Humanities offers not only Australian Curriculum subjects but also a range of elective subjects for Year 9 and 10.
Historical perspectives is an elective unit offered to Year 9 and 10 students, we delve deeper into history than we do with our Australian Curriculum based History. Last semester, Historical Perspective students learnt about the evolution of warfare which they thoroughly enjoyed. This semester students will be studying the Cold War. While this occurred several decades ago, there is talk of a new Cold War evolving. Students will be comparing and contrasting the old Cold War with the possibility of a new Cold War and, hopefully, we will learn from our mistakes in the past.
The World of Money is another elective offered to Year 9 and 10 students and is a commerce based subject. Last semester we were focused on ‘Towards Independence’ where students took over their parent’s food budget, which of course was made even more challenging by the panic buying in the stores and lockdowns. This semester the students are studying a unit called ‘Create your own Enterprise’. Students will be working collaboratively and learning from the perspective of a practical example and experience, that is, Market Day. We want commerce students to understand the opportunities, complexity and challenges in the business environment which are evident in today’s market. They will be creating their own product with limited resources and selling these at Market Day later in the year.
Our last elective offering in Humanities is Geopolitics, which is in almost every news bulletin. Geopolitics is focused on a mix of law, geography and politics. Unit offerings include International Law, Human Geography and Political Agendas. This would be a fascinating time to study these units of work with lots of classroom discussion surrounding various points of view.
What we endeavor to teach across all of our Humanities based classes are the soft skills needed for the workplaces of tomorrow. While there is a current push towards learning STEM subjects, there is also a vital need for Humanities. In all of our Humanities classes, students will be challenged to think critically and write clearly. Students are encouraged to use past events to inform current and future events.
Kylie Rose
Head of SOSE