| Effective Term: | 2026/05 |
| Institute / School : | Institute of Education, Arts & Community |
| Unit Title: | Indigenous Inventions and Sciences |
| Unit ID: | BAIND3003 |
| Credit Points: | 15.00 |
| Prerequisite(s): | (BAIND1001 or BAIND1002) |
| Co-requisite(s): | Nil |
| Exclusion(s): | (BAIND2003) |
| ASCED: | 090311 |
| Other Change: | |
| Brief description of the Unit |
This unit explores the profound and innovative contributions of Australian Indigenous peoples to science and technology. The unit offers students the opportunity to appreciate the depth of knowledges, creativity, and scientific understanding through discovery and research that has been present among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for some 120 thousand years. The unit gives the students an opportunity to engage with Indigenous ways of communicating, making and knowing and sharing these skills with community. Students will engage with connection to community and Country and experience the interconnected Indigenous world. |
| Grade Scheme: | Graded (HD, D, C, P, MF, F, XF) |
| Work Experience Indicator: |
| No work experience |
| Placement Component: | |
| Supplementary Assessment:Yes |
| Where supplementary assessment is available a student must have failed overall in the Unit but gained a final mark of 45 per cent or above, has completed all major assessment tasks (including all sub-components where a task has multiple parts) as specified in the Unit Description and is not eligible for any other form of supplementary assessment |
| Course Level: |
| Level of Unit in Course | AQF Level(s) of Course | | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | | Introductory | | | | | | | | Intermediate | | | | | | | | Advanced | | |  | | | |
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| Learning Outcomes: |
| Knowledge: |
| K1. | Recognise the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, histories, experiences and identities |
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| K2. | Identify and consider the ongoing impacts of settler colonisation on Indigenous peoples and communities in Australia |
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| K3. | Examine key concepts, theories, issues and debates in the field of Indigenous Studies |
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| Skills: |
| S1. | Engage with diverse cultural contexts and demonstrate culturally inclusive practices |
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| S2. | Develop skills in research and communication, including academic writing and referencing |
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| S3. | Reflect on one’s pre-existing knowledge of and relationship to course content |
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| Application of knowledge and skills: |
| A1. | Engage ethically with questions and debates relating to the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia |
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| A2. | Apply relevant conceptual and theoretical frameworks to issues and debates regarding the status and experiences of Indigenous peoples in Australia |
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| A3. | Communicate an understanding of key theories and concepts in Indigenous Studies at an introductory level |
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| Unit Content: |
- Traditional ecological knowledges and environmental management practices. - Australian Indigenous scientific and engineering ways and techniques, which may include inventions such as the construction of fish traps, dwellings, tools and implements, etc. - Australian Indigenous innovations in food cultivation, harvesting, and sustainable food procuring and harvesting practices. - An understanding of Australian Indigenous astronomy knowledges, including navigation, Dreaming and connection. - Australian Indigenous bush tucker related medicinal knowledges and the various uses of native plants for healing and development. |
| Graduate Attributes: |
| Federation University recognises that students require key transferable employability skills to prepare them for their future workplace and society. FEDTASKS (Transferable Attributes Skills and Knowledge) provide a targeted focus on five key transferable Attributes, Skills, and Knowledge that are be embedded within curriculum, developed gradually towards successful measures and interlinked with cross-discipline and Co-operative Learning opportunities. One or more FEDTASK, transferable Attributes, Skills or Knowledge must be evident in the specified learning outcomes and assessment for each FedUni Unit, and all must be directly assessed in each Course.
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| FED TASK and descriptor | Development and acquisition of FEDTASKS in the Unit | | Level | FEDTASK 1
Interpersonal | Students will demonstrate the ability to effectively communicate, inter-act and work with others both individually and in groups. Students will be required to display skills in-person and/or online in: • Using effective verbal and non-verbal communication • Listening for meaning and influencing via active listening • Showing empathy for others • Negotiating and demonstrating conflict resolution skills • Working respectfully in cross-cultural and diverse teams. | Level 3 - Student works independently with limited guidance or works within self-determined guidelines appropriate to context | FEDTASK 2
Leadership | Students will demonstrate the ability to apply professional skills and behaviours in leading others. Students will be required to display skills in: • Creating a collegial environment • Showing self -awareness and the ability to self-reflect • Inspiring and convincing others • Making informed decisions • Displaying initiative | Level 3 - Student works independently with limited guidance or works within self-determined guidelines appropriate to context | FEDTASK 3
Critical Thinking and Creativity | Students will demonstrate an ability to work in complexity and ambiguity using the imagination to create new ideas. Students will be required to display skills in: • Reflecting critically • Evaluating ideas, concepts and information • Considering alternative perspectives to refine ideas • Challenging conventional thinking to clarify concepts • Forming creative solutions in problem solving. | Level 3 - Student works independently with limited guidance or works within self-determined guidelines appropriate to context | FEDTASK 4
Digital Literacy | Students will demonstrate the ability to work fluently across a range of tools, platforms and applications to achieve a range of tasks. Students will be required to display skills in: • Finding, evaluating, managing, curating, organising and sharing digital information • Collating, managing, accessing and using digital data securely • Receiving and responding to messages in a range of digital media • Contributing actively to digital teams and working groups • Participating in and benefiting from digital learning opportunities. | Level 3 - Student works independently with limited guidance or works within self-determined guidelines appropriate to context | FEDTASK 5
Sustainable and Ethical Mindset | Students will demonstrate the ability to consider and assess the consequences and impact of ideas and actions in enacting ethical and sustainable decisions. Students will be required to display skills in: • Making informed judgments that consider the impact of devising solutions in global economic environmental and societal contexts • Committing to social responsibility as a professional and a citizen • Evaluating ethical, socially responsible and/or sustainable challenges and generating and articulating responses • Embracing lifelong, life-wide and life-deep learning to be open to diverse others • Implementing required actions to foster sustainability in their professional and personal life. | Level 3 - Student works independently with limited guidance or works within self-determined guidelines appropriate to context |
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| | Learning Outcomes Assessed | Assessment Tasks | Assessment Type | Weighting | | 1. | S1, S2, A1, A2, A3 | Indigenous Science and Inventions Exploration | Yarn | 20-25% | | 2. | K1, K2, K3, S3, A3 | Development of Invention or Way of Knowing from Country | Development Project | 30-35% | | 3. | S1, S2, A1, A2, A3 | Invention or Way of knowing from Country | On Country Expo | 40-45% |
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