General Capabilities

In the Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum, students develop their critical and creative thinking as they investigate civic, economic and business, geographical and historical concepts and ideas through inquiry-based learning. The effective development of critical and creative thinking in Humanities and Social Sciences enables students to learn to apply concepts and skills to new contexts and endeavours. Students build their inquiry skills as they learn to develop and clarify investigative questions, and to assess reliability when selecting information from diverse sources. Students develop analytical skills by using evidence to support an argument or position on a social, cultural or political issue. They interpret and analyse economic data and information and apply discipline-specific knowledge and understandings as they draw conclusions and propose solutions to complex problems.

Students develop creative thinking dispositions when they are encouraged to be curious and imaginative in investigations and field work, when considering multiple perspectives about issues and events, and when thinking deeply about questions that do not have straightforward answers. They imagine alternative futures in response to social, environmental, civic, economic and business challenges that require problem-solving and innovative solutions. They propose appropriate and alternative courses of action and consider the effects on their own lives and the lives of others.

In the Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum, students develop digital literacy when they locate, process, analyse, evaluate and communicate civic, economic and business, geographical and historical information. Students access and use digital literacy, including spatial technologies, as an investigative and creative tool. They seek a range of digital sources of information to resolve inquiry questions or challenges of historical, geographic, civic, economic and business relevance, being aware of intellectual property. They critically analyse evidence and trends, and critique source reliability. Using digital literacy, students present and represent their learning, and collaborate, discuss and debate to co-construct their knowledge. They plan, organise, create, display and communicate data and information digitally, using multimodal elements for a variety of reasons and audiences.

Students enhance their digital literacy by exploring the increasing use of technology and the effects of technologies on people and places, and civic, economic and business activity. They learn about social media as a tool to collaborate, communicate and share information, and build consensus on issues of social, civic, economic, business and environmental significance, while using an awareness of personal security protocols and ethical responsibilities.

In the Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum, students develop ethical understanding as they investigate the ways that diverse values and principles have influenced human activity. As students develop informed, ethical values and attitudes, they explore different perspectives, ambiguities and ethical considerations related to social and environmental issues. They discuss and apply ethical concepts, such as equality, respect and fairness, examine shared beliefs and values that support Australian democracy and citizenship, and become aware of their own roles, rights and responsibilities as participants in their social, economic and natural world.

In the Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum, students develop intercultural understanding as they learn about the diversity of the world’s places and peoples, and people’s lives, cultural practices, values, beliefs and ways of knowing. They learn the importance of understanding their own and others’ histories, recognising the significance of the histories and cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and the contributions of Australian migrants. They demonstrate respect for cultural diversity and the human rights of all people.

Students learn of Australia’s economic and political relationships with other countries and the role of intercultural understanding for the present and future. As they investigate the interconnections between people and the significance that places hold, they learn how various cultural identities, including their own, are shaped. They reflect on their own intercultural experiences and explore how people interact across cultural boundaries, considering how factors, such as group membership, traditions, customs, and religious and cultural practices impact on civic life.

In the Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum, students develop literacy capability as they learn how to build knowledge in relation to civic, economic and business, geographical and historical information, concepts and ideas. Students progressively learn to use a wide range of informational, persuasive and imaginative texts in multiple modes. These texts include stories, narrative recounts, reports, explanations, arguments, debates, timelines, maps, tables, graphs and images, often supported by references from primary and secondary sources.

Students learn to make increasingly sophisticated language and text choices, understanding that language varies according to context, which reflect the nature and stages of their inquiry. They learn to use language features and text structures to comprehend and compose cohesive texts about places, people, events, processes, systems and perspectives of the past, present and future. These include topic-specific vocabulary, appropriate verb tenses, and complex sentences that describe sequential, cause and effect and comparative relationships. Students recognise how language and images can be used to make and manipulate meaning. They evaluate texts for shades of meaning and opinion. Students also participate in debates and discussions and develop a considered point of view when communicating conclusions and preferred social and environmental futures to a range of audiences.

In the Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum, students develop numeracy capability as they apply numeracy skills in relation to civic, economic and business, geographical and historical inquiries. Students count and measure data and information, construct and interpret tables and graphs, and calculate and interpret statistics in their investigations. Students learn to use scaled timelines, including those involving negative and positive numbers, as well as calendars and dates, to recall information on topics of historical significance and to illustrate the passing of time. They collect data through methods such as surveys and field tests. They construct and interpret maps, models, diagrams, and remotely sensed and satellite images, working with numerical concepts of grids, scale, distance, area and projections.

Students learn to analyse numerical data to make meaning of the past, to test relationships in patterns and between variables, such as the effects of location and distance, and to draw conclusions. They make predictions and forecast outcomes based on civic, economic and business data, and environmental and historical information, and represent their findings in numerical and graphical form. Students use numeracy to understand the principles of financial management, and to make informed consumer, financial and business decisions. They appreciate the ways numeracy knowledge and skills are used in society and apply these to hypothetical and real-life experiences.

In the Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum, students develop personal and social capability (self and social awareness) as they gain an understanding of people and places through civic, economic and business, geographical and historical inquiry. Through learning experiences that enhance reflective practice, students develop an appreciation of the insights and perspectives of others. They develop understanding of what informs their personal identity and sense of belonging, including concepts of place, and their cultural and national heritage.

Learning through inquiry enables students to develop self-management skills by directing their own learning and providing opportunities to express and reflect on their opinions, beliefs, values and questions. Social management skills are developed as students collaborate with others to make informed decisions, show leadership and demonstrate advocacy skills to achieve desired outcomes, and contribute to their communities and society more broadly.