SESSION CODE

Fashions in History
Dr Michael McKernan

Last year's clothes seem good enough to me and I'll be wearing them for some years yet. But people want to be seen in the latest and to shrug off one style as soon as someone deems it outdated. Should history, in its content and presentation, be subject to such whims and diversions? Who determines what is fashionable and what is not? And how best is that determination made? A working lifetime in history might help me to provide some of the answers to these issues. At least it might be worth the try.

History Wars - A Global Perspective
Dr Robert Guyver, University College St Mark & St John, Plymouth, UK
Associate Professor Tony Taylor, Monash University

Australia is not alone in experiencing controversy around the construction of a history curriculum. History is likely always to be the most sensitive area of the curriculum and often for the same reason that a relative’s Will can cause difficulties in families - people quarrel over inheritances, and historians quarrel over interpretations. There are additional potential disagreements over pedagogy in the sense of teaching and learning styles, methods and approaches. This address will draw on examples from around the world (New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, USA, Argentina, Japan, Russia, Germany – as well as Australia and the UK) to highlight common areas for concern and some sensible solutions. This examines inclusion of the history of Indigenous peoples and the role of identities; questions about the relationship between content and skills, e.g. the suitability of a canon of agreed landmark events juxtaposed with the notion of an agreed set of syntactic skills and enquiry tools; the involvement of historians in constructing and maintaining the curriculum, squaring up to difficult episodes, getting meaning out of an imperial or colonial past, using social and economic as well as political history, discriminating between present day and past values and, overall, finding a usable sense of trajectory when deploying history as part of education for citizenship. This asks whether the classroom needs to be seen almost as a special or neutral space of dialogue where history wars are inappropriate. It also asks whether in a growing set of international history curriculum protocols the new Australian curriculum is an example of good practice. Also, is there a case for cross-party political consensus over the history curriculum?

National Curriculum - Will we be inspired?
Paul Kiem, President, HTAA

As President of the History Teachers’ Association of Australia, Paul Kiem has been closely engaged with the national curriculum development process since its inception. This presentation will provide an up-to-date overview of the development of national history courses and be informed by recent discussions with colleagues throughout Australia. It will also reflect on ‘discussions we never had’ and make suggestions about the prospect for a successful implementation of the new courses.

eXplore
Richard Ford, St Andrew's Cathedral School, Sydney

Exploring large volumes of information critically is one of the most important skills we can foster in our students. Web 2.0 provides a wide range of opportunities for educators to develop this skill in History. This presentation will look at specific innovative ways this can be done using wordle, blogs and diigo.

M2B
& M3B
(Repeated session)

SOLD OUT! Remixing & re-engaging with History using wikis, weebly & wetpaint
Dr Kay Carroll, Australian Catholic University

Teachers are increasingly pressured to respond to global connectivity, cultural diversity, rapid knowledge transformation, and digital ‘blooming’. History teachers need innovative pedagogical perspectives that are enriched by technology, are student-centric and dynamic to engage generation Y.
This seminar will examine how to use ICT to develop higher-order thinking, problem-solving learning and engagement with the past. It will report on how to use ICT rich pedagogy to create opportunities for interaction with Web 2.0 technologies such wikis, wetpaint and weebly in History.

Pedagogy, Politics & the Profession: Future Developments in Australian History Teaching
Dr Stephanie Burley, School of Education, University of Adelaide, South Australia

Initially the presentation will focus on the educational, political and professional developments in school history curriculum in the last decade, leading to its inclusion in the Australian National Curriculum. The presentation will examine the achievements so far, particularly the pedagogical developments within the profession. In addition the presentation will highlight how political interference was to threaten its evolution, and but for an election, the National History Curriculum would be very different from that which history educators and teachers had envisaged. The presentation will then proceed to address the present and the future. Whilst the National Curriculum offers much in terms of aspirational developments and good practice, it is also threatened by significant concerns and challenges in its implementation in 2011and beyond which require significant teacher input. The presentation will proceed to raise critical questions as to how to harness teacher expertise and involvement, and further questions about the roles of universities, particularly faculties of education. Accordingly it is hoped that the presentation will result in an understanding of the complexities and dangers involved in national curriculum development, and at the same time, engender an enthusiasm amongst the profession, to harness the opportunities with realistic optimism.

SOLD OUT! Teaching the History of the Stolen Generations - engaging our community, educating our students
Alister McKeich, Senior Policy and Education Officer, Stolen Generations Victoria
Jade Johnson, Community Development Officer, Stolen Generations Victoria
Brian Morley (Member of the Stolen Generations)

Teaching the history of the Stolen Generations can be a difficult topic to engage with, but done in conjunction with the local community, can be a rich and rewarding process for both students and teachers. Where to start? Alister McKeich and Jade Johnson have worked extensively engaging schools and students with local Stolen Generations histories in Victoria. They will pass on some of the methods and experiences they have had over the last few years, which in turn may assist teachers and schools who wish to engage with these aspects of Indigenous history. Brian Morley will also give a live presentation of stories and songs from his experiences as a member of the Stolen Generations.

