History

Aims

The History curriculum aims to provide an opportunity for reinforcing and extending student’s historical knowledge and understanding, gaining global and local perspectives of the complex world we live in, and appreciating the interactions between nations. They will appreciate and understand the concepts of cause and effect, change and continuity, evidence, historical significance, historical perspectives, diversity, chronology, and empathy.

Curriculum

Content

Students should be able to:

• grasp the broad fundamental concepts common to all historical explanations and also a range of more specific ones;

• demonstrate understanding of the history from different eras in the syllabuses: the social, economic, cultural and political contexts of the societies studied and the experiences of the peoples who lived in these societies at that point in time;

• understand how history and the forces of international and regional events shaped the the world today: the interconnections between individuals, societies, events and developments studied and those in the present day; and

• demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of history as a construct, that is, history is constructed from evidence and there are different interpretations of historical events.

Skills

Students should be able to:

• make sense of evidence and accounts in their historical context;

• develop critical and creative thinking;

• establish historical patterns and relevance to the present;

• compare different aspects of the periods, events, and issues studied to establish change and continuity;

• analyse and evaluate the causation (cause and effect) of historical events and situations whilst avoiding abstract generalisations;

• assess and establish the significance of individuals, ideas, events, forces, and developments for societies;

• identify points of view in history through distinguishing bias, fact, and opinion in history writing;

• analyse, evaluate, and synthesise historical information from a variety of media to make informed conclusions; and

• organise and communicate historical knowledge and understanding in a coherent way.

Values

Students should be able to:

• develop an interest in past events that shape societies;  

• develop an empathy for and sensitivity towards different historical and political experiences at different times;

• instil a sense of respect for evidence, and tolerance for a range of opinions;

• appreciate past human experiences, a critical awareness of the nature of historical knowledge, and the ability to make connections between the past and present;

• equip them with the knowledge and skills to understand how forces, events, and developments of the past shaped today’s world so as to thrive as citizens in a complex and fast-changing world;

• develop disciplined and critical mind to discern and make informed judgements based on a consideration of multiple perspectives and reasoned and well-substantiated conclusions;

• make sense of ambiguous and complex global developments, appreciate the local context, and engage with different cultures and societies sensitively.

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.”

Marcus Garvey

National Syllabuses

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Integrated Programme

Pedagogical Approach

The syllabus will provide students with a balance of local, regional, and international history spanning from the 13th to the 20th centuries. They will be interested to learn how the interplay of events and the people who shaped and implemented policies could have such a great impact on and changed the world to what it is today.

Through an inquiry-based learning approach, the course requires students to think critically, analyse cause and effect, distinguish between fact and opinion, and view opinions from multiple perspectives. They will have to make sense of different interpretations of the past, based on substantiated evidence, derived from a variety of sources such as video clips, newspaper articles, extracts from books, letters, speeches and statistics. In the process, students will be trained to be open-minded, perceptive, discerning and empathetic.

Assessment

Through the course, students will conduct a historical investigation (Lower Secondary), develop arguments, perform authentic tasks including a self-directed piece of coursework, and oral presentation. These will require them to gather, organise, present information in a coherent manner, drawing similarities and differences, develop creative and critical thinking, evaluate and draw conclusions from the evidence that they gather.