Free digital resources for teachers and students

Are you a teacher on the lookout for classroom-ready resources? Or a family looking for authoritative and balanced sources of truth to help young learners with their homework or to spark interest in history and the world around us?

Change is the only constant in our world and COVID-19 has brought new challenges and opportunities for students and teachers. Our new Australia’s Defining Moments Digital Classroom is a free resource for the classroom of today and tomorrow.

History, geography, civics and citizenship

Digital Classroom supports classwork and homework for students of all ages across Australia. It encourages students to think about their family and local history, Australian and global events. The site aims to bring history, geography and civics and citizenship alive, while maintaining educational rigour.

A timeline spans 65,000 years of history on the continent through to contemporary events like the same sex marriage referendum. Since launching late last year, our 5 most visited moments are:

• The First Fleet arrives at Sydney Cove
• Gold rushes begin
• Evidence of first peoples
• Myall Creek massacre
• Pemulwuy resists the colonists

Historians and curators wrote the timeline content. Our Education team and teachers helped to develop learning modules and resources for students of all ages. Our most visited so far are:

• Movement of peoples (Year 9 History)
• Ancient Australia (Year 7 History)
• Colonial Australia (Year 5 History)

Primary and secondary sources, images and games

Digital Classroom is deliberately multi-layered to allow students to work at their own pace. There is an image bank including more than 1100 photographs, artworks, museum objects and other primary sources.

There are free videos and games designed to make learning fun. These 4 have been especially popular:

• The Message
• Australian Journey: The Stolen Generations
• Investigating family
• What defining moments happened at Budj Bim?

Independent learning and critical thinking

Digital Classroom evolved from the Museum's popular Defining Moments in Australian History website. Digital Classroom places students at the centre of the experience and encourages independent learning and critical thinking. It was designed in consultation with teachers and students at every step of the way.

Digital Classroom works alongside the Defining Moments Discovery Wall in our Gandel Atrium. Both have a timeline spanning more than 65,000 years, with one experience available on site in Canberra, the other online.