The transformation of the World History Course in US Secondary Schools
Dr Melvin Maskin, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Fordham University, New York, USA

The presentation will trace the dramatic changes in World History public high school curricula from the post- World War II period to the present. The movement for change has intensified within the last decade as standardized high-stakes assessments and advanced placement offerings increasingly reflect the “new” World History approach. What specific curricula changes have been made over the last five decades? Whose stories once got pride of place and whose stories now receive less coverage? Compared to standardized exams of the 1950s, what knowledge/skills are World History students now expected to master? How have these changes been justified? The presentation will focus on these questions and on the political and pedagogical controversies that have surfaced in response to recent efforts that promise to incorporate into history curricula a broader and more accurate vision of the world’s past.

Collecting, preserving & Sharing the Australian Identity
Gary Watson, National Capital Educational Tourism Project

Discover how the National Capital cultural institutions and the stories they collect are intertwined to provide a picture of Australia’s history, heritage and identity. Facilitated by Garry Watson of the National Capital Educational Tourism Project representatives from the Australian War Memorial, Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, National Museum of Australia, National Film and Sound Archive, National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery of Australia and National Archives of Australia will each share a story that begs the question ‘what makes an active citizen?’ Learn about the education programs these institutions develop to assist young Australians to explore curriculum themes and find out how teachers can access the vast range of knowledge and resources they have to offer.

Why is this story so hard to tell? Re-visiting Flynn of flying doctor fame
Megg Kelham, Collaborative Museums Education Project, Alice Springs NT

This workshop explores the challenges encountered when creating educational resources for a heritage trail. The aim was to encourage some of the thousands of people who visit the internationally famous Royal Flying Doctor Service and School of the Air to visit smaller Flynn attractions in Alice Springs.
Challenges included: finding a new angle for an old story; navigating the diverse needs of a potentially huge audience (tourisits, school kids, locals, interstate and international visitors), some of whom are intimately acquainted with Flynn (Australians over 60) and those who are disturbingly unfamiliar; some of whom love Flynn as a great Australian hero and others who despise him as a racist; some of whom want a 'feel good' time and others who want a debate.
These 'conflicting' agendas mimic the tensions which also exist between my training as an academic historian, my experience as a history teacher and my current work as a commissioned exhibition curator. They also lie at the core of challenges involved in creating a national history curriculum.
My solution? Tell Flynn's story through his relationship with place - Inland Australia - using digital technologies to enable primary source materials to speak for themselves to audiences of all ages.

Unlearning how to teach history Session M4D SOLD OUT!
Cameron Paterson, Mentor of Learning & Teaching, Shore School, North Sydney

On Wednesday morning Professor Erica McWilliam will present the keynote on ‘The 21st Century Teacher’. This workshop builds on her ideas about pedagogy and specifically relates them to the History classroom. This workshop advocates for less time explaining History through instruction and more time in experimental and error-welcoming modes of engagement. This is best encapsulated in the pedagogy of “knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do.” Learning is increasingly about networks and global connections, curriculum needs to be conceptualised as ‘content for meddling with’, and visuals, animation and sound need to be elevated in our very text dependent curriculum.

National Curriculum & Archaeology - the Big Dig Archaeology Education Centre
Louise Zarmati, HTANSW

In 2009 Sydney Harbour YHA was constructed over the top of The Big Dig archaeological site in The Rocks. This unique development features a ‘floating’ building that preserves the archaeological remains of the site as well as two purpose-built classrooms in which students from Years 1 to 11 can experience Australian history through simulated archaeological excavations and artefact handling sessions. In this presentation I will explain how the historical understandings and skills of the new National History Curriculum were used to design this innovative new education program that aims to make Australian history a stimulating and memorable learning experience.

SOLD OUT! Treasure Trove for History Teachers
Brendan Dahl, Education Manager, National Library of Australia

Teachers will explore the National Library of Australia’s new online search engine Trove for a wealth of information held in various Australian collections, contained in books, pictures, maps, digitised newspapers, archived websites and manuscripts – and all through one simple search. Discover methods to make this resource attractive and useful in your lesson plans.

SESSION CANCELLED

Towards a Taxonomy: Are we all speaking the same Language?
Denis Mootz, University of NSW

When we talk nationally about History are we sure we are all talking about the same thing? This will be both a preliminary report of attempts to find a consistent terminology to describe what students and teachers do in History classrooms and a discussion of possible ‘models’ for History pedagogy.

