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History 2a Assessment Two
History 2a Assessment Two
History 2a Assessment Two
OUTCOMES ASSESSED
› evaluates the role of historical features, individuals, groups and ideas in shaping the past
MH12-3
› assesses the significance of historical features, people, ideas, movements, events and
developments of the modern world MH12-5
› analyses and interprets different types of sources for evidence to support an historical
account or argument MH12-6
› discusses and evaluates differing interpretations and representations of the past MH12-7
› plans and conducts historical investigations and presents reasoned conclusions, using
relevant evidence from a range of sources MH12-8
› communicates historical understanding, using historical knowledge, concepts and terms,
in appropriate and well-structured forms MH12-9
TASK RATIONALE
This task provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and
understanding of key elements that contributed to the rise of fascist, totalitarian and
militarist dictatorships; the appeal of these movements to the public; the regimes that
emerged and how these regimes affected daily life. Students will apply critical literacy
skills through interpreting, analysing and weighing evidence, synthesising evidence from a
variety of sources and developing reasoned and evidence-based arguments regarding
power and authority in the modern world.
Teacher may gather a variety of evidence of Students receive oral and/or written teacher
learning ‘informal and/or formal’ during feedback in relation to their:
assessment. This may include: ability to present a sophisticated,
anecdotal records coherent and succinct summary of a
comments or notations variety of dictatorships after World
conversations War I.
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digital recordings and/or audio or selection of relevant and appropriate
visual representations sources for argument and discussion
of usefulness and reliability of
sources and evidence.
presentation of a structured,
evidence-based and sophisticated
response to statement.
ability to construct an original/well-
structured and well formatted
response to statement.
TASK INSTRUCTIONS
Part A.
Select two primary and two secondary sources that demonstrate evidence about life in
Germany under the Nazi regime. Include a discussion on the usefulness and reliability of
the sources. The time period to be covered can include 1938 to 1945. [15 marks]
Part B.
Provide a response to the following statement:
“German social and cultural life was irrefutably transformed under the Nazi Regime
between 1933-1945.”
You may present your response in the form of a 1000-1500 word essay or a 5-7 minute
multi-modal presentation (Prezi, PowerPoint) exploring the significance or impact of this
statement. You are to reference at least two of the four sources that you utilised in Part B.
[25 marks]
Definition:
*irrefutably = impossible to deny or disprove
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MARKING CRITERIA
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differing perspectives and perspectives development of Nazi Germany; development of
perspectives representations and Nazi Germany; assesses the Nazi Germany;
and of Nazi representation acknowledgeme effect of critically analyses
representatio Germany; little of Nazi nt of differing differing the effect of
ns; to no Germany; lack perspectives and perspectives and differing
communicat understanding of representations representations perspectives and
es historical of historical understanding of social and of the social and representations on
understandin concepts and of historical cultural life in cultural life in the social and
g using terms with little concepts and Nazi Germany; Nazi Germany; cultural life in
historical to no support of terms with adequate quality Nazi Germany
concepts and argument. attempt to communication communication with reference to
terms. support of historical of historical historical debate;
argument. understanding understanding high-quality
and use of and valuable use communication of
historical of historical historical
concepts and concepts and understanding and
terms to support terms to support methodical and
argument. argument. brilliant use of
historical
concepts and
terms to support
argument.
___________________________________________________________________________
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Five starving men in German Munich lawyer Dr. Michael Siegel who had
concentration camp at time of liberation sought police help in March 1933 is instead
by U.S. Army forced by Nazis to walk through the streets
barefooted and with a shaved head - carrying a
sign saying "I will not complain to the police
anymore."
Sample response:
Discussion of reliability and usefulness for photograph of Munich lawyer Dr. Michael Siegel:
“Within the photograph of Dr. Michael Siegel it is necessary to analyse the origin, content,
perspective, motive and audience to discuss the reliability and usefulness of the source. In
analysing origin, the photograph was taken on March 10, 1933, by photographer named
Heinrich Sanden. The photograph was initially taken to Munich newspapers for publishing,
of whom were not interested in reporting on the incident or publishing the images, Sanden
approached a photographer for the American company, International News Reel, with the
photograph subsequently being published in the Washington Times on March 23, 1933.
