Help with modern history assignment? (1 Viewer)

[RottenPanda]

my assignment is to study a significant person, event or group and explain why they are historically significant and give a 15 - 20 minute seminar. im studying the board of studies and i want to know more about the formation of it. all ive been able to find is just that it was formed in 1990 and i want to know more about them, like why they introduced it, what was the education system like before they introduced it, what were the benefits at first and why they changed the HSC sytem (ie. in 2001) etc. Could anyone please help?

 

[enoilgam]

That's a bit of an odd choice. With these kinds of assignments, try going for something that you have an interest in. You will find that you will be a lot more motivated with an assignment that aligns with your interets, plus you will probably get a better end product.

 

[RottenPanda]

i have interest in this choice, more so than my other choices anyway, and i cant do any of the ones i really want to do because they are all in the board of studies curriculum which im not allowed to do T_T and plus this is going to be a fun assignment to do, interacting with the teacher in the seminar is something that motivates me, i was initially going to choose Mao's revolution but yea its in the syllabus. studying the BOS cant be that bad can it? its obvious that its significant to the kids of australia.

 

[D94]

studying the BOS cant be that bad can it? its obvious that its significant to the kids of australia.

The Board of Studies is merely a group of people who implement policies under relevant education acts/policies/reforms etc.

The main problem is the lack of available information. Sources for local history (since BOS is a NSW government agency) is usually obtained through local means, such as visiting archives or contacting BOS directly. You will most likely not find any online information since it's such a small topic - what are the debates? who are the historians? who actually cares?

But if you still want to do the topic, then maybe start with why was the Education Act of 1990 created, since the BOS stemmed from that.

 

[cem]

i have interest in this choice, more so than my other choices anyway, and i cant do any of the ones i really want to do because they are all in the board of studies curriculum which im not allowed to do T_T and plus this is going to be a fun assignment to do, interacting with the teacher in the seminar is something that motivates me, i was initially going to choose Mao's revolution but yea its in the syllabus. studying the BOS cant be that bad can it? its obvious that its significant to the kids of australia.

Kids of NSW and ACT as the kids of the other states and territories have their own BOS.

I really can't see the historical debate here - if you were in my class I woudn't allow this as all you will really find is a list of dates changing the formation of a government body - and not really much information at that - I was teaching at the time and it didn't even make a ripple in the way we went about our teaching - it simply was a change in the bureacracy.

There have been a number of changes to the HSC over the years for various reasons and having taught through some of them I can't tell you why they happened now at all - they just did.

 

[RottenPanda]

if the information about the BOS is that scarce...then yea i wont study it. since im not studying the BOS i would study the invention of the internet or the digital revolution but i dont want to do the digital revolution since it kind of a ongoing revolution and there's like alot of stuff thats happened/happening in the revolution. do you guys think i will be able to fit the invention of the internet on a 20ish minute seminar?

 

[cem]

My issue with your ideas is that as they are close to the present the idea of different historians discussions about the issue will be quite scarce. Sure there will be some 'it is good' 'it is bad' stuff' but will that be real 'historical' research or more scientific and social media research - that topic to me would be a Society and Culture PIP topic more than a history research but it is your decision and you have to be comfortable with it - but how much historical debate from reputable historians is there?

 

[enoilgam]

My issue with your ideas is that as they are close to the present the idea of different historians discussions about the issue will be quite scarce. Sure there will be some 'it is good' 'it is bad' stuff' but will that be real 'historical' research or more scientific and social media research - that topic to me would be a Society and Culture PIP topic more than a history research but it is your decision and you have to be comfortable with it - but how much historical debate from reputable historians is there?

Would there actually be any historians who have addressed this topic? I would have thought most of the commentary out there would be by academics and industry experts.

 

[RottenPanda]

ill type out the description of the tast
An individual research project, on a modern history topic of your choosing. your topic must be cleared with your teacher. Research a significant person, event, or group in modern history from 1700 to the present. you will need to be able to justify why your topic is historically significant

there are two parts to this task
1. a seminar of 15-20 mins. you will need to involve the audience so that you know if they understand you. in your seminar you are encouraged to use a variety of stimuli (music. posters. film. powerpoint presentation etc.) to communicate the information you have researched. the main aims of your seminar are to:
-ask relevant focus questions
-communicate clear and logical historical information in a well structured manner
-involve and engage the audience with a variety of stimuli to maintain their interest
-encourage the audience to respond and show that they understood your presentation

you do not have to talk to the audience the whole time. you may decide to do some of the following. show exerpts of a relevant film or documentary, play relevent music or parts of important speeches, give the audience brief task to complete/quiz them, show and explain images, mock interview etc.
2. a inclass essay on your topic
Criteria
Seminar
band 6 ( 9-10/10)
-addresses the topic in a coherent and wellstructured manner, demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the issue(s) raised in the question
-supports presentation of content with relevant appropriate and accurate stimulas material
-makes use of appropriate terms and concepts
-engages the audience at a high level
-consistently uses all of the following: appropriate gesture, volume and tone
-establishes and maintains eye contact and use notes effectively
-seminar is no less thant 15 mins and no more thant 25 mins
- provides a complete biblio using at least 3 types of sources.

Criteria for the essay
band 6 ( 18-20/20)
-addresses the question asked with a sophisticated and sustained argument, which demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the issue(s) raised in the question
-presents a logical, coherent and well structured response drawing on a clear identification of relevant key features
-supports interpretation with detaield relevant and accurate historical information and makes use of appropriate terms and concepts

well since its a modern topic and not many historians have looked into it, then it probably doesn't make it a good topic to study but looking at it criteria wise am i able to pull this through without historians addressing it? im aiming to get the highest mark possible but i want to do something modern and recent like 9/11. pretty much im really interested in any big events happening 1980 - present so because internet and digital revolution weren't addressed by historians im guessing i might not be able to get a band 6 through lack of good sources. are there any big events or really interesting people that are within that range? otherwise ill probably be doing something like invention of the printing press...
Edit: something that historians would actually debate about. would Kim jong il be appropriate?

 

[SuchSmallHands]

Are you absolutely certain your teacher won't let you research anything on the syllabus? Loads of people in my class are for the historical investigation. I think the history of the BOS would be a bit boring and rather limited, but if you're passionate about it then why not?

 

[cem]

You have the whole range of time from 1700 onwards - maybe think about some change to legislation in the 1800s e.g. The Education Reform Act in the UK which introduced compulsory education and has quite a bit of historiography relating directly to the topic (I studied this at uni) as well as to the main people involved.

 

[RottenPanda]

@suchsmallhands yes i am certain that my teacher wont let me do any events that are in the syllabus

@cem that event seems really interesting ill look into it