The New History Curriculum in the Netherlands
Albert van der Kaap, Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development (SLO)

In 2007 a new curriculum, based on 'a new balance' between the teaching of facts and the teaching of skills, was implemented in the Netherlands. The most important features of this curriculum are:

• History education should provide students with the necessary instruments to demonstrate an educated historical consciousness; in other words: to show competent behaviour using their history education. These instruments were described in two categories:
1. Historical thinking
2. A body of historical knowledge which can be used as a frame of reference.

• A system of ten periods which is meant to be used as a common frame of reference throughout Dutch history education for pupils from the age group of 8 year olds to the age group of 18 year olds.

• The system of periods should be taught in a concentric curriculum throughout the school career of a student. In this way, the system of periods will be gradually ‘filled up’ with notions which can give more and more meaning and significance to the general historical frame of reference. Factual knowledge of the periods is not a purpose in itself; it is a necessary tool to be able to judge new historical phenomena in the right perspective.

Discover, explore & connect 20th Century archival records to classroom enquiry
Margaret Fleming, National Archives of Australia

How do you help your students develop on-line research skills? Where will you find hundreds of on-line original records that link perfectly to 20th century Australian history and civics and citizenship? Bring archival records into your classroom via the National Archives of Australia’s virtual reading room, Vrroom at vrroom.naa.gov.au. Participants will leave the workshop with ways to engage students with archival records; straight forward techniques to help develop on-line research skills and the confidence to explore in an independent manner. Get out of the room and get into Vrr…room!

Designing quality multiple items for History Session M4G SOLD OUT!
Kate Cameron, Macquarie University

Quality multiple choice items can be designed to test a range of syllabus outcomes, target different performance bands and achieve discrimination between students. In this workshop you will learn what to do and what not to do in designing quality multiple choice items. You will learn to identify the features of good items and to meet the special demands of designing source-based items. The research suggests that if you know your subject content, understand what it is you want to test and can write with clarity, you can master the basics of designing multiple choice items. This workshop shows you how.

Feature films in the History classroom: The when, why and how of teacher practice
Debra Donnelly, University of Newcastle

It is an attractive proposition for history teachers to include historical feature films in their pedagogical toolbox. These contemporary versions of the past are generally engaging and motivating, and provide a welcomed change in routine from printed text. While their suitability for encouraging an empathetic understanding of the past is acknowledged in Australian state and federal educational policy documents, very little research has examined the actual uses teachers make of film texts.
This presentation reports on a survey of teacher practice and understandings in New South Wales, Australia which quantified anecdotal notions of film usage and examined the methods and motives of implementation. The survey of teacher practice confirmed frequent and varied usage of feature films in the history classroom and established student motivation and engagement as the most commonly cited usage rationales. The data exposed a tension in the perception of film as entertainment and historical artefact, with conflict between those who viewed film as a valid tool to develop of historical understanding and others who considered feature films as time-consuming, inaccurate or a “soft-option.” This study is relevant and timely with the National Curriculum’s emphasis on historical knowledge and understanding.

eXpress
Richard Ford, St Andrew's Cathedral School, Sydney

The ability to express coherent ideas creatively and compelling is a capacity that all students should be developing. ICT provides History teachers with a number of opportunities to nurture this capacity with their students. This presentation will demonstrate how students can use video and audio editing software plus a variety of the latest Web 2.0 tools.

Moving Beyond the Guilt Trip: Resistance to Indigenous perspectives in Australian and New Zealand history classes and the potential benefits of adopting a critical pedagogy of place
Dr Richard Manning, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

This paper/presentation will draw upon New Zealand doctoral research (Manning 2009) plus the works of Australian commentators to compare and contrast the status of indigenous histories in Australian and New Zealand schools. It will discuss similarities that exist in relation to teacher and student topic preferences and teacher/student resistance to indigenous perspectives. This paper/presentation draws attention to the fact that people hold differing views of the nature of history and students’ feelings of “guilt” and “anger” often reflect the existence of a not-so-well-hidden curriculum and poor teaching. To conclude, I will explain how the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) and Gruenewald’s evolving theories of a critical pedagogy of place inform my work with Maori colleagues. This collaborative work provides a pedagogical partnership model which enables New Zealand primary and secondary teachers to engage with Maori communities in New Zealand’s South Island. This may help Australian history teacher educators and teachers of history to critically reflect on their own teaching practice and the ways in which they represent indigenous peoples in “their” curricula documents.

Using Oral History in the Classroom
Carol McKirdy, TAFE NSW Sutherland College, Loftus Campus

This presentation will consider the advantages of using oral history:

For learning about historical events
To support mainstream history from the perspective of an individualised personalised primary source
As a means of promoting historical enquiry, research and interpretation
To record the past
To improve language and literacy skills
To encourage empathy and enrich understanding of the past
To develop a sense of the subjectivity of historical experience.

