Humanities

Year 7

In Humanities, our Year 7 students have completed a KLT designing their own ideal towns, catering for cultural social, economic and environmental needs of a community. We saw some terrific town plans! For their second unit, they examined physical geography, studying water and its impact on society. Students discussed why many towns and cities are located by rivers and coasts. They looked at the threat of water shortages and ways of conserving water. The students came up with some great ideas about how to save on water use. Those of us who remember the super El Niño and droughts of the early 1980s, with the red dust storms swirling over Melbourne and the accompanying ongoing water restrictions appreciated these! In Term 2, the Year 7s will be moving into ancient history, examining Australian First Nations history and culture, before an in depth look at ancient Greece. 

Year 8

The Year 8s followed their business and economics unit with human geography, examining migration patterns with a focus on data analysis. They have completed a test using the PQE method of data analysis. It has been a step up in skills for them and the students have been producing some very good analytical writing. We continue to encourage the students to focus on remembering key concepts and knowing their definitions, and work on including geography terminology in their writing. Our Year 8s are currently undergoing checking and testing of the basics of geography. We are making sure they can all recognise and label the states and major cities of Australia, the continents, oceans and mountain ranges of the world, and have a better idea of where different countries are located. There is some amazing knowledge coming out from some of our students (including one student who could label all of the countries and overseas territories in the Caribbean Sea)! Term 2 will see the students commencing physical geography with a focus on mountains and volcanoes. 

Year 9

The Year 9s have completed their Business unit with a creative mini-KLT requiring them to design a marketing and crisis management campaign for a business. Students have enjoyed coming up with slogans and logos and creating mock promotion events. Term 2 will see them moving into Modern History, looking at the Industrial Revolution as a precursor to the world wars, as well as an investigation of post-settlement Australia. They will be reviewing their OPVL skills and conducting research into the different migrant groups who have made their way to Australia.