The Humanities – History Assessment Map – Sample at 5.25
For Level 3, please see The Humanities Assessment map.
Colonisation of Australia
Context
Students were asked to write an essay that discussed the reasons for the colonisation of Australia by Britain. This task was designed to:
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provide students with experience in working with a range of source documents
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develop students’ understanding that there are multiple interpretations of events in Australian history
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develop students’ essay writing skills which use evidence to support a point of view based on evidence.
The task followed teaching and learning activities on reading and interpreting documents relating to the settlement of Australia. Students were taught how to approach an essay topic and how to structure a history essay, including planning and presenting arguments with different points of view using evidence from documents.
The chosen essay topic was discussed with the class and notes on the board were used to help students develop their own plans for the essay. The draft of the essay was written in class and the final essay completed at home.
Three to four class sessions were devoted to this task.
The element of the Historical knowledge and understanding Level 6 standard addressed by the task is:
(Students) analyse events which contributed to Australia’s social, political and cultural development. These events could include … European colonisation.
The elements of the Historical reasoning and interpretation Level 6 standard addressed by this task are:
(Students) identify, comprehend and evaluate a range of primary and secondary sources including visual sources …
(Students) recognise that in history there are multiple perspectives and partial explanations.
(Students) use evidence to support arguments and select and use appropriate written and oral forms to communicate historical explanations …
Sample
The following work sample, and the related History 5.25 progression point examples, illustrate the kinds of responses that students produce as they progress towards the Level 6 standard.
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Annotation
Historical knowledge and understanding – 5.25
A. Recognises that there are a range of reasons behind the British settlement of Australia.
B. Provides a basic explanation of a key reason for settlement.
C. Provides simple explanations of other reasons for settlement but does little to weigh up the reasons.
Historical reasoning and interpretation – 5.25
A. Recognises that there are a range of points of view about the settlement of Australia.
D. Uses some evidence to support arguments, although, does not reference sources or explain significance of the evidence.
E. Provides a provisional point of view ‘for what may be many different reasons’ in a less than clear structure.
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