The presentation will use digital sound bites from oral history recordings in the TAFE NSW Sydney Institute Sutherland College Oral History wiki found at:
http://oralhistory.sydneyinstitute.wikispaces.net/ and also refer to the wiki’s oral history learning resources on conducting oral history projects, internet links to relevant oral history collections worldwide, language and literacy learning resources based on oral histories and samples of student writing on historical themes.
The presentation is applicable for primary, secondary and TAFE / Community College History students.

Introducing Primary National History: lessons from the UK
Dr Robert Guyver, University College St Mark & St John, Plymouth, UK

This aims to distil a set of transferable success criteria for primary history by drawing on the experience of its introduction and development in England since 1991. The curriculum can provide a framework but teachers’ knowledge bases will have to be challenged and a process of CPD initiated. The first key issue is understanding what history is. Next, the relationship between different sources of evidence, enquiry and narrative can be used as a basis for establishing valid and meaningful historical activities for primary aged children. Such protocols can best be explored in well-resourced contexts with specialist advisory or advanced-skills teachers’ support in partnership (maybe even funded collaborations) with local and national archives, museums, libraries and sites. Units of work can be developed but need to be flexible. Networks of teachers need to be set up like local/national primary history associations, though probably best in a relationship with the wider history teaching community. A journal with contributions about effective projects or reports on research or collaborations is a helpful medium of communication for practitioners. Primary history can be a university route in teacher education at bachelor’s, master’s and even doctoral levels. A body of practice-based research and curriculum development can emerge.

Augustus for Senior Students
Nick Ewbank, Dickson College, ACT Department of Education

This presentation is focussed on a way of approaching the emperor Augustus with senior students. The topic is a huge one, and has been known to daunt inexperienced teachers and students. From unlikely beginnings as the sickly adoptive son of Julius Caesar, Augustus carved out a predominant position in the Mediterranean world, and established a system of government that endured for four centuries. Was he a warm, fuzzy character (with occasional ‘hard bits’), as portrayed by Brian Blessed in the tv series I Claudius, or is that image partly the result of one of the ancient world’s best propaganda machines? The presentation reviews the achievements of Augustus, and the degree to which these were real, or the product of political ‘spin’. In so doing, it also addresses the personality of the man behind the mask. Some of the less commonly accessed sources (as well as some of the familiar ones) will be examined, to address the theme of ‘Augustus the great propagandist’.

S T Gill: An Artist on the Goldfields
Marion Littlejohn, Sovereign Hill Museum

This workshop will look at the extraordinary legacy of goldfields’ artist S. T. Gill and its value to students and historians as primary sources. It will look at the problems encountered when using artworks as evidence and practical ways teachers can use them to engage students and thereby bring their history lessons to life. These techniques are particularly useful for visual learners and students who struggle with more traditional texts but are equally effective for all learning styles.

Powerhouse Museum - The 80s are Back Exhibition
What were the 80s really like? Were they one just one big party and an awful lot of big hair? Or was there a lot more going on? And what did the decade mean for Australia as the ‘land down under’ took its place on the international stage? This exhibition takes you back to the music, the fashion, the parties, the politics and the people.
For more details of the exhibition click here

We will walk from the conference venue to North Sydney Station, catch a train to Town Hall station and walk through Darling Harbour to the Powerhouse Museum. At the end of the excursion delegates will be free to make their way home or return to the conference venue.

The Big Dig Archaeology Site, The Rocks, Sydney
The new Sydney Harbour YHA and Big Dig Archaeology Centre opened in November 2009. During this excursion you will view the archaeological remains of some of the earliest convict dwellings in the colony as well as learn about the new hands-on archaeology education programs attended by just under 2000 school students in its first six weeks of operation this year. We will walk from the conference venue to North Sydney Station, catch a train to Wynyard Station and walk down to the Rocks. At the end of the excursion delegates will be free to make their way home or return to the conference venue.

SESSION CODE

Keynote Address: The Obama Presidency & American Power in the 21st Century
Professor Geoffrey Garrett, CEO, United States Centre & Professor of Political Science, University of Sydney

Opinion polls say that Barack Obama is the world's most popular political leader. His speeches in potential lions' dens like Cairo and public diplomacy innovations like communicating with the Iranian people on youtube have been lauded as essential steps to restoring America's standing in the world. Yet Obama is far more popular outside his country than inside it, constraining his ability to change the direction of American foreign policy.
Critics say that Obama is all talk and little action when it comes to moving away from the ill fated and unpopular policies of the Bush years.

This address will assess the pluses and minuses of the international relations of Obama's America against the backdrop of unprecedented expectations but also unprecedented challenges.

