What is ATAR Modern History all about?
Modern History is a fascinating course that explores some of the major events in world history. You will find the answers to questions such as: How did an isolated country like America come through two world wars and a great depression to become an economic powerhouse? How could people legally vote for a man like Adolf Hitler to rule them? Why did the Holocaust happen and why were the Jewish people targeted? There will be a major focus on key people and ideas significant in America and Germany during the 20th Century.
Who should select these units in Year 11?
This course would be useful for students who enjoy learning about the past and are thinking of pursuing a career in the areas of research, teaching, journalism or government.
Students wanting to select ATAR Modern History will need to have successfully passed the Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA) in Year 10 or prequalified by achieving Band 8 or higher in the Year 9 NAPLAN.
Pathway
This course will lead to the study of the modern world since 1945 in Units 3 and 4 in Year 12 and possible University entrance.
Areas of Study
UNIT 1 – Understanding the modern world
- USA and the capitalist experience
- Economic boom of the 1920s.
- Impact of WW1 and WW2 on America.
- The Great Depression
UNIT 2 – Movements for change in the 20th century
- Nazism in Germany
- Nature and key aspects of the Nazi state – Hitler’s control over society.
- War, the persecution of the Jewish people and the Holocaust.
To provide for different learning styles a variety of assessment tasks are used. For each course of study tasks are selected from:
- Historical Inquiry
- Source Analysis
- Cognitive test
- Essay
- Examination
What is ATAR Modern History all about?
Modern History enables students to study the forces that have shaped today’s world to help them to understand the world they live in today. Students will study larger themes such as individuals, movements, events and ideas that have shaped the contemporary world. The course begins with key developments that have defined the modern world and important ideas and their consequences. Students will be provided with a context for a study of movements for change in the 20th century that have challenged authority of the nation-state, responses to these crises, different paths nations have taken and the world order since World War ll that are crucial to an understanding of the present.
Who should select these units in Year 12?
Students who have successfully completed ATAR Modern History Units 1 and 2 should select Year 12 ATAR Modern History. They should have an interest in learning about people, events and crises and how nations respond to crises and features of the modern world.
Pathway
Students who are planning on going to university need to complete both ATAR Units 3 and 4. This course can be used in the calculation of a student’s ATAR score.
Areas of Study
UNIT 3 – Modern nations in the 20th Century
- Overview of Russia in 1914
- Significant ideas of the period including autocracy, Marxism, communism, Leninism, Stalinism
- WWl, February and October Revolutions1917
- Lenin and the Bolsheviks in power
- Stalin and the Five Year Plans
- Purges and Great Terror
- WWll
UNIT 4 – The Modern World since 1945
- Background of the Cold War
- Significant ideas for example communism, capitalism, democracy, détente, glasnost, perestroika
- Arms race, space race threat of nuclear war
- Developments at the end of the Cold war in 1989
- European Union
- Changing world order 1989-2001
To provide for different learning styles a variety of assessment tasks are used. For each course of study tasks are selected from:
- Historical Inquiry
- Source analysis
- Explanations
- Exams