Big ideas: Content/Concept- intertwine them together!

Yasodai SelvakumaranRooty Hill High School

TeachMeet History- National CurriculumMay 1 2013 State LibraryA big ideas approach from a beginning teacher

What is a ‘big idea’?

“an understanding that is transferable and has enduring value beyond a specific topic.”

(Understanding by Design – Wiggins & McTighe)

An example from the same ‘big idea’ tweaked across 3 subject programs:

( Year 10 History, Year 11 Aboriginal Studies, Year 11 Society and Culture)

BIG IDEA: Focus: Lesson strategy:

Dispossession and consequences

Metalanguage:

Past mistreatment of Indigenous people allows us to understand the Poverty cycle today

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs- analysis of needs and consequences- ‘What happens when?’ hypothetical task ( take away one need and ask students how this can impact on another) Students are to write a personal reflection applying Maslow’s theory to Colonisation and Dispossession. (From both British and Aboriginal perspectives)Students apply their analysis of needs and consequences to their own investigation of The Bringing Them Home report testimonies

Primary source investigation of visuals and texts about period to mid 1900s

Similar themes between the current syllabus and

the new 7-10Year 7: The Ancient Worlds

Year 8: The Ancient World to the Modern World Contact and Colonisation and Medieval History

Year 9: The Making of the Modern World: Australia to 1914, Australia in World War 1 and Australia in World War 2

Year 10: The Modern World and Australia: Australia in the Vietnam War Era, Changing Rights and Freedoms, Popular Culture, The role of the United Nations

BIG IDEAS take us from the past to the present:

Democracy

Class struggle Civilisation

Ideals Diversity Commerce Citizenship

Inequality Justice Multiculturalism

Inclusive Colonisation Paradigm Shifts

Power Human Rights

Dispossession Industrialisation

And across transnational experiences for the interconnected world we live in today

BIG IDEAS :

can catch the various demands of the new curriculum and shelter the challenge of implementation for successful learning

Existing expertise

Content

Concepts

Capabilities

Cross Curriculum Priority Areas

Some Resources?-Textbooks: Oxford Big Ideas Text books: available now in Australia written under the Big Ideas framework

Reference: Teaching History With Big Ideas: (2010) Cases of Ambitious Teachers S. G. Grant, Jill M. Gradwell

Websites:

The Big History Project:http://www.bighistoryproject.com/Home-

Lessons with captioned history video resources

http://www.capthat.com.au/resources/history

I would love to keep in touch and continue the conversation

My Twitter handle is: @yasodaiselva

Thank you