Archaeology and the National Curriculum
Dr Kate da Costa, ARC Post-doctoral Fellow, Dept. of Archaeology, University of Sydney

The difference between Archaeology and History is not just in the nature of sources – material culture vs textual sources – but in approach and in the questions that can be answered. The draft new national curriculum relies heavily on archaeological material, especially in year 7, and in studies of social history. How can material culture studies be well integrated into teaching in the classroom, given the training of most history teachers is based on text studies? Three case studies, relating to the draft curriculum, are offered as examples of areas where archaeology provides source material: the development of agriculture in the Old World; burial practises in the Roman Empire; Australian trade links in the early 19th century.

Europe - our essential heritage
Professor John Hirst, La Trobe University

At La Trobe University I had 26 weeks to teach the whole history of Europe; then I had 13. How was it to be done?--not by starting at the beginning and going through to the end. I developed overviews and short-cuts while keeping studies in depth. I will report on my strategies, which may help teachers cope with the new national curriculum.

eXchange
Richard Ford, St Andrew's Cathedral School, Sydney

Students like to receive but it can be a little more difficult getting them giving and receiving. The ability to exchange ideas using a variety of media is a skill that 21st century students should be developing in the History classroom. This presentation will showcase how students can use Voice Thread, wikis and online video conferencing such as Skype.

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge in History Education
Philip Roberts, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Canberra

The emergence of new technologies and their influence on education has led to the development of a new model of Teacher Learning – Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). This model, developed by Mishra & Koehler (2006), builds on Shulman’s (1987) argument that teachers need to have expert content knowledge and expert pedagogical knowledge by also highlighting the importance of an understanding the role of technology. While this model does not position any domain as more important than any other, it does suggests that an understanding of how the three interrelate is a new form of professional knowledge. This presentation looks at how this model can be applied in the history classroom and how teacher educators can utilise the model in the preparation of future history teachers. Examples of how it is already being used at one Australian university teacher education program will be explored.

International Baccalaureate (IB) History and the National Curriculum
Denise Logan & Jenny McArthur, Victoria

This workshop will discuss the nature of the International Baccalaureate (IB) History course in relation to International Baccalaureate principles and the Australian National
Curriculum.

Teaching History With Movies
Dr Richard Paxton, Associate Professor, Pacific University, Oregon, USA

The presentation provides a description and discussion of cases illustrating powerful history teaching using motion pictures set along side other more traditional historical texts. These accounts of master teachers are designed to highlight a repertoire of skills that enable effective film-based pedagogy.
The presentation will outline a theoretical framework for the use of movies in the history classroom and, it is hoped, prod teachers toward a more nuanced understanding of the thorny issues involved in using movies to teach history.
Surveys show teachers make extensive use motion pictures in the history classroom, but not always to great effect. These cases describing secondary teachers and their students will encourage attendees to consider how the singular medium of motion pictures colors the way students think about the past. The general techniques described can be adapted and tailored to many other classrooms in ways that will make students think deeply about movies not simply as entertainment, but as historical accounts and interpretations to be examined, contextualized, and discussed.
Topics include: Movies as Primary and Secondary Historical Documents, Using Film to Develop Historical Empathy, Movies to Teach a Controversial Issues in History, and more. This presentation will not focus on the Australian national curriculum.

SOLD OUT! World History? What is it and what does it look like in the secondary classroom?
Tracy Sullivan, Director, Australian History Museum, Macquarie University

This paper is based on research undertaken in the United States as part of a 2009 Churchill Fellowship to study the teaching of World History in the secondary classroom. As the prospect of implementing a national curriculum with a world history focus in years 7-10 moves closer this paper focuses on defining and explaining the nature of the key aspects of a pedagogical framework for the teaching of world history to secondary students. Participants will be shown specific examples of programming, lesson planning and unit development for a world historical pedagogical framework in line with the draft national curriculum document. This paper aims to clearly define world history as it operates in the secondary classroom and provide practical classroom examples of how it can be taught effectively.

Contemporary Perspectives - Ancient Greece
Sasha Jessop, De La Salle College, Revesby, NSW

In 2008, Sasha Jessop was invited to participate as a volunteer excavator at the Athenian Agora with the American School of Classical Studies. As part of that work, she developed a website to connect with Australian school students and classes to give them an immediate sense of material culture and the importance of archaeology in acquiring evidence for historical enquiry. In 2009 she was awarded a Premier’s History Scholarship to continue that work and research contemporary perspectives on Ancient Greek history. She will provide updates from a range of institutions, including photographs and resources. The sites visited as part of her study included: The Athenian Agora, The New Acropolis Museum, Phillip II Tomb at Vergina, The Thessaloniki Archeaology Museum, The National Archaeological Museum in Athens, The Cycladic Museum, Hellenic Cosmos, The British Museum, The Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, The Louvre, the Altes and the recently reopened Neues Museum in Berlinas well as the Pergamon Museum and numerous others (24 case studies in all).
This presentation will be a photo presentation with explanation that will showcase some of her work, featuring the website and student questions as well as findings from the research.

