Curriculum Studies – Modern History

This subject prepares Teacher Education Students to teach the Stage 6 Modern History syllabus developed by NESA and ACARA. It is designed to advance knowledge in the areas of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment for Secondary school Modern History students.

It also aims to develop Intial Teacher Education (ITE) students’ understanding and skills in critically analysing and evaluating contemporary theory, concepts and issues in Modern History as applied in the classroom context, including curriculum design and evaluation- assessment, examination and reporting. Using the local area as a research resource and fieldwork are integral parts of this subject.

Awards offering Curriculum Studies – Modern History

This unit is offered as a part of the following awards:

• Master of Teaching (Secondary)

Unit Content

Curriculum Objective

This subject prepares Teacher Education Students to teach the Stage 6 Modern History syllabus developed by NESA and ACARA. It is designed to advance knowledge in the areas of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment for Secondary school Modern History students.

It also aims to develop Intial Teacher Education (ITE) students’ understanding and skills in critically analysing and evaluating contemporary theory, concepts and issues in Modern History as applied in the classroom context, including curriculum design and evaluation- assessment, examination and reporting. Using the local area as a research resource and fieldwork are integral parts of this subject.

Outcomes

1. Describe in-depth Australian and State educational policies and priorities and their effect on implementing ‘best practice’ teaching strategies and engaging resources to fulfil the aims of the ACARA Modern History curriculum years [11-12] and NSW Modern History syllabus (Stage 6).
2. Describe in detail the subject’s organisation in understanding the teacher’s role involving support, mentoring, professional development goals, curriculum administration, WHS, and engaging with parents/carer, professional and external community organisations in the teaching of the subject in Christian and alternate school environments.
3. Develop student-centred innovative and well-designed Modern History learning activity sequences that include: (a) curriculum content [concepts, substance and structure, tools, and skills]; (b) language, literacy and numeracy demands arising from the content; and (c) ways of addressing the Australian Curriculum’s General Capabilities (GCs) and Cross-Curriculum Priorities (CCPs).  The lesson plans should also include provisions to identify, apply and assess age-appropriate and differentiated strategies for the full range of student abilities [supporting their well-being and safety] and diverse backgrounds [multilingual and sociocultural] and designate work samples for reliably reporting to parents/carers and for record-keeping.
4. Design and critically reflect upon units of work, lesson sequences, and curriculum materials using threshold concepts and skills development, knowledge acquisition and signature pedagogies that incorporate ICT, Quality Teaching Framework, and Great Teaching Inspired Learning using Understanding by Design within a high stakes environment.
5. Prepare and analyse a variety of assessment instruments using ‘best practice’ that demonstrate understanding of statistical information, assessment moderation and its application to judge student achievement through assessment of learning, for learning and in learning, and suitable for reliably reporting to parents/carers.

Subject Content

1    Australian Curriculum Framework, State English Syllabus

• Establish the relationship between the ACARA curriculum (years 11-12), the NSW Modern History Syllabus (Stage 6), and school implementation with particular emphasis on the General Capabilities (GCs) and Cross-Curriculum Priorities (CCPs).
• The aims, rationale and sequential development of the NSW Modern History syllabus (Stage 6), the value of support documents in developing effective teaching and learning programs that support student academic achievement, the wider goals of society and the whole of a person’s development.
• Critically review the place of Secondary History studies in the continuum of learning in K-12 with regard to the specific subject area.
• The place of the subject within both Christian and state school contexts.
  • Case studies within topics.
  • Emphasis on developing social justice and active citizenship.
  • Application of critical thinking skills.

       Develop sociocultural assets for the betterment of society.

2    Values and human issues:

• Christian and alternate worldview perspectives, social action, volunteerism and charities, moral education, cultural and ideological difference, National Values Education project, values and the national curriculum (ACARA), interfaith understanding, ethical and legal issues, and academic achievement and performative cultures in teaching.

      Community Participation: 

• The role of parents/carers in teaching and learning the subject; the importance of community organisations and businesses in local Modern History Research Projects.
• The teacher as a communicator of the educational process to parents/ carers and community.
• The role and value of History within education.

      Teacher professional associations:

• Place and role of associations in creating professional support networks.

