Unit 4: Southeast Asia and Oceania

We recommend that teachers new to Investigating History review the Curriculum Guidebook before preparing to teach their first unit.

Cluster 1: Regional Geography and the Pacific Islands Past and Present (Lessons 1-6)
What was the role of  the ocean in shaping Oceania’s history, and how might it shape the region’s future?

Lesson 1: Google Earth Exploration: Traveling across Southeast Asia and Oceania 

Lesson 2:  Populating the Pacific: People and Movement in the Ancient Past

Lesson 3: Wayfinding as Indigenous Knowledge

Lesson 4: Technology, Arts and Lifeways of Pacific Islanders, Past & Present

Lesson 5 & 6: Colonial Pasts, Sustainable Futures for Pacific Islanders and their Homelands

Cluster 2: Aboriginal Australia and Māori New Zealand (Lessons 7-10)
How did people relate to the land and ocean through sustainability practices, the arts, and story? 

Lesson 7: The First People Arrive in Australia

Lesson 8: Aboriginal Stewardship of the Land

Lesson 9: How the First Peoples Told Stories through Art

Lesson 10: The Māori of New Zealand

Cluster 3: Mainland and Island Southeast Asia (Lessons 11-18)
How did geography shape ancient Southeast Asian politics and culture?

Lesson 11: The Geography of Mainland and Island Southeast Asia

Lesson 12: How Do We Know about Funan, Southeast Asia’s First Great State?

Lesson 13: South Asian Influences on Southeast Asian Politics and Culture

Lesson 14: Srivijaya: The Elements of a Flourishing State

Lesson 15: The Hydraulic Empire of the Khmer 

Lesson 16: A Visit to Angkor Wat

Lesson 17: The Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Genocide

Lesson 18: Cultural Survival and Unit Review

Summative Assessment (Lessons 19-23)

Teacher Guidance: Part I, Part II

Student Handout: Part I, Part II

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