The Australian Flying Corps
Ian Hodge, Historian, Department of Veterans Affairs

Australia was the only British dominion to establish its own flying corps during the First World War. There was novelty and glamour attached to those who wore the coveted airmen’s wings on their uniform. But as most airmen found, the air war was far from glorious. Fliers were subject to all manner of hazards and the strain of operational work eventually told on even the best of them. This paper looks at the airmen’s experience of war flying and traces the Flying Corps’ evolution from its first operational flights in Mesopotamia to its last days on the Western Front in 1918.

When the sub-altern speaks back - Raden Ayu Kartini & women in Asian History
Robert Hamilton, Georges River College, Oatley Campus & Helen Scevity, Mark’s Catholic College, Stanhope Gardens

This presentation illustrates several major themes documenting the changing historiography of women in colonial and post-colonial Indonesia. Using the case of Raden Ayu Kartini (1879-1904) who was introduced to an English speaking audience in her posthumous publication, Letters of a Javanese Princess, the presenters outline the historical context’s behind the emergence and rise to prominence of the sub-altern in 20th century Asian History, and provide theoretical and source-based examples of how the life of Indonesia’s first Muslim feminist has been interpreted through the analytical frameworks of “her-story”, social history, and the psychoanalytic.
This presentation would be useful for beginning teachers and mid-career practitioners wishing to explore the variety of approaches used in the transformation of institutional recognition of female agency to historical processes in Indonesian History.

A Fresh Approach to Stories of Federation, White Settler Society and Rudd’s Apology
Anne Barton, Victoria

Shared ideas of what it means to be Australian are embodied in our white settler society and shaped by the concepts and stories developed during the time of Federation. I take a fresh look at these ideas by reflecting on how my identity as the great grand daughter of Sir Edmund Barton, Australia's first Prime Minister, has reinforced the way I (and other white people) experience difference and diversity as ‘other’ to our version of being. I draw from this lessons of how membership of Australia’s white settler society is a cultural lens which maintains white privilege. The profound impact of Kevin Rudd’s 2007 apology points to opportunities and barriers Australians face in creating a just and equitable society for Indigenous Australians.This presentation intends to provide teachers with tools to complement the study of Indigenous history. Students’ and teachers’ ability to acknowledge whiteness as a culturally constructed racialised identity creates an opportunity to shape learning activities that foster students’ social responsibility and civic courage. The aim of the presentation is to interrupt the reproduction of white privilege.

SOLD OUT! Social Media for History Teachers
Richard Ford, St Andrew's Cathedral School, Sydney

History teachers who are keen to be learning and growing daily can benefit from exploring tools such as Twitter, Diigo and a personalised start page. Equipped with these tools teachers can become part of an international network of educators from whom they can learn daily. This is your chance to discover how you can keep on learning from other History teachers well beyond this conference.

T3B

Challenging Gifted Students
Danielle Purdy, St Augustine's College, Cairns

With the introduction of a national curriculum, continuing modifications to senior syllabi and impending exclusive junior history studies (particularly QLD), it can be difficult to find time to address the needs of the more able students, especially in mixed ability class sets. Gifted and talented history students can sometimes be overlooked or fobbed off with extra work that fails to engage their passion or skills. It is imperative, that we maintain our success as senior subjects by identifying these students and fostering their excitement and interest. This session suggests useful strategies from Australian and International schools that work - as well as resources to keep enthusiastic historians challenged and more importantly, assist in making your students accomplished readers, researchers, debaters, writers and confident ambassadors of history.

History in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Theory of Knowledge Course
Denise Logan, Victoria

This workshop will provide a discussion of the IB Theory of Knowledge course as a vehicle for teaching history skills to all students, not just those taking history as an academic
subject, within the context of local needs such as the National Curriculum.

Teaching Pacific Island History
Syd Smith, Consultant in Environmental Education

AusAid in liaison with the Curriculum Corporation and the Asia Education Foundation have developed a project that aims to support the study of the Pacific in secondary schools, (Years 7-10) and to promote teacher and student knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the Pacific. For teachers of History in secondary schools there is an excellent section on engaging students with events in the region and understanding Australia’s role, both past and present, in the Pacific. The project was developed not only because the Pacific is geographically Australia’s closest neighbour but, in the opinion of the Commonwealth Government, it is little known or appreciated in Australia for its diversity and importance.

Teaching archaeology to students: in the classroom, in the museum, and in the field
Dr Craig Barker, University of Sydney Museums

Allowing students to develop an understanding of the archaeological process is an important component of a holistic comprehension of how to investigate the past. This talk will examine the ways in which students can be given insight into the way historical and archaeological approaches can be combined to allow for greater interpretation of the past. Using experiences from the Education Programs of the Nicholson and Macleay Museums at The University of Sydney where both Old World Archaeology and Australian archaeology is presented to students, this paper reviews some of the ways that teachers may be be able to explore archaeological issues in the classroom, review some of the archaeological resources available (online projects from various archaeological excavations around the globe, museum experiences and archaeological sites that can be visited). Explore some of the projects that can be offered such as running your own mock excavation, or learning how to interpret your own artefacts within the classroom.