Therefore, we can deduce the motive behind the photograph of being one of exposure and
revelation to audiences of the dire situation within Nazi Germany. Furthermore, within visual
inspection of the content of the photograph, it appears to have been doctored to a degree. In
analysis of the original picture, and intent of the photograph to be published, it is evident it
was doctored to achieve a degree of legibility, and therefore an ease of understanding the sign
and message for audiences. Furthermore, in analysing content, the photograph shows the
individual with torn clothing, no shoes and a uniformed escort of uniformed officers around
him with the sign reading ‘I will never again complain to the police’. From this, we can
assume the individual has been forced, and beaten into the situation and therefore can derive
a negative situation within. Therefore, the sources reliability could be questioned to an extent
due to the doctoring of the image, however upon acknowledging the motive behind the
publishing, the image can be considered a safe, accurate representation of life for Jewish
individuals within Nazi Germany in 1933. Furthermore, this source is incredibly useful for an
analysis of life for Jewish citizens, in terms of their waning power and autonomy, and the
increasing support for the authoritarian Nazi regime.”
___________________________________________________________________________
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Sample Scaffolds: Essay Response/Multi-Modal Presentation
ALARM Learning and Responding Matrix
(Woods, M., (2017), The Official Alarm Blog. ALARM, retrieved from:
https://www.virtuallibrary.info/alarm.html)
Topic Concept:
Essential idea of topic or summation
Judgment on the development process and/or its change of procedures in
the process over time
How are the various features/impacts/effects interrelated?
Describe Describe:
Demonstrate What?
Distinguish What are the features/characteristics/properties?
Extract
Use examples
Outline
Classify
Analyse Analyse:
Examine Explain how and/or why the intentions are carried out, impact
Interpret
Synthesise How did it achieve its purpose or intent and / or impact/effect?
Predict What is the relationship between the various components?
How/Why
Construct Evaluate:
Deduce To what extent is each component part successful, useful, and achieve its
Evaluate purpose?
Extrapolate To what extent is the impact/effect effective or valuable?
Investigate
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Propose To what extent has it carried out its function or purpose?
Is it successful, in relation to set criteria?
How useful?
Appreciate Appreciate:
Why is this understanding of the topic important for life?
___________________________________________________________________________
Sentence Starters
(EIT (2012), adapted from Manalo. E., Wont_Toi, G., & Bartlett-Trafford, J. (2009). The business of writing:
Written communication skills for business students (3rd ed.). Auckland: Pearson Education New Zealand,
retrieved from: http://www2.eit.ac.nz/library/ls_guides_sentencestarters.html)
TO INTRODUCE TOPICS/IDEAS
This essay discusses … … is explored … … is defined …
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The definition of … will be
… is briefly outlined … … is explored …
given
The issue focused on …. … is demonstrated ... … is included …
In this essay ….. … is explained … … are identified …
The key aspect discussed … … are presented … … is justified …
Views on …. range from …. … is evaluated … … is examined …
The central theme … … is described … … is analysed …
Emphasised are … … is explained and illustrated with examples …
___________________________________________________________________________
Multi-Modal Presentation Sites
How to Prepare a Multimodal Presentation: https://www.matrix.edu.au/beginners-guide-to-
acing-hsc-english/how-to-prepare-a-multimodal-presentation/
How to Make an Easy Multimodal Presentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEZa8Ml3mEg
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Assessment Discussion
Assessment stands as a vital constituent within the teaching and learning cycle. Within
about student work and achievement. Such information can be utilised for a variety of
purposes, notably to “assist student learning, evaluate and improve teaching and learning
programs, provide information on student learning and progress in a course in relation to the
the achievement of each student at the end of a course” (NESA, 2017a). As such, assessment
stands as vital component within schooling, not only for students with assessing learning, but
also for teachers in enabling effective assessment design as well as providing valuable
feedback to enable further educational development. However, within this vitality, comes a
level of pressure and anxiety inextricable from assessment, particularly within high stakes
testing conditions such as the HSC assessment for senior high-school leavers. As such,
assessment with valuable criteria, marking and design is fundamental to genuine intellectual
progress and set the direction for ongoing teaching and learning” it may be utilised as
summative, formative, informal or formal arrangements. (Ladwig & Gore, 2009a, p. 5).
