Hobbies And Interests
Golden Trivia Game
Upon completion of your lesson on the Australian gold rush, test your students' knowledge of the material with a trivia-based game. Divide the class into two teams and ask a series of relevant questions; the first team to come up with the correct answer earns a point, and the team with the most points at the end of the competition wins. Ask quick, factually-based questions about important dates and historical figures during the movement, as well as more thought-provoking questions, like how the gold rush affected members of society in Australia. Each team can elect a specific student as its spokesperson, or students may take turns going head-to-head against one another.
Classroom Gold Dig
Give your students an opportunity to flex their prospecting skills in the classroom with a gold rush-themed scavenger hunt. Use gold paint to coat small objects for hiding, or simply use pieces of gold construction paper to represent nuggets. Hide these items around the class, and create a list of clues based on the learning material that will help your students find the hidden objects. The student with the most gold nuggets at the end of the hunt will be the winner.
A Day In the Life of A Prospector
Have the students travel back in time for a look into the life of a gold prospector in 19th century Australia. This interactive game will challenge students to conduct a lucrative gold dig by managing their finances; they'll have to plan a budget for food and supplies to purchase, and will have to factor in the costs of acquiring a mining permit, as well as other labor expenses. This game will provide students with a historical lesson about the hardships miners faced, and it will also help to bolster their math skills as they have to factor in a variety of expenses. For extra math practice, have the students convert the value of a shilling to modern currency.
Guess Who?
Help students identify important bits of information from the learning material by writing a specific person, place or event onto sticky notes. Give each student a note to place on his forehead; he should not look at what is written on the paper. Each student will then take turns asking yes or no questions about his sticky note to try to identify the person, place or event they've been assigned. Continue game play until each student has correctly guessed his identity.