Support your Year 2 students in their learning of HASS: History, with the What is Life Like Today? Assessment task.

Created to coincide with Year 2 History Australian Curriculum, this activity will provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts related to technological developments and how they have changed people’s lives at home, and in the ways they work, travel and communicate.

Students will develop a question to guide their research of the ways modern technology has impacted people’s daily lives. They can choose to focus on technology’s impact on how people work, travel or communicate. Students will record their question and research notes on the What is Life Like Today? Researching Technology worksheet. Blank and lined versions of this worksheet have been included.

Example Questions:

• What machines help people today to travel from one place to another?
• How do people today communicate with their friends and family?
• Why do people today use electronics to complete their work at school?
• Which technologies help people today to work/travel/communicate?

Students will apply this research when composing a letter written from themselves to a child living 80 years ago, using the A Letter from the Future template. In their letter, the students will describe how they use technology in their work, travel or communication. They are encouraged to express their understanding of why these technologies have been made, how they function and how they have changed people’s daily lives over time. Three versions of this template, including one with sentence prompts, have been included.

Teachers can assess this task using the What is Life Like Today? Assessment Rubric. A blank version of this document has also been included.

This activity is part of our Past & Present Connections History Unit.