Stage 2 | Subject outline | Version control

Modern History Stage 2
Subject outline

Version 4.0 - For teaching in 2024.
Accredited in July 2017 for teaching at Stage 2 from 2018. 

Stage 2 | Subject outline | assessment-design-criteria

Assessment design criteria

The assessment design criteria are based on the learning requirements and are used by:

  • teachers to clarify for the student what he or she needs to learn
  • teachers and assessors to design opportunities for the student to provide evidence of his or her learning at the highest possible level of achievement.

The assessment design criteria consist of specific features that:

  • students should demonstrate in their learning
  • teachers and assessors look for as evidence that students have met the learning requirements.

For this subject, the assessment design criteria are:

  • understanding and exploration
  • application and evaluation
  • analysis.

The specific features of these criteria are described below.

The set of assessments, as a whole, must give students opportunities to demonstrate each of the specific features by the completion of study of the subject.

Understanding and Exploration 

The specific features are as follows:

UE1 Understanding and exploration of historical concepts. 
UE2 Understanding and exploration of the role of ideas, people, and events in history.

Application and Evaluation 

The specific features are as follows:

AE1 Application of the skills of historical inquiry to examine and evaluate sources and interpretations.
AE2 Interpretation and synthesis of evidence to support arguments and draw conclusions. 
AE3 Communication of reasoned historical arguments, with appropriate acknowledgment of sources.

Analysis 

The specific features are as follows:

A1 Analysis of ways in which the development of the modern world has been shaped by both internal and external forces and challenges.
A2 Analysis of interactions and relationships in the modern world and their short-term and long-term impacts on national, regional, and/or international development.