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’. 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

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. 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.

Year 9 • HUMANITIES

OVERVIEW 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. 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.

Year 10 • HUMANITIES

OVERVIEW In Year 10 Humanities, students explore four key learning areas surrounding History, Geography, Sociology, and Philosophy. These learning areas allow students to foster their creative and critical thinking, as well as their understanding of the physical and social world around them. In History, students unpack World War Two and, most specifically, the causes and lasting impact of the conflict. In this learning, classes unpack primary sources and seek to understand what the motivations of those on all sides of the war were. In Geography, students explore the natural world around them and begin to utilise data to analyse cause and effect of certain events. To this end, both the creation and manipulation of data become the central skill of the learning. Through their studies of Sociology, students unpack why humans and societies act as they do and what motivates the masses to act in patterns. Through their exploration of Sociology, classes will utilise case studies and specific examples to anchor their theories. Finally, in Philosophy, groups will be given the big questions of life and be tasked with unpacking how and why they have reached their conclusions. In this, students will explore what they know and think to be true and test for validity why this is or isn’t provable.

HUMANITIES

GEOGRAPHY • Units 1 to 4

OVERVIEW Where? Why? How much? What with? These are some of the questions to which geographers want to find the answers. Geography is the study of places on the earth, the people who live there and the environments that support them.

UNIT 1 HAZARDS AND DISASTERS

Key Concepts covered ■ Undertake an overview of hazards before investigating two contrasting types of hazards and the responses to them by people. ■ Describe and explain the nature of hazards. ■ Impacts of hazard events at a range of scales. ■ Explore the nature and effectiveness of specific measures such as prediction and warning programs, community preparedness and land use planning, as well as actions taken after hazards become harmful and destructive disasters. UNIT 2 TOURISM

Key Concepts covered ■ The characteristics of tourism, with particular emphasis on where it has developed, its various forms, how it has changed and continues to change and its impacts on people, places and environments. ■ Describe the changing sources and destinations of different types of tourism. ■ Describe and explain the different types of tourism and tourist locations and destinations. ■ Explain the usefulness of spatial technologies for the tourism industry. UNIT 3 CHANGING THE LAND

Key Concepts covered ■ Investigations of geographical change: change to land cover and change to land use. Land cover includes biomes such as forest, grassland, tundra and wetlands, as well as land covered by ice and water.

Students also explore the interconnections with human activity. ■ Identify and describe the change in land use in the selected area at spatial and temporal scales. ■ Explain the processes of change, the reasons for change and the resulting land use change in the selected area. ■ Describe and explain the processes and causes of deforestation, desertification and melting glaciers and ice sheets. UNIT 4 HUMAN POPULATION TRENDS AND ISSUES

Key Concepts covered ■ The geography of human populations. ■ The patterns of population change, movement and distribution, and how governments, organisations and individuals have responded to those changes in different parts of the world. ■ The distribution of world population characteristics including birth rate, death rate, infant mortality rate, fertility rate and life expectancy. ■ The five stage Demographic Transition

Model and its use in interpreting population structures and other characteristics. ■ Analyse maps, data and other geographic information to develop descriptions and explanations.

Year 10 • GLOBAL POLITICS

SUBJECT LENGTH: SEMESTER UNIT VALUE: ONE

OVERVIEW What events led to the environment where ISIS came into being? How did Trump get elected? Why should we care? This subject gives students an understanding of the global political arena and exposure to different perspectives which enables them to draw reasoned conclusions about the world in which they live; tools which will be useful in their study of other disciplines and for their life-long learning. Students will examine case studies of interstate war and terrorist groups from the last 50 years in order to gain a deeper understanding of the economic, political, and social impacts these have on local, regional, and international communities. SEMESTER TOPICS

Key Concepts covered ■ What is politics and why should we study it? ■ The global political arena -

What role do I play as an individual in the global political arena? ■ The most important global actor and why they have such an influence. ■ How can ‘war’ be defined?

What are the different types of war?

Why does war occur? ■ How can ‘terrorism' be defined and the reasons why people become terrorists.

What are their goals? ■ The structure and composition of the global politics today. ■ How 9/11 and ISIS changed the global political arena. KEY SKILLS ■ Develop a critical understanding of the current global political arena and the political, social, cultural, and economic forces that shape our rapidly changing world. ■ Cultivate an awareness of our roles and obligations as active citizens within a democracy. ■ Recognise and analyse the major debates in global issues, such as the roles of states, international organisations and other actors in resolving these issues such as terrorism. ■ Work independently as well as part of a team to find answers and solutions to complex problems and issues. ASSESSMENTS ■ Case Study Analysis. ■ Research Essay. ■ Ongoing IT task- posts and reflections by students.

PATHWAYS This subject will give students a good background in multiple disciplines and will be beneficial to those wishing to study: ■ VCE Global Politics Units 1 & 2 ■ VCE History Units 1 & 2

HUMANITIES

AUSTRALIAN AND GLOBAL POLITICS • Units 1 to 4

OVERVIEW Australian and Global Politics offers students the opportunity to engage with key political, social and economic issues, and to become informed citizens and participants in their local, national and international communities. Australian Politics increases awareness of the nature of power and allows students to become informed observers of, and active participants in, their political system. Global Politics provides students with an insight into the political, social, cultural and economic forces that shape our rapidly changing world. Students develop a critical understanding of the world in which they live and of contemporary global issues. UNIT 1 IDEAS, ACTORS AND POWER

Key Concepts covered ■ What is politics? What is meant by power and how can it be exercised? ■ How power is distributed in the Australian political system. ■ The roles and functions of political parties, interest groups, and the media in Australia’s democracy - What impact do they have on the political system? UNIT 2 GLOBAL CONNECTIONS

Key Concepts covered ■ How peoples’ lives have been affected by globalisation - politically, socially and economically. ■ Do citizens and states have global responsibilities? Can the global community meet the challenges of the 21st Century or will the interests of individual global actors compromise the needs of this global community? ■ Challenges key global actors such as the

United Nations and NGOs face in resolving issues such as climate change, conflict, people movement and terrorism.

UNIT 3 GLOBAL ACTORS

Key Concepts covered ■ The key global actors in contemporary global politics and the power they have. ■ What impact do these global actors have on the global political arena and on global issues? ■ The challenges the global actors face in achieving their aims. ■ To what extent has Australia used various types of power to achieve its national interests of national security, economic prosperity, maintaining regional relationships and a positive international standing? UNIT 4 GLOBAL CHALLENGES

Key Concepts covered ■ Ethical issues and debates –

Human Rights and People Movement. ■ The international laws regarding these global issues. ■ What are the ethical debates that surround these global issues and how have global actors responded to these issues? ■ Crises and Responses –

Terrorism and Climate Change. ■ The key characteristics and causes of each global crisis. ■ The challenges in effectively resolving these crises.

HUMANITIES

HISTORY • Units 1 to 4

OVERVIEW The study of VCE History assists students to understand themselves, others and their world and broadens their perspective by examining people, groups, events, ideas and movements. Through studying VCE History, students develop social, political, economic and cultural understanding. It also fosters the ability to ask searching questions, to engage in independent research, and to construct arguments about the past based on evidence. UNIT 1 20TH CENTURY HISTORY

Key Concepts covered ■ In Area Study One students explore the events, ideologies and movements of the period after World War One; the emergence of conflict; and the causes of World War Two. ■ Investigate the impact of the Treaty of

Versailles, the political events between the wars in Germany, and the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party. ■ The second Area of Study focuses on social life and cultural expression and how it reflected the technological, political and economic changes of the period. Students explore particular art movements such as paintings, architecture, film and music. ■ Explore how the Nazi Party viewed race and changed the social and living conditions of Jewish people and other minority groups in Germany. UNIT 2 20TH CENTURY HISTORY

Key Concepts covered ■ After World War II the United States emerged with the Soviet Union as the global superpowers. ■ Causes and consequences of the Cold

War; the competing ideologies that underpinned events, the effects on people, groups and nations, and the reasons for the end of this sustained period of ideological conflict between capitalism and communism. ■ The impact of groups challenging established political orders. Students will examine the civil rights campaigns in the

USA, and investigate campaigns by terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Al Qaeda. UNIT 3 REVOLUTIONS

Key Concepts covered ■ The events and conditions that contributed to the outbreak of the Chinese Revolution

■ The ideas that played a significant role in challenging the existing order, including Sun

Yixian’s (Sun Yat-sen’s) Three Principles of the People, the New Culture Movement and

Mao Zedong Thought (Maoism)

■ The role of individuals in challenging or maintaining the power of the existing order

■ The challenges the new Communist

Regime faced in consolidating its power - including the Korean War and first Five Year

Plan

■ The causes and consequences of the new regime’s cultural, social, and political ideas; including the Great Leap Forward and the

Cultural Revolution

■ The diverse experiences of different groups within China, such as women, peasants,

Red Guards, and so on.