However, formal, summative assessment may also take on a high-stakes format, or a form of
“linking results on one set of standardised tests to broad sets of practices including teacher,
principal and whole-school performance accountability” (Bousfield & Ragusa, 2014, p. 173).
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In analysing assessment, many examination formats have taken on a ‘high-stakes testing’
model, now being marred with marketisation, commodification, and competition, echoed
and test preparation books to temper infrastructural inequities” (Ragusa and Bousfield, 2017,
p. 268). It is within this commodification and marketisation where these forms of assessment
can be influenced by the transactional interplay cycling between the “intense focus on
performance comparisons […] policies surrounding the test data; media use of these data and
international high-stakes standardized testing (Mayes & Howell, 2017, p. 2). Therefore,
These notions are echoed within the student test anxiety and pressure inherent within
the high-stakes standardised testing conditions of the HSC for senior school-leavers. A study
by the UNSW School of Education validates these notions, claiming students most recognise
this academic pressure when the perceived level of expectation or consequence exceeds what
they believe they can achieve (North, Gross & Smith, 2015). With Year 12 students from a
range of schools within Sydney as the focal point, the study claims of the 722 students
concern” with 16% of the coherent reporting extremely severe levels of anxiety, while 37%
registered above-average levels of stress (North, Gross & Smith, 2015). Furthermore, 54% of
students felt that expectation levels were disproportionate for their ability, with main causes
stemming from workload (50%), expectations to perform (26%) and importance of exams
(22%). (North, Gross & Smith, 2015). Furthermore, it is within this intense scrutinization by
family, media, technology, consumer culture, school policy and practice, that international
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and interdisciplinary literature are proposing a ‘crisis’ besieging Western childhood, whereby
schooling practices stand complicit to the hyper-competitive culture, with this “substantial
pressure in an audit culture makes children have to ‘grow up fast’” (Bousfield & Ragusa,
2014, p. 174). As such, validity and reliability of high-stakes standardised tests, such as the
HSC, as a means of assessment comes into question, with a focus on results and achievement
Within this focus on results, student outcomes are often at stake as a result of rampant
negligence of appropriate pedagogy and learning. Within the Australian context, Lobascher
(2011, p.13) notes concerns expressed by the Queensland Studies Authority (QSA), that
testing encourages “methods of teaching that promote shallow and superficial learning rather
than deep conceptual understanding and the kinds of complex knowledge and skills needed in
modern, information-based societies” (QSA 2009, p.3, as cited in Polesel, Dulfer, &
Turnbull, 2012, p. 10). Some teachers have articulated a need to discount effective pedagogy,
in favour for “intensive test preparation, a narrowing of the curriculum, and a marginalisation
test practice” (Mayes & Howell, 2017, p. 2). In terms of Modern History for seniors, this
stands particularly damaging and harmful, with historical syllabi intending to promote inquiry
and critical dialogue to “equip students with “knowledge, understanding and skills to help
them examine and make sense of the world around them” (NESAb, 2017, p. 9). Furthermore,
within the syllabus there is a focalisation and aim on developing transferrable skills toward to
problems with historical evidence, causation and historical agency” (NESAb, 2017, p. 9).
These historical inquiry skills in the discussion of historical evidence and argument develop
fundamental critical literacy skills such as “interpreting, analysing and weighing evidence;
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synthesising evidence from a variety of sources; and developing reasoned and evidence-based
arguments” (NESAb, 2017, p. 9). It is within a negligence of these pedagogical strategies and
subsequent superficial learning that student outcomes suffer. Munro (2010, p.3 as cited in
Polesel, Dulfer, & Turnbull, 2012, p. 8) states that “at best, the test outcomes tell us what
students did at a particular time, under particular conditions, on a limited number of tasks”
and in using them to make “cohort, school-level or time comparisons needs to take this into
problematically, with limitations on the usefulness of the information as a diagnostic tool for
teachers.
