This sequence of lessons and the assessment were developed for the Stage 6 Modern History

Preliminary course Part 3 Core Study, ‘The World at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century’
(Board of Studies, 2010, pp. 24-25). Each lesson within the unit outline and the lesson plans
provided have been designed to develop historical thinking and awareness within the students,
and with the ultimate outcome of students having a more complete knowledge of the world at
the beginning of the 1900’s. This knowledge will prove useful for all students who continue to
the Modern History HSC course, as this unit was created in part to give background knowledge
to the HSC core Study ‘World War 1 1914-1919’ (Board of Studies, 2010, pp 26-27). Through
the use of multiple teaching strategies and the application of various theories, these lessons
should promote the achievement of high outcomes for all students.

Within the pre-assessment lesson there was a focus on collaborative group learning, specifically
through ICT usage. This fulfills some differentiation needs within a classroom by providing
meaningful learning through ICT, while the collaborative nature also encourages student
achievement across a variety of skill levels (Killen, 2006; Westwood, 2015 pp. 96-97). This
focus on ICT is in line with Hall and Kimmons theory that students achieve educational
outcomes more efficiently when ICT is “applied effectively in a given situation to support deep,
meaningful learning with technology.” (2016, pp. 59). This ICT engagement also allows students
to direct the pace of their own learning, becoming an active agent of their education instead of a
passive student receiving their education (Marsh & Hart, 2001).The pre-assessment lesson
focus on a collaborative student created response to two sources also works with Levesque’s
model for source-based historical inquiry (2008). Levesque argues that students should
endeavour to begin source analysis with tasks of ‘identification and attribution’ before they can
move onto higher levels like ‘contextualisation and corroboration’ (2008, pp. 118-132) which
allow them to more fully understand the sources studied. The intrinsic dynamics with the group
task allows for this natural flow of understanding to happen. The pre-assessment lesson is a
designed to be a stepping stone to success for the actual assessment.

The assessment itself requires students to be aware of what they are researching and planning
to use as sources within the assessment. This in particular calls for students to be aware of
Serafin’s expanded four resources model (2012), that asks students to become navigators,
interpreters, designers, and interrogators of sources to best understand them. This continues to
link back to Levesque’s 2008 argument for skills building in historical source understanding.
This is knowledge that can be applied to students everyday lives outside of the classroom once
understood - how to interrogate the reliability of a current news article, the reliability of gossip or
how to interpret vague explanations. Through Serafin’s models application (unknowingly on the
student's behalf, though the benefit from it just the same), the previous lesson's content and a
student's background knowledge within the history faculty, they are expected to meet the
assumed outcomes of this unit and task, and have the opportunity to exceed the expected
outcomes if they dedicate time to source collection and detailed historical inquiry. This
assessment provides a practice run for students experiences with the HSC, where
source-analysis is a key component to the HSC exam.
Throughout the post-assessment lesson explicit teaching and expectations are laid out for the
students. The source analysis handout provides specific details for what is required to produce
a high quality response, and as students refer back to the handout throughout the lesson they
are given the keys to their future success. The Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation
(2014) argues that specific instruction provides students with higher outcomes in classwork and
assessment, and allows for a deep understanding of concepts (pp. 8-12). Within the
post-assessment lesson plan there is also a lot of room for general and specific feedback to be
given which has been shown to increase student learning and comprehension, as the CESE
says, “students whose teachers discussed students’ work after they had finished assignments in
most or all classes performed better (526) than students who’s teachers did so hardly ever…”
(2014, pp. 13). This post-assessment lesson is heavily focused on providing this feedback to
students to help perform better in class. The use of feedback also allows for teachers to tailor
their teaching to student needs, as the general feedback helps the students but any questions
they have helps the teacher better understand gaps in students knowledge. This duality of the
feedback promotes healthy learning environments for both the student and teachers (CESE,
2014) and encourages students to apply their learning in future assessments.

This sequence of lessons provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their source
analysis skills three separate times, and encourages students to improve their abilities each
subsequent time. Edwards-Groves and Kemmis (2016) argue that it is the combination of
multiple teaching strategies that promotes best outcomes within students, and this is reflected in
the sequence of lessons provided: one features collaborative work, while the other favours
individual, both provide instances of whole class discussions, they both provide opportunities for
feedback, one favours ICT usage, the other favours the more traditional book and pen, and one
lesson has explicit instruction while the other is more creative. It is this mixture of teaching styles
that creates diverse lessons that are accessible to all students, and this is why these lessons
have been designed as such.

Resources:
Board of Studies NSW. (2012). Modern History Stage 6 Syllabus. Sydney: Board of Studies
NSW.

Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation. (2014) What works best: Evidence-based
practices to help improve NSW student performance. Sydney: NSW Department of EDucation
and Communities. Accessed March 22, 2017, at
https://vuws.westernsydney.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-2741921-dt-content-rid-22644863_1/cours
es/102090_102091_102092_2017_1h_modernhistory/what_works_best.pdf

Edwards-Groves, C., & Kemmis, S.(2016). Pedagogy, Education and Praxis: understanding
new forms of intersubjectivity through action research and practice theory. ​Educational Action
Research, ​24(1), 77-96. doi:10.1080/09650792.2015.1076730

Hall, C., Kimmons, R. (2016). Emerging Technology Integration Models. In G. Velesianos (Ed.),
Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning. Alberta: Athabasca University Press.

Killen, R. (2006). Effective Teaching Strategies. Melbourne: Thomson

Lévesque, S. (2008). Thinking Historically: Educating students for the twenty-first century.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Marsh, C., & Hart, C. (2011). Teaching the social sciences and humanities in an Australian
curriculum (6th ed.). Frenchs Forest, Australia: Pearson.

Serafin, F. (2012). Expanding the Four Resources Model: Reading Visual and Multi-modal
Texts. ​Pedagogies: An International Journal. 7(2), 150-164.

Westwood, P. (2015). Commonsense Methods for Children with Special Educational Needs.
London: Routledge.