HSIE

HSIE  (Human Society In Its Environment)

Ms. H. Kougelos

 

List of topics taught in Years 7-10:

Year 7

• The nature of Geography
• Our World
• Geographical research
• World Heritage sites
• Global environments
• Communities within global environments

Year 8

• Two Global Geographic issues: Tourism and Threatened Habitats
• The changing nature of the world
• Global inequalities
• Global organisations

Year 9

• The Australian continent
• Physical characteristics that make Australia unique
• Natural hazards
• Human Characteristics that make Australia unique
• Types of communites
• Factors causing change in Australian communities
• A case study of the Cabramatta community

Year 10

• Geographical issues
• Air Quality
• Urban Growth and Decline including a Barangaroo case study
• The place of Australia in the world
• Australia's regional and global links
• Future challenges for Australia: Population
• Human rights and reconciliation

 

Geography

The senior Geography course is diverse and extensive in its nature. It consists of traditional assessment and classroom teaching, a large independent research program and regular fieldwork. The Preliminary course culminates in the completion of the Senior Geography Project (SGP). When completing the SGP, students will carry out an investigation into a geographical issue of their choice, such as Cultural Integration, Political Geography, Development Geography or Natural Resource Use. This issue will be examined as students formulate primary data in the form of surveys, photographs, interviews and field measurements and support this with a range of secondary data. The skills and techniques learned while completing the SGP become essential as students' progress through the course towards the HSC. In the HSC Course, senior students continue their enquiry based approach as they study the spatial and ecological dimensions of biophysical and human phenomena in a changing world. Specific topics studied include ‘Ecosystems at Risk', ‘Urban Places' and ‘People and Economic Activity'.

 

Geography is a life-long interest, stimulating a natural curiosity about how and why the world's people and their environments are so varied.

 

History

YEAR  7-10

The HSIE Faculty at Parramatta High School offers a wide range of courses across Stages 4, 5 and 6.

In Stage 4 and 5 (Year 7-10), the HSIE Faculty offers History (Year 7-10) and Elective History (Year 9 and 10).

In Stage 6 (Year 11-12), the HSIE Faculty offers Ancient History (2 Unit), Modern History (2 Unit), History Extension (I unit extension course) and Society and Culture (2 Unit).

 

History is a process of historical inquiry into the past that allows students to explain how people, events and forces from the past have shaped our world. It allows students to locate and understand themselves and others in the broad continuum of human experience up to the present. History provides opportunities for students to explore human actions and achievements in a range of historical contexts. Students become aware that history is all around us and that historical information can be drawn from the physical remains of the past, as well as the written, visual and oral sources of evidence.

 

List of topics taught in Years 7-10 History:

Year 7

• Investigating the Ancient Past
• The Mediterranean World- Greece
• The Asian World-China

Year 8

• The Western and Islamic World- Medieval Europe
• The Asia Pacific World- Japan under the Shoguns
• Expanding Contacts- The Spanish Conquest of the Americas

 

Year 9

• Making a Better World?- Movement of Peoples (1750-1901)
• Australia and Asia- Making a Nation
• Core Study: Australians at War: World Wars 1 and 2 (1914-1918, 1939-1945)

 

Year 10

• Core Study: Rights and Freedoms (1945-present)
• The Globalising World: Migration Experiences
• Australia in the Vietnam War era

 

HISTORY ELECTIVE –YEARS 9-10

This course is offered as an elective over two years, in Year 9 and 10. The aim of the course is to stimulate students' interest in and enjoyment of exploring the past, to develop a critical understanding of the past, and to enable them to participate as active, informed and responsible citizens. History Elective is for students who particularly enjoy History, giving them opportunities to explore a range of thematic and historical studies, and to extend their historical skills of historical inquiry (research), analysis of historical perspectives and interpretations, empathetic understanding, source analysis and evaluation skills, and wide ranging skills in historical communication.

 

Topics are developed from the following Syllabus framework:

• Constructing History
• Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Societies
• Thematic Studies

 

Elective History: Year 9

• Archaeology of the Ancient World e.g. The Mystery of the Tarim Mummies
• Constructing History e.g. History goes to the movies and Historical Fiction
• Children in History
• Heroes and Villains
• The Holocaust

Elective History: Year 10

• Religious Beliefs and Rituals through the Ages
• Women in History
• Civil Rights Movement in South Africa- the story of Apartheid 
• Protest Music through History