“each student is judged against predetermined absolute standards or criteria, without regard to
(usually with some margin of flexibility) would obtain a certain grade” with the class being
scaled up and/or down depending on comparative average performances of the class. Whilst
summative assessment is beneficial for “providing scoring information that can be read and
easily understood by a range of stakeholders”, criteria that follows this form of assessment is
that “enable a clear articulation of desired learning outcomes takes centre stage in the
curriculum, and drives the design of the learning environment and process” (Lok, McNaught
& Young, 2016, p. 452). This approach provides the opportunities for educators to enable a
clarity of focus, in that educators are able to clearly illustrate and align intended learning
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outcomes and prioritise them in planning, teaching and assessment; high expectations in
which entails abandoning a norm-referenced approach and opening access to all students for
high-level learning through raising the level of acceptable performance, and expanded
opportunity, through providing further time for the student to achieve the learning outcomes
(Lok, McNaught & Young, 2016, p. 452). Therefore, standards-based referencing “[more]
been mastered and where weaknesses lie” (Lok, McNaught & Young, 2016, p. 451).
Furthermore, the influence of standards-based assessments within the classroom has proven
“overwhelmingly positive for the thinking, reasoning, and communication skills of students
and for their performance on high-stakes tests” (Reeves, 2001. p. 6). Within the format of
assessment arises, whereby the process “influences the learning of teachers and thereby the
Therefore, the focus of academic standards proves more beneficial when centralising
these assessments requiring students to write, explain and analyse- in brief, to think (Reeves,
2001, p. 7-8). Concurrent with this, students are required to demonstrate a proficiency, rather
negligent ploys and tactics to gain advantage in assessment, in favour for a “focused
curriculum that relates to academic standards” (Reeves, 2001, p. 6). Further, standards-based
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referencing enables a degree of authentic assessment with students having opportunities to
showcase a higher degree of skill, sophistication and a depth within their understanding and
comprehension, even with varying assessment design such as live performance, podcasts,
programs for students, so opportunities are presented and facilitated for this demonstration of
understandings inherent in the achievement standards for the Australian Curriculum learning
areas (Klenowski, 2013, p. 43). Within this, there are opportunities for effective assessment
design within differentiated tasks, and constructive, high-quality feedback. Therefore, this
enables avenues to assist student learning, evaluate and improve teaching and learning
programs and provide information on student learning. Within this however, assessment can
assessment design can be strategised and differentiated to enable students to reach a higher
degree of intellectual proficiency, and to equip students with necessary inquiry skills and
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Bibliography
Mayes, E., & Howell, A. (2017). The (hidden) injuries of NAPLAN: two standardised test
events and the making of ‘at risk’ student subjects, International Journal of Inclusive
Ladwig, J., & Gore, J. (2009a). Quality teaching in NSW public schools: an assessment
https://stjohnsprimarystaff.wikispaces.com/file/view/asspracg.pdf
Beatrice Lok, Carmel McNaught & Kenneth Young (2016) Criterion-referenced and norm-
North, B., Gross, M., & Smith, S. (2015, September 11). Study confirms HSC exams source
of major stress to adolescents. The Conversation. Retrieved April 28th, 2018 from:
http://theconversation.com/study-confirms-hsc-exams-source-of-major-stress-to-
adolescents-46812
NSW Education Standards Authority [NESA]. (2017b). Modern History Stage 6 Syllabus.
history-stage-6-syllabus-2017.pdf
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NSW Education Standards Authority [NESA]. (2017a). Purpose of Assessment. Retrieved
12/Understanding-the-curriculum/assessment/assessment-in-practice/purpose-of-
assessment
Polesel, J., Dulfer, N., & Turnbull, M. (2012). The experience of education: The impacts of
high stakes testing on school students and their families. Literature Review prepared
for the Whitlam Institute, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, and the
org/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/276191/High_Stakes_Testing_Literature_Review.pdf
Ragusa, A, T., & Bousfield, K. (2017). ‘It’s not the test, it’s how it’s used!’ Critical analysis
com.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/docview/216043443?accountid=36155
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