Year 9 – International Studies
International Studies is a Board Endorsed Course for Stage 5 Elective. This course aims for students to know and understand the significance of culture in our own lives and appreciate the culturally diverse yet interconnected world in which they live and to develop skills and values to view their own and other's cultures from different perspectives.
This course may transition into an accelerated Society and Culture course in Year 10 and therefore has a maximum of 24 students. Similarly, the Society and Culture course aims to achieve the same overarching idea, therefore the International Studies course provides a fantastic foundation for students to engage with the Society and Culture course. For more information on Society and Culture at Macarthur Girls High School, please refer to Stage 6 sub-page
The identification of students who are suitable for this course commences at the beginning of Stage 4, with an analysis of Year 7 NAPLAN results as well as a monitoring of performance in a range of subjects, including (but not limited to) History, English and Geography and an analysis of in-school testing data on students' level of literacy and numeracy achievement throughout Year 7 and Year 8.
Year 9 – Elective History
This is an excellent opportunity for students to explore a range of case studies from eras not covered in the ROSA mandatory courses. Year 9 Elective History includes a focus on women and their roles and representations in history. Topics include Ancient Greece, Agrippina the Younger, Henry VIII's Wives and Influential Women. Such investigations enable studets to refine their historical thinking skills by considering the cause and effect framework, significance, source analysis and contestability.
Year 10 – Elective History
The Year 10 Elective History course focuses on Civil Rights Movements in the USA and also South Africa. History through Film is examined, using the Holocaust and Schindler's List as a case study, allowing students the opportunity to reflect on the significance of film as a means of historical understanding and the validity of the historical period such films depict. This is then followed by the study on Genocides whereby students research and collaboratively present their data and findings of their respective genocide in the form of a documentary. Terrorism and Piracy are the final two units of work which require students to use and evaluate historical sources to gain an understanding of events of the past and the impact of these events on groups in society.
Student Requirements:
The Stage 5 Elective courses have similar course requirements:
- An exercise or notebook for keeping class notes. A dot point summary book (where applicable) will be provided by the class teacher
- Standard stationary items (pens, pencils)
- A school diary or means of recording assessment tasks and homework (where applicable)
- Internet access (either at home or using facilities in the school library) in order to research, complete assessment tasks and access platforms such as Google Suite (Google Drive, Google Classroom, Google Docs)
Students may supplement or substitute their exercise book with an appropriate device (laptop, iPad, tablet). Mobile phones are not considered an appropriate device for taking class notes or completing assessment tasks.