The Practice (PCK) of Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences (9891.2)

Required texts

Prescribed Textbook

Price, D & Green, D. (Eds) (2019). Making Humanities and Social Sciences Come Alive: Early Years and Primary Education. Cambridge University Press: UK.

Recommended Textbooks and Other Literature

Reynolds, R. (2019). Teaching Humanities and Social Science in Primary School (4th edition). Oxford University Press.

Murdoch, K. (2015). The power of inquiry. Seastar Education.

Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2011). The understanding by design guide to creating high-quality units. ASCD.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. Routledge.

ACARA (2022). Understanding this area: Humantities and Social Sciences. https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/teacher-resources/understand-this-learning-area/humanities-and-social-sciences

Other scholarly literature

Additional resources will be made available on the unit Canvas site.

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

When developing your lesson plans, it is encouraged that you are using your skills in lesson planning and design to create engaging and rich lesson resources. Using materials from commercial sites such as TPT, Twinkl, Sparkle Box etc. is not desirable in this unit. If you adapt resources from commercial sites and sources, please note this in your lesson planning and resource development.

Approval of extenuating circumstances will be dependent upon the production of supporting documentation and at the discretion of the unit convener.

All assessment items required to be submitted online must be submitted via the appropriate Canvas drop box. It is the student's responsibility to upload the correct and corresponding draft or assessment item to the right submission section. Assignments must be submitted in a format accessible to the assessor(s), as stated on the relevant canvas site. If the unit convener and/or tutor are unable to access a submission, a standard late penalty of 5% of the total marks possible for the task may be applied per day until the assignment is made accessible.

Special assessment requirements

An aggregated mark of 50% is required to pass the unit.

The unit convener reserves the right to question students orally on any of their submitted work. 

Academic integrity

Students have a responsibility to uphold University standards on ethical scholarship. Good scholarship involves building on the work of others and use of others' work must be acknowledged with proper attribution made. Cheating, plagiarism, and falsification of data are dishonest practices that contravene academic values. Refer to the University's Student Charter for more information.

To enhance understanding of academic integrity, all students are expected to complete the Academic Integrity Module (AIM) at least once during their course of study. You can access this module within UCLearn (Canvas) through the 'Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism' link in the Study Help site.

Use of Text-Matching Software

The University of Canberra uses text-matching software to help students and staff reduce plagiarism and improve understanding of academic integrity. The software matches submitted text in student assignments against material from various sources: the internet, published books and journals, and previously submitted student texts.

Provision of valid documentation

Please note that the University takes student conduct very seriously. All documentation provided to University staff must be valid and the provision of fraudulent documentation carries with it potentially serious consequences, including suspension and/or exclusion from the University. Note that all allegations of student misconduct will be referred to the Associate Dean for Education (ADE) as a prescribed authority for investigation.

Learner engagement

Workshops: 3 hrs x 10 = 30 hrs (including 7 teaching clinics)

Online study: 3 hrs x 10 = 30 hrs 

Extra weekly readings & assessment preparation: 90 hrs (9 hrs per week) 

Participation requirements

Attendance at all scheduled sessions in this unit is compulsory and absences could result in a fail. All absences need to be supported by appropriate documentation (e.g. medical certificate).

Successful engagement with all learning activities in this accredited Initial Teacher Education course is necessary to demonstrate that you have met the Graduate career stage of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL, 2011).

It is recognised that sometimes absence is unavoidable. If you are absent for more than two sessions, however, your engagement with the unit could be considered unsatisfactory.

Participation in ‘school-based' tutorial classes is a compulsory condition of this unit, and attendance will be recorded. You must participate in 100% of the ‘school-based' tutorial classes to pass this unit. In the event that you cannot attend your assigned session due to illness or extreme circumstances, you must provide appropriate documentation to the Unit Convener as soon as possible. In the case of sessions missed due to illness or extreme circumstances, both the academic content and the professional experience component are required to be made up. More than two documented absences may lead to failure of the unit due to non-completion.

*Note: This unit commences with weeks 1  on campus (see the timetable for rooms) and weeks 2 to 8 will be school-based to meet accreditation requirements of 3.5 days professional experience

Required IT skills

It is expected that students undertaking this unit will have a basic level of information technology competence that includes electronic manipulation of documents, PowerPoint, photographs, videos, slideshows, e-books, websites and apps.

Artificial intelligence services must not to be used for assessment or assessment preparation by students unless explicitly allowed in the assessment instructions for an assessment task published with the assessment task and/or in the unit outline. That is, an artificial intelligence services may only be used if: · its use is authorised by the unit convener as part of a specified assessment task, and · it is used in the way allowed in the assessment instructions and/or unit outline, and · its use is appropriately referenced, meaning that students must reference the use of AI in their assessment in the same way as they reference other source material

In-unit costs

Students are required to purchase the course textbook in addition to the materials provided online for their learning.

A field trip will be occuring to MOAD. Costs associated with travel or parking may be incurred.

Work placement, internships or practicums

1. Learning in this unit will be integrally linked to experiences in professional contexts.

This unit involves work integrated learning (WIL): Placement or Internship/Simulation/WIL Fieldwork/WIL Project. Students must adhere to University policy during WIL activities, including the Student Conduct Rules 2018, the WIL policy and WIL procedure, and the Assessment policy, and Assessment procedure. For teaching degrees, students need to ensure they have their WWVP or for NSW, their Working with Children, COVID vaccination status and evidence of PSTR uploaded to InPlace.

This unit involves  professional practicum and therefore, additional student responsibilities are required in addition to those described in section 6. Workplace learning requires strict adherence to professional practice principles and ethics. School student and staff confidentiality must always be maintained (refer policies on ATES - Professional Experience Handbook, ACT ED Teachers' Code of Professional Practice (or equivalent) and Student Conduct Rules), including for assessment items such as reports or essays. This applies to staff and patrons of any outside agency where an internship or other WIL activity is taking place. The professional nature of this unit also requires 100% participation at all learning activities (lectures, workshops, tutorial, practicals etc. as scheduled – see section 3) for the successful completion of this unit (also see section 6c). If attendance requirements cannot be satisfied (e.g., timetable clash), it is recommended that you contact the Academic Programs Team to discuss re-scheduling this unit.

Depending on which tutorial group students are in, they will undertake their teaching clinics in one of the following five schools in the ACT from Week 2 to Week 8 of Semester 1.

Queanbeyan East Public School

Monash Primary School

Maribyrnong Primary School

Neville Bonner Primary School 

Gordon Primay School 

Additional information

Theoretical Foundation: The teaching approach for this course is informed by recent pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) literature in teaching humanities and social sciences in primary schools. The course adopts research-based principles in enhancing pre-service teacher knowledge, skills and dispositions of teaching young children.  

Notifications through the Canvas Announcements Forum or the Canvas Discussion Forums are deemed to be made to the whole class.  It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they check for announcements on the Unit's Canvas website (forum messages are also emailed to student email addresses only).  Students should ensure they check their student email regularly.  The Canvas discussion forums will be checked by staff regularly.

Use of student email account

The University Email policy states that "students wishing to contact the University via email regarding administrative or academic matters need to send the email from the University account for identity verification purposes".  Therefore all unit enquiries should be emailed using a student university email account. Students should contact servicedesk@canberra.edu.au if they have any issues accessing their university email account.

• Semester 1, 2024, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (218991)
• Semester 1, 2023, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (213027)
• Semester 1, 2022, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (206003)
• Semester 1, 2021, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (200972)
• Semester 1, 2020, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (194454)
• Semester 1, 2019, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (186815)
• Semester 1, 2018, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (183346)