Course performance descriptors for History

Areas for assessment

• Historical knowledge
• Research and historical inquiry skills
• Communication

Grade A

A student at this grade typically:

• demonstrates extensive knowledge and understanding of significant historical forces and factors that shaped the modern world and Australia
• demonstrates extensive knowledge and understanding of the motives and actions of past individuals and groups in the historical contexts that shaped the modern world and Australia
• draws historical conclusions based on an understanding of chronology, continuity and change
• evaluates a range of sources for their usefulness and synthesises evidence from them to support an historical inquiry
• analyses and assesses the importance of the causes and effects of historical events and developments
• analyses and accounts for different perspectives and interpretations of the past
• communicates an understanding of the past by constructing sustained explanations and arguments for different audiences, in appropriate oral, written, visual and digital forms, with a sophisticated use of relevant historical terms and concepts.

Grade B

A student at this grade typically:

• demonstrates thorough knowledge and understanding of significant historical forces and factors that shaped the modern world and Australia
• demonstrates thorough knowledge and understanding of the motives and actions of past individuals and groups in the historical contexts that shaped the modern world and Australia
• explains historical events based on an understanding of chronology, continuity and change
• selects and analyses a range of sources and draws conclusions about their usefulness for an historical inquiry
• explains and analyses causes and effects of historical events and developments
• explains and compares different perspectives and interpretations of the past
• communicates an understanding of the past by constructing explanations and arguments for different audiences, in appropriate oral, written, visual and digital forms, using a range of relevant historical terms and concepts.

Grade C

A student at this grade typically:

• demonstrates sound knowledge and understanding of significant historical forces and factors that shaped the modern world and Australia
• demonstrates sound knowledge and understanding of the motives and actions of past individuals and groups in the historical contexts that shaped the modern world and Australia
• sequences historical events and describes significant patterns of continuity and change
• selects and organise sources to locate relevant information to support an historical inquiry
• explains causes and effects of historical events and developments
• explains different perspectives and interpretations of the past
• communicates an understanding of the past through explanations and arguments in appropriate oral, written, visual and digital forms, using relevant historical terms and concepts.

Grade D

A student at this grade typically:

• demonstrates basic knowledge and understanding of significant historical forces and factors that shaped the modern world and Australia
• demonstrates basic knowledge and understanding of the motives and actions of past individuals and groups in the historical contexts that shaped the modern world and Australia
• sequences some historical events and identifies factors contributing to continuity and change
• selects and organises relevant information from sources and summarises the main ideas to answer historical questions
• describes some causes and effects of historical events and developments
• identifies different perspectives and interpretations of the past
• communicates an understanding of the past by describing historical events and issues in appropriate oral, written, visual and digital forms, using some historical terms and concepts.

Grade E

A student at this grade typically:

• demonstrates elementary knowledge and understanding of significant historical forces and factors that shaped the modern world and Australia
• demonstrates elementary knowledge and understanding of the motives and actions of past individuals and groups in the historical contexts that shaped the modern world and Australia
• recounts some historical events in chronological order and identifies significant changes
• with guidance, locates information from sources to answer historical questions
• identifies some causes and effects of historical events
• recognises different perspectives within historical accounts
• communicates an understanding of the past through basic accounts of events and issues in oral, written, visual or digital forms, using simple historical terms and concepts.

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