School History - the school as site study
Dr Samantha Frappell, Macquarie University

Many history teachers overlook the potential of their school as a site study for Stage 4 & 5 history. But a school, its grounds, its buildings, past students, old photographs, trophy cabinet, old uniforms and school records can provide a wealth of information, not only about the school itself but about its place in the wider context of Australian history. Indeed, enabling students to make the connection between the history of their school and the history of their nation (and beyond) allows them to gain a new understanding of their school and importantly, themselves, as participants in a wider historical continuum. School history is a fantastic opportunity to show students that history really matters! In this paper I will present aspects of the history of St Vincent’s College, Potts Point, and suggest ways for other schools to present school history to their students.

Vasco Loureiro - a Bohemian on the Western Front
Paul Kiem, President, HTAA

Vasco Loureiro was born into one of Australia’s more interesting artistic families and grew up in Melbourne during its ‘golden age’ at the end of the 19th century. He became a post-card artist and caricaturist, managing to travel the world ‘on a pencil’. Cartoons he drew in a bar in San Francisco inspired a recently published book in the US. Even though he sank into obscurity after his death in 1918, Vasco left behind a rich visual record of early 20th century Australia, his world travels and life in the AIF on the Western Front. This presentation brings together some of these sources in an attempt to reconstruct the life of this intriguing individual.

The fluidity of the past and the present: teaching the 'ancients' and the 'moderns'
A/Professor Neil Morpeth, Short Programs/Classics, The University of Newcastle

Thucydides was a contemporary historian, an intellectual and general of his times. Athens and Sparta were contemporaneous phenomena. Thucydides' legacy: history writing, narrative power, the movement and play (drama) of events and chance, forensic insight, experience, witness and literary verve remain lively and well. The work of Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft and Strange Defeat... as well as Marshall Sahlins, Apologies to Thucydides: Understanding History as Culture and Vice Versa will additionally figure in this paper. In summary, ideas and traditions of thought are central to understanding the historian's craft.

History Plugged Into Wikis
Faye Quinn, Caulfield Grammar School, Victoria

As history teachers, how can we engage and motivate our ‘techno’ students in history classes and provide them with key historical skills? The answer lies ‘plugging in history’ through a new, fresh and creative way by the use of Web 2.0 tools. One example is the use of Wikis, as it encourages collaborative, personalized and student-centred learning. Wikis provide the tool for students to respond to key questions and to be organized and responsible for their own research. This session has a practical look at:

1. How to set up a Wiki? (Set up folder for students to use and develop social networks, E-Safety and protocols in using a Wiki.);
2. How can I integrate a Wiki into my classroom? Insertion of crosswords, movie maker, music, presentations and assessment;
3. How does a Wiki develop student learning? E.g. skills and thinking.

Be exposed and see history plugged in with Wikis from Australian History and other histories!

Soft power: the role of US popular culture in shaping the post-war world
Bernie Howitt, Narara Valley High School

With rock’n’roll occupying a critical sector of social history, the National Curriculum appears poised to recognise the role both rock’n’roll and American derived popular culture have had in shaping the post WWII world. This workshop is directed at Year 10 and/or Senior teachers, aiming to give them familiarity with and resources for teaching the impact of “soft power” American popular culture on the post-war world. The focus of the workshop will be to help teachers feel comfortable teaching an area of high student interest.

Historiography and the Chinese Revolution: Perspectives of Mao and Mao's
China
Jenny McArthur, Victoria

A look at the way content in the IB History course and Theory of Knowledge
can be combined. This presentation is relevant to all teachers who teach
modern Chinese History: IB or various state courses. It is a repeat of a
session at the 2009 HTAA Conference in Melbourne.

SOLD OUT! Teaching Historiography through Film
Bruce Dennett, Macquarie University

Film
Ever since the publicity machine for D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915) credited President Woodrow Wilson with declaring that the film was “history written in lightening” film has been variously championed and maligned, used and abused in our classrooms. The facts are that used properly film has the potential to energise, enrich and refine history teaching.
Historiography
Historiography is as much a part of history as chronology and yet it is often neglected. From the time in 1891 when George Arnold Wood took up the chair in history at Sydney University and declared “history is not just about iron memory” historiography should have been part of the amalgam of classroom history but it wasn’t. Like film historiography has too often been neglected and maligned.
By teaching historiography through film apparently arcane and complex concepts of historiography can be made clear to a diverse range of students.

