This book is the first in a series to be published in relation to research about the experiences of military families being undertaken by researchers at the University of New England, NSW This research was initially prompted when Madeline Fussell, a Primary Social Science Lecturer, was approached by military families who expressed their frustration at the lack of culturally authentic and age-appropriate illustrated storybooks for their young children. They asked for books that supported the experiences of young children who had a parent deploying or absent for extended periods during training. They identified common related issues encountered by military families. Teaming up with Marg Baber, an Early Childhood Lecturer, they met with two military families and discussed some of these issues. This resulted in several research-based illustrated storybooks being written as a community project for the charity organisation, Soldier On. Further background research revealed there was almost no Australian and little international research working directly with young children to explore their experiences and understandings of their lives in military families; nor was there research that allowed young military children's voices to be heard. Marg's research aims to address this gap. Her doctoral thesis is titled 'Young children's experiences and understanding of military deployment within an Australian Defence Force family'.

The difficulty in understanding the guided discovery inquiry learning approach to teaching social science and developing the appropriate skills to facilitate student learning, is that many teachers most likely did not experience such learning in their schooling and so do not have the necessary role models. This paper describes how a week-long workshop in Nauru, conducted by University of New England lecturers, provided appropriate knowledge and skills for pre-service and in-service teachers to authenticate global disciplinary research methods and concepts through the use of local content in the local primary classroom. The metacognitive learning, about inquiry learning, achieved by the lecturers and teachers was facilitated by the intensive school as both modelling and practice are essential to social science learning at all levels. The transferability of the inquiry approach to other cultural settings appears to imply the effectiveness of using this pedagogy in differentiated classrooms and in high multi-cultural settings.

HASS teaching is aimed at developing lifelong learning skills that will enable learners today to be active citizens of their communities, their nation and the world. It is hoped that the knowledge and skills learnt in educational settings will be utilised and built on over the course of learners' lives. Inquiry learning provides an excellent vehicle to achieve these goals because it allows learners to go further than assimilating knowledge. The inquiry process in HASS places great emphasis on learners viewing different perspectives and values and using critical thinking skills to evaluate and make decisions. The result of this approach is that learners themselves develop opinions, form values and acquire skills that will underpin their behaviour, both now and in the future.