Should History Extension become two separate units? (1 Viewer)

[xeuyrawp]

There was talk of this a while back, and until one of my mod buddies told me about it, around a month ago, I had totally forgotten about the issue. Just then, it just came up in another thread.

So, do you think that History Extension could and should become two separate units, like English Extension I / English Extension II?

I think that the course could easily become two units, and I like the idea which was put forward HTA conference in September, which was that History Extension I would be the What is History? section and a Case Study, and History Extension II would totally be the project. It was raised at the beginning of the conference that the Case Studies weren't much more impressive than the 2U components, and that they seemed to be taken less seriously than the What is History section.

There was also the thought that the Major Project seems tacked onto the side of the History Extension syllabus, and that there is more than enough assessible material to make it a whole unit. Considering the Project is such a huge weighting, some people think that it should have its own unit where students could chose to do it if they wanted to.

I heard someone say that History Extension is not popular enough to revamp it, but that's not the case - English Extension II had only around 300 more candidates in 2005. I also think that there is generally enough of an interest to merit a split.

It seems trivial to everyone who's done, or currently doing the unit, but I think it would be awesome to see.

What does everybody think?

 

[daledugahole]

I think would be interesting to see it.

I mean a format like the english extensions would be interesting as in english extension 1 has only one topic area for the whole year whereas history extension has two.

It would also give more credit to those undertaking the history extension major project because I know that at my school when we had problems with staff leaving a couple of weeks before it was due the administration of my school didn't seem to understand the amount of work and the level of difficulty involved in the project.

However I think less people might be inclined to take the course because in my opinion the what is history component of the subject is to be a honest pretty boring at times where as I really enjoy and case study component of the course. If to take the what is history part to be able to take the case study part I think people would be disinclined to take the subject.

Also would the format be the same as the english extensions where english extension 1 starts in year 11 and then english extension 2 can be taken up in year 12? Because I don't know how well year 11 students would handle the course. It is in my opinion quite a higher order of thinking than that of either modern or ancient so surely you should undertake a year of intensive study of either histories before embarking on history extension.

 

[xeuyrawp]

Ah, I hadn't even thought of the fact that having History Extension II would mean having year 11 kiddies doing the course.

I actually think it would be reasonable - even if they made year 11 History Extension simply an advanced Ancient/Modern course with a bit of historiography.

However I think less people might be inclined to take the course because in my opinion the what is history component of the subject is to be a honest pretty boring at times where as I really enjoy and case study component of the course. If to take the what is history part to be able to take the case study part I think people would be disinclined to take the subject.

In regards to the split, History Extension I would be both parts of Part I: 'What is History?' (ie, Case Study + The Readings [the core component]), and History Extension II would just be the Project.

 

[Ionatana]

I think definitly - this is counting 1 unit towards my HSC - but its harder than some of my 2 unit and much more time consuming - I love it but I think it without a doubt needs to become two units eventually. The course is going under a lot of revision at the moment, so yeah it'll be interesting.

 

[Sleiphnir]

Just a quick note - but I rather like that idea. My only complaint about the current Ext. Hist course is that the major work is internally marked. They should set it like EE2 and send it out for marking because it is such a large component and it wasn't taken very seriously in my grade (hell I did it the night before) despite it's weight.

 

[xeuyrawp]

Just a quick note - but I rather like that idea. My only complaint about the current Ext. Hist course is that the major work is internally marked. They should set it like EE2 and send it out for marking because it is such a large component and it wasn't taken very seriously in my grade (hell I did it the night before) despite it's weight.

Yeah, that's a very good point.

I think marking it externally would, like you said, increase pressure and make people perform harder. But then it would definitely have to be a separate unit - the workload would be too much.

 

[luscious-llama]

I'm finding it a bit difficult because alot of our classes for history extension were cancelled (We had one a week, for 2 hours during the sport break). Having a preliminary history extension just to learn about historiography and complete a mini history extension project would have been GREAT!

 

[maza1989]

I enjoy the course, however the internal marking of the project is the problem. Most students and teachers I think would geta better picture of how they have gone if it was compared with the state.

Also its too much work for a 1 unit subject - better to split and maybe more students will do it. I'm sure there are students out there who would do 6 units of History !!!

Luv Maz

 

[Master Gopher]

Splitting it is an awesome idea. People perhaps don't realise what a workload there is for project + coursework until they are in the middle of it (I didn't )

And yes, having it externally marked would encourage people to work harder - and also some people with lots of subjects might prefer not to do the project, but are more interested in History than just straight Modern or Ancient.

 

[Sandez]

I reckon this is an awesome idea.

Lots of people go into the course thinking that it's going to be easy- my class started off with 12 people, and was down to 4 by the end of the year.

Splitting it into two units would be great- it would also provide greater flexibility to people with many units, as the person above me said, and also increase the amount of people who do it- which would mean the school (and Bored of Studies) would have more resources avaliable. The only bad thing I can think of is that it wouldn't scale as well, due to more people doing it.

 

[black_tongue]

In reagards to splitting the course into two units, i doubt i would have taken the course if that was the case. I personally would not have wanted to have been doing a whole four units of history, it would mean that i probably would have had to have cut out another course. Instead of doing 11 units this year, i would have been doing 12. And i think there would be alot more work expected if you split the course into two units.

I think perhaps it would be more feasible to cut out the second part of the course, only include the 'What Is History' part of the course in examinations as it relates well to what you would be studying in your case studies. (Although i also think that this part of the course needs a bit of an overhaul, it could be so much more interesting than it is, or maybe it's just the way my teacher taught it...)

If you did that than all you could have an HSC exam that was an hour long, plus the assignment. Then the word limit for the assignment could perhaps go up, i was majorly pissed off at the amount of work they expected for such a short essay.

Also, i completely agree that the works should be marked externally, i didn't feel as if my teacher had a very good grasp of what was expected, it all becomes too subjective when marked internally.

 

[xeuyrawp]

In reagards to splitting the course into two units, i doubt i would have taken the course if that was the case. I personally would not have wanted to have been doing a whole four units of history, it would mean that i probably would have had to have cut out another course. Instead of doing 11 units this year, i would have been doing 12.

But I assume that you wouldn't chose History Extension II, you'd just do History Extension I, and thus the same amount of units.

I think perhaps it would be more feasible to cut out the second part of the course,

I assume you mean Part II: The History Project?

Just to clarify, it would work exactly the same as English Extension I and English Extension II. We would be cutting the major work out of the History Extension I course and moving it into the History Extension II course.

Ancient/Modern History -> History Extension I (Part I of current syllabus, ie 'What is History?') -> History Extension II (Part II of syllabus, ie major work).