HUMANITIES Year 7 • HUMANITIES OVERVIEW In the Year 7 Humanities course, students study a term each of Geography, History, Economics and Civics and Citizenship. Beginning in Term 1, and in anticipation of their Learning Journeys to Central Australia in Term 2, students explore Australian Indigenous culture and history. An understanding of the lineage, history and unique culture is developed throughout the term, with the key skills of historical writing underpinning their studies. In Term 2, students will begin to unpack the notion of financial literacy and what it means to be economically independent in an age of increasing debt. Exploring notions like wages, taxes, interest and budgeting, students will be tasked with keeping their group ‘in the black’.
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Through their studies of Geography in Term 3, Year 7 will investigate where water ‘actually’ comes from. Beginning with an analysis of their household usage, individuals will calculate their daily and weekly use and evaluate strategies to minimise their impact. This concept will then be applied to Melbourne as a whole, with broader concepts like grey water and desalination being evaluated as possible solutions. In Term 4, students will investigate what it means to be a Citizen of Australia. By developing an understanding of how laws are made and government is conducted, Year 7 Humanities will delve deeper in to the culture of contemporary Australia.
Year 8 • HUMANITIES
Year 9 • HUMANITIES
OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW
In the Year 8 Humanities course, students will again get the opportunity to explore a range of Humanities subjects, spanning from Geography and History to Economics, and Civics and Citizenship. Beginning in Semester 1, students will start to explore the formation of Medieval Europe and how the collapse of the Roman Empire gave rise to the foundations of prevailing social conditions such as law and order and political representation. In this semester, students will also extend on understandings developed in Year 7 surrounding entrepreneurship and the formation of a viable enterprise.
In Year 9 Humanities, students study the four key learning areas of Economics, Geography, History, and Sociology. To this end, they are taken through the key skills of developing a business, designing a business model, and unpacking the global and local implications of operating a business that spans across continents. Through this unit of work, students are encouraged to design their own product and source materials within a global supply chain, identifying the moral, financial, and ethical implications of their choices.
Through their studies of Geography in Semester 2, Year 8 will investigate the world around them and why certain locations are structured in certain ways and what influences the formation of both social and geographical spaces. Rounding out the semester, students will unpack the Australian identity and the ways in which it has changed, and continues to change, over time. In such exploration, the role of laws, government, and the individual will all be investigated in order to understand the evolving nature of Australian culture.
In Geography, this element of globalisation is equally investigated and extended upon, whereby we seek to understand the biomes around the world and the role they play in influencing a wide range of factors such as food production, weather patterns, and human living conditions. In History, students specifically focus their studies on World War One and the impact it had on the global world order. In this, we inquire about both the causes and ongoing effects of the conflict. Finally, in our studies surrounding Sociology, students seek to understand the world around us and the role that the group psychology inherent in patterns of people plays in influencing our lives.
