Implementing the Australian Curriculum, History

Implementing the Australian Curriculum, History Helen HennessyEducation Officer, History, BCEhhennessy@bne.catholic.edu.auHow comfortable are you about teaching history?What do you think history is?

Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCEA Continuum activityOn the sheet provided, record what you think history is.Read the rationale and modify your response if necessary.Look at what everyone has said. Have any new learnings developed?

2Another voice:History is the imaginative reconstruction of the past using what evidence we can find. We can state what we definitely know from the evidence. We can hypothesise about things we are unsure of, and we can use other knowledge and experience to inform our interpretations.Turner-Bisset, 2000, p.171, quoted in Turner-Bisset, 2005, Creative Teaching: History in the Primary Classroom, p.21

Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCE3

Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCE

The AimsHelen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCERead the aims.Did any of these aims present something new for you?Complete the matching activity for the historical understandings/concepts.5What is historical inquiry?Historical inquiry is the process of developing knowledge and understanding in history by asking questions about the past, and applying skills associated with analysing, interpreting and evaluating sources of evidence to develop informed and defensible answers.

Shape of the Australian curriculum: HistoryHelen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCEDiscuss in small groups6Use sources for evidence

Primary SourcesSecondary sourcesComprehendAnalyseInterpretEvaluateInformed DecisionsHelen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCE7What would the teachers role be in this model of historical inquiry?Teachers describe, explain, model and monitor the process of historical inquiry so that students develop increasing initiative, self-direction and expertise.Shape of the Australian curriculum: HistoryThere is not suggestion in the standards that the students will do this independently by the end of Year 7.

Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCEAllow time to discuss this first.8

Learning areas: The level statements, content descriptions and standards guide what students learn and achieve in English, History, Mathematics and Science.

General Capabilities: Students develop these capabilities in learning and living with increasing sophistication across P to 12.

Learners and learning; Teachers and teaching:Melbourne Declaration:Goal 1: Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence.Goal 2: All young Australians become successful learners, confident and creative individuals, active and informed citizens.Cross-Curriculum Priorities: Students develop these perspectives in learning and living with increasing sophistication across P to 12. Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCE9Focus Inquiry QuestionsKnowledge and UnderstandingsSkillsCourse OrganisationHelen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCEWithin history the Course organisation starts with a focus area for the study.This is informed by key concepts, historical knowledge and understandings and historical skills and Inquiry questions. The inquiry questions provide the framework for developing the historical knowledge and understandings (concepts) and skills.10Year 7-10 Historical knowledge and understandingOverviewDepth Studies10% total time;Provides introduction, linking studies and concluding study3 per year; some electivesHelen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCEIn Years 7-10 where there is intended to be more contact hours of history per week, the historical knowledge and understanding is broken into overviews and depth studies. The overview is intended to take about 10% of the time and provide the initial introduction, linking studies between the depth studies and a final concluding study. There are 3 depth studies throughout the year and the teacher can determine the order of the depth studies. Some depth studies have electives from which teachers can choose. For example in Year 7, depth study 2, the Mediterranean world, provides a choice of Egypt, Greece or Rome and depth study 3, The Asian world, has a choice of China or India.11Remember:The intention of the Australian curriculum, history, is to develop childrens skills in historical inquiry. This means that you need to limit what you try to cover to allow time for the students to develop their skills.Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCE

Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCE

Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCE

Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCE

Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCEThe standardThe standard (in history) elaborates the skills and understandings. The knowledge is the context in which these are developed.The standard is end of year. The skills and understandings are sequential and build from year to year. If students have not done historical inquiry in the past, this may impact on their capacity to reach the standard.Look at the examples given by ACARA (also kweb)Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCEUsing Sources in the ClassroomA TaskIn small groups do the task with the sources distributed. 18Developing your historical inquiryHow much time do you have?What do your students need/enjoy?What general capabilities do you want to develop/ capitalise on?What connections to other learning areas can you legitimately make?What other resources can you find?Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCEPoints to watchBe very specific about the purpose and learning intentions for the inquiry. This will keep the inquiry focussed and manageable. Carefully consider what you want to assess. Study the standard (which focuses on skills and understandings) . Be specific do not try to do everything. Consider different types of assessment. You do not have to have a major production to assess many of the skills.

Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCEIn the Early Years , remember to use play to help develop learning. The other years might also like to include it.Selection of the sources is critical. A good choice will allow most students to reach standard. A poor choice could mean that even your better students struggle. Are you covering cross-curriculum priorities?Are you covering a range of general capabilities?Helen Hennessy, Education Officer History, BCE