• Presentation of professional development activities and resources for the concept and skills development, and knowledge acquisition of Modern History specialists.

3    Teaching Years 11-12 Modern History content and skills

• Interdisciplinary nature of Modern History connecting with other syllabuses.
• Consider fieldwork or other experiential learning versus direct instruction. The importance of primary and secondary data sources; interpreting data – critical literacy and numeracy skills.
• Pedagogical models incorporating fieldwork: Problem-based learning, Project-based learning, Case-based learning, Enquiry-based learning, Experiential learning.
• Research methodologies for the subject area – quantitative/qualitative/ mixed methods
• Teaching Theories relevant to the subject area.

      Teacher Decision Making

• Accommodating transition to Senior School/ New school
• Planning lessons and units: interpreting the syllabus; content selection; skills selection; pedagogical strategies for student learning and improving achievement.
• Using the Quality Teaching Framework (QTF) and positive learning environments to implement school based and state education policies and legislation for enhancing quality teaching and learning and student wellbeing.
• Incorporating Workplace Health and Safety.

      Teaching General Capabilities 

• Explicit teaching of the language, literacy and numeracy demands of the content; Literacy related to new concepts and skills.
• Literacy: Scaffolding literacy with the subject material.
• Numeracy: Scaffolding numeracy with the subject material.
• ICT: understanding meaningful learning as applied to complex Modern History tools and Modern History skills and knowledge acquisition.
• Critical and Creative thinking: Revised Bloom/ SOLO taxonomies.

      Teaching for the range of abilities:

• Age appropriate choices and scaffolding for Years 11-12.
• Inclusion: Implementing Universal Design for the full range of abilities.
• G&T: Gifted and Talented using Williams/ Kaplan/ Maker models.

      Teaching for Diverse Settings:

• Teaching strategies that are responsive to the learning strengths and needs of students from diverse  linguistic,  cultural,  religious  and  socioeconomic  backgrounds;  physical,  social  and intellectual development and characteristics of students and how these may affect learning.
• ATSI: Australian Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander; the 8 ways model of indigenous pedagogy.
• EALD: scaffolding literacy; using ICT to assist meaningful learning.

      Religious backgrounds: considering differing religious and worldview perspectives.

4    Teacher program building

• Using curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge to design learning sequences and lesson plans; encouraging reflective thought and action; enhancing the relevance of new learning; facilitating shared learning; making connections to prior learning and experience; providing sufficient opportunities to learn; teaching as inquiry and e-learning and pedagogy.
• Developing the unit outline – the sequence of lessons
• Developing the scope and sequence.
• Constructing the concept map for the unit (using mind mapping tools such as cmap).
• Developing the assessment schedule.
• Developing the assessment tasks – the role of the marking rubric in moderating to assist in evaluating areas for improvement.

      Teacher decision making

• Selecting threshold concepts; signature pedagogies.
• Achieving the learning outcomes through sequencing concept development; skills development and knowledge acquisition.
• Ensuring the program accommodates the full range of abilities and diverse backgrounds of students.

5    Models supporting Assessment

• NESA assessment requirements for the Record of School Achievement and other syllabuses studied.
• Types of Assessment: formative, summative, formal, informal.
• Pedagogical based assessments: problem-based and project-based (including fieldwork).
• Models for creating authentic assessments Kaplan/Maker/Williams .
• Support document examples; exemplars for a variety of professional organisations and schools.
• Strategies for recording and reporting student achievement: types of data collected; recording data for a purpose; state and in-house moderation practices; areas of reporting; using data to inform program evaluation and future lesson planning. 
• Normative, portfolios, objective tests, anecdotal records, observation, working effectively when communicating and reporting with parents/carers and volunteers.
• Online, virtual and fieldwork (SGP) assessment tasks.
• Measuring and recording assessment.

This course may be offered in the following formats

• Face to Face (onsite)
• E-learning (online)
• Intensive
• Extensive 

Please consult your course prospectus or enquire about how and when this course will be offered next at Alphacrucis University College.

Assessment Methods

• Multimedia Resource Presentation (30%)
• Lesson Plan Sequence (30%)
• Assessing a Unit of Work (40%)

Prescribed Text

• References will include the most current curriculum requirements for schools.

Check with the instructor each semester before purchasing any prescribed texts or representative references