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Every year, students in senior history classes lose a lot of marks on source evaluation for some very common, and very frustrating, mistakes. For us as teachers, the most disappointing part of this is the fact that most of these students are genuinely trying to engage with the material, but the problem is that they are relying on a handful of surface-level shortcuts that sound convincing, but…
An open metal book sculpture with ring bindings and engraved writing. © History Skills In high school, assessment tasks used to force students to think deeply about a topic, but given the recent rapid access to free AI, they can now create and submit entire written essays without having to do any actual thinking. That means that every classroom teacher has to wrestle with what, exactly, should…
Black and white image of professional studio microphones. Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/podcast-recording-studio-microphone-8281777/ Oral histories have helped communities remember and explain past events for a very long time. Before people used writing, communities passed historical knowledge on by spoken story, from singers who recited tales about ancestors to elders who told younger people…
Is it possible for students to use AI appropriately during a research task? © History Skills Ever since ChatGPT was released to the general public in November of 2022, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a cause of concern among educators. It only took a few months for students to begin using it to write their assessment tasks. As a result, the last two years have been difficult for schools,…
Garden statue of a peasant girl thinking. © History Skills Historical thinking skills form the foundation of critical analysis for understanding the past. They enabled students to engage actively with the past, fostering critical and analytical approaches to learning. At their core, they required the ability to source information effectively, which involved determining the origin, purpose, and…
A bronze statue representing indigenous men from history. © History Skills Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing use of activities in high school classrooms that ask students to decide whether a particular historical event, person, or concept is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. To do this, students undertake complete a worksheet that looks a bit like a business ledger where learners were to…
The decorated dome in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice. © History Skills In Australian history classrooms, assessment has been mainly assessed through essays and exams. These formats still offer valuable insights into student learning but a growing body of educators and curriculum specialists have seen the need to use different assessment methods. During the last two decades, curriculum guidelines…
Octagonal stone tower in Lucerne, Switzerland. © History Skills When doing historical research , both primary and secondary sources give information that helps us answer the questions we're trying to answer. But when using evidence from these kinds of sources , which one should we trust more? Are primary sources naturally more trustworthy than secondary sources, or is it the other way around?…
A humanoid face overlaid with intricate circuit board patterns. © History Skills As publicly accessible artificial intelligence (AI) technology grows in popularity, the development of AI writing tools is raising concerns among teachers. Over the last few weeks, many educators who have experimented with the latest version of this technology, called ChatGPT , and have quickly realised that it has…
Students listening to a teacher. Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/teaching-learning-classroom-661748/ It's no secret that the humanities are in trouble. According to a recent ABC article , students are increasingly choosing not to study them in high school. There has been a 20 per cent decrease in students choosing humanities subjects since 2012. This trend appears to continue, as young people…
