DoctorLouise Zarmati

EPR260 Introduction to Humanities and Social Sciences Education will provide you with the foundational knowledge, threshold concepts and skills you need to teach Humanities and Social Sciences to students aged 5 to 13 years. By studying Humanities and Social Sciences, you—and your future students—will learn to ask questions, think critically, solve problems, communicate effectively, make decisions, and learn how to adapt to change. This unit will help you understand learning about identity and place through the study of Australian history, and geography. We will begin by examining issues about teaching History: What are our origins? What is History, how much do you know about Australian History, what does it mean to ‘think historically’, and how is History constructed in the Australian Curriculum? EPR260 focuses on place-based learning through outside the classroom experiences. You will learn about Australia’s Deep Time past, nineteenth century colonial history and effective and engaging methods of communicating Australian History to students. We then examine the processes of teaching Geography with relevant cross-curriculum priorities. Assessment tasks are authentic and meaningful to provide you with practical resources you can use during your Professional Experience and early years of teaching. The overall aim of the unit is to achieve a balance between current theory and praxis that will give you the sound professional knowledge to teach Humanities and Social Sciences with confidence and enthusiasm.

Did the First Australians invent bread? Was Captain Cook eaten in Hawaii? Did Atlantis really exist? Were the Vikings traders or raiders? Did the Anzacs land at the wrong place? Was Ned Kelly a hero or a villain? Who killed JFK? This unit will deepen your knowledge of history, from Deep Time, through ancient and medieval times, to key social and political events of the 20th century. Historical thinking concepts will guide your research as you use inquiry learning to investigate some of the myths and mysteries that make history controversial, contested and engaging.

Caroline Helen Ferguson