National Curriculum implications for teaching South East Asian History
Nick Cummins, Werribee Secondary College, Victoria

This presentation will focus on the National Curriculum’s proposed period, 500 – 1750 CE, and the opportunities this provides for teaching Southeast Asian History. As the Khmer civilisation dominated for much of this period, it will serve as the basis for examining some of the themes as indicated by the National Curriculum. These include the relationship between religion, rulers and people; beliefs and values; contact and conflict with other cultures; social structure and exploration and imperialism. Much of this workshop, including key historical knowledge and proposed learning activities will be drawn from Nick’s forthcoming textbook.

Teaching strategies for bringing Australian history alive in your classroom
David Arnold, National Museum of Australia

The National Museum of Australia and Ryebuck Media's 'Australian History Mysteries' series now covers 15 engaging inquiring learning case studies in Australian history from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The latest AHM resource includes key events and topics such as WW1, frontier conflict, the Depression and the Vietnam War while earlier case studies have included convicts, Eureka and Ned Kelly. In this session teachers will be shown a wide variety of teaching strategies contained in the resource and take away several ideas for use in their history classrooms both for now and in readiness for the introduction of the new national history curriculum.

SESSION CANCELLED

'Hands-on' History K-10
Kate Cameron, Macquarie University

Across Australia museums and other educational agencies offer
'hands-on' history programs, providing students with an array of
experiential learning activities. They range from artefact based programs to
roleplay and re-enactments, actual and virtual site activities, museum
studies, oral history activities and history mysteries. This session provides
an overview of a variety of programs, an exploration of the historical
knowledge and skills underpinning the programs and some evaluations of their
success in engaging students in learning about the past and developing their
historical knowledge and understanding. Perhaps some of these programs could
be adapted for use in your community, school or classroom?

The State Library of NSW and Lachlan Macquarie Exhibition

The State Library of NSW has an extraordinary and unique collection of original materials, artefacts and objects relating to the history of Australia and the Pacific region. A number of these national treasures will be exhibited in The Governor, Lachlan Macquarie 1810 – 1821 exhibition which celebrates the 200th anniversary of the governorship of Lachlan Macquarie. Showcasing Macquarie’s journals, letters and personal effects, The Governor provides insights into the achievements of the fifth governor of NSW. Delegates are invited to join the education staff of the State Library for afternoon tea at the conclusion of the exhibition tour. We will walk from the conference venue to North Sydney Station, catch a train to Wynyard Station and walk through Sydney to the State Library. At the end of the excursion delegates will be free to make their way home or return to the conference venue.

Luna Park Historic Tour

Luna Park is one of Sydney's icons, a surviving example of a 1930s amusement park that holds a unique place in its social history. This excursion offers the opportunity for a behind-the-scenes guided tour that focuses on historical aspects. The excursion will begin with a walk from the conference venue through Lavender Bay to Luna Park. The excursion will conclude at Milsons Point railway station, on northern approach to Sydney Harbour Bridge, where delegates will be free to find their way home or return to the conference venue. If time permits the excursion will include one ride and afternoon tea.

SESSION CODE

The 21st Century Teacher: sage on the stage, guide on the side or meddler in the middle?
Professor Erica McWilliam, Adjunct Professor, ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland University of Technology

Most baby boomers know that ‘every eye on me’ was the catchcry of the instructive teacher. A teacher’s job was to instruct, inspire, scold, cajole. A ‘pupil’s’ job was to listen, attend, absorb, regurgitate. The predominance of that style of teaching is supposed to have changed, and for many, it has. Where we once spoke of pupils and teachers, we now speak of ‘the child-as-learner’ and teachers as ‘facilitators of learning’. Where once every eye was to be on the teacher, now learners are to be focused on their own learning and that focus should last for life. For the good teacher, this means a shift from ‘sage on the stage’ to ‘guide on the side’. The good teacher understands that ‘child-centeredness’ is the driving logic of pedagogical work, and the desire for on-going professional development is the hallmark of the truly professional teacher. Erica’s presentation pre-empts an end to this era – the era of ‘the guide on the side’ – and the ushering in of a new era more relevant to 21st century learning, in which teachers and students both engage as ‘meddlers in the middle’. Her presentation will explore ‘meddling’ pedagogy and its implications for the teaching of history in the context of the National Curriculum.

Turning History into Stories and Stories into History -
Subtitle: What We can learn from Queen Victoria's Underpants
Jackie French, novelist

From the World War I trenches of A Rose for the Anzac Boys to the social revolution begun by Queen Victoria's public approval of underpants, or how our view of 1770's exploration can be changed by the tale of Captain Cook's goat, this session looks at the true stories behind the novels, and the difference between writing history books and creating historical fiction, and the role both can play in education. .

Teaching History in the 21st Century (Panel Discussion)
Chair: Professor Erica McWilliam

This will be a panel led discussion, chaired by Professor McWilliam, focusing on issues raised during her keