Structure of the Humanities Domain
The Humanities discipline is organised into four domains:
- The Humanities – (Levels 1–3)
- The Humanities – History (Levels 4–6)
- The Humanities – Geography (Levels 4–6)
- The Humanities – Economics (Levels 4–6).
During Levels 1 to 3, students are introduced to basic concepts related to history, geography and economics under a general umbrella of ‘The Humanities’. Each level includes a learning focus statement with standards introduced from Level 3. Specific learning focus statements and standards for Economics, Geography and History are introduced at Level 4.
The following table provides a summary of the structure of the Humanities.
|
Domain |
Dimension |
Level 1 |
Level 2 |
Level 3 |
Level 4 |
Level 5 |
Level 6 |
|||
| The Humanities | Humanities knowledge and understanding | Learning focus statements only | Not applicable | |||||||
| Humanities skills | ||||||||||
| The Humanities – Economics | Economic knowledge and understanding | Not applicable | ||||||||
| Economic reasoning and interpretation | ||||||||||
| The Humanities – Geography | Geographical knowledge and understanding | |||||||||
| Geospatial skills |
||||||||||
| The Humanities – History | Historical knowledge and understanding | |||||||||
| Historical reasoning and interpretation | ||||||||||
Shaded boxes represent levels in each domain that have formal standards against which student achievement will be assessed and reported.
A glossary is included which provides definitions of underlined terms.
Learning focus
Learning focus statements are written for each level. These outline the learning that students need to focus on if they are to progress in the domain and achieve the standards at the levels where they apply. They suggest appropriate learning experiences from which teachers can draw to develop relevant teaching and learning activities.
Standards
Standards define what students should know and be able to do at different levels and are written for each dimension. Standards that focus on historical and geographical knowledge and understanding are introduced at Level 3. Specific standards for Economics, Geography and History are introduced at Level 4.
Dimensions
Standards in the Humanities are organised in two dimensions:
- Humanities knowledge and understanding
- Humanities skills.
Humanities knowledge and understanding
The Humanities knowledge and understanding dimension focuses on key humanities knowledge and concepts. Students learn about their immediate and local community and environment and are introduced to the history and geography of their country and the diversity of culture and environment. Through structured activities they learn the concepts of time – chronology and sequencing, change and continuity – and spatial concepts of location, distance, scale and distribution.
Humanities skills
The Humanities skills dimension focuses on the development of basic inquiry skills including observation, the collection of various types of evidence, asking and answering questions about evidence and presenting information in a variety of ways.
