked better than others. Use their observations to correct the misconception with evidence from their own tests.

• During the Timeline: Food Journey, watch for students assuming cooking methods were the same everywhere.

  Use the timeline to highlight regional differences by having students add artefacts like Indigenous ground ovens or settler cast iron pots. Ask students to explain why methods varied and compare their findings.

---

Methods used in this brief

• Stations Rotation
• Timeline Challenge