Availabilities:
Unit aim
Examines major changes in politics, economy and society beginning with reconstruction in 1865. The unit takes a critical approach to the subject of American history. Students question, connect, source and argue to consider a range of perspectives on the history of modern America. This class involves weekly discussions that rely on a combination of secondary historical analyses and primary sources.
Unit content
-
Reconstruction 1865–1877
-
America's Gilded Age, 1870–1890
-
Progressive Era, 1900–1916
-
US and World War I, 1916–1920
-
Roaring Twenties to Great Depression, Business to Bust 1920–1932
-
The New Deal, 1932–1940
-
World War II 1941–1945
-
Cold War and American Culture, 1945–1960
-
Sixties 1960–1968
-
Nixon to Reagan: Conservatism 1969–1988
-
Globalisation, 1989–
-
America After September 11, 2001
Learning outcomes
Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.
Learning outcomes and graduate attributes
GA1: Intellectual rigour,
GA2: Creativity,
GA3: Ethical practice,
GA4: Knowledge of a discipline,
GA5: Lifelong learning,
GA6: Communication and social skills,
GA7: Cultural competence| On completion of this unit, students should be able to: | GA1 | GA2 | GA3 | GA4 | GA5 | GA6 | GA7 |
|---|
| 1 | articulate what they know of American history, explain how they came to know it and on what basis it can be claimed | Intellectual rigour | | | | | | |
| 2 | formulate a question for historical inquiry | Intellectual rigour | | | Knowledge of a discipline | Lifelong learning | | |
| 3 | identify the arguments made in American history sources | Intellectual rigour | | | Knowledge of a discipline | Lifelong learning | | |
| 4 | consider arguments that are different to their own | | | | Knowledge of a discipline | | | |
| 5 | connect disparate sources of information | Intellectual rigour | | | | | | |
| 6 | organise and evaluate evidence to support claims about US history | Intellectual rigour | | | Knowledge of a discipline | | | |
| 7 | narrate an episode in modern American history. | Intellectual rigour | | | Knowledge of a discipline | Lifelong learning | | |
On completion of this unit, students should be able to:
- articulate what they know of American history, explain how they came to know it and on what basis it can be claimed
- formulate a question for historical inquiry
- GA1:
Intellectual rigour
- GA4:
Knowledge of a discipline
- GA5:
Lifelong learning
- identify the arguments made in American history sources
- GA1:
Intellectual rigour
- GA4:
Knowledge of a discipline
- GA5:
Lifelong learning
- consider arguments that are different to their own
- GA4:
Knowledge of a discipline
- connect disparate sources of information
- organise and evaluate evidence to support claims about US history
- GA1:
Intellectual rigour
- GA4:
Knowledge of a discipline
- narrate an episode in modern American history.
- GA1:
Intellectual rigour
- GA4:
Knowledge of a discipline
- GA5:
Lifelong learning
Prescribed texts
Session 2
- Foner, E, 2017, Give Me Liberty: An American History Volume II, 5th edn, WW Norton and Company, New York. ISBN: 978-0-393-61414-5.
Prescribed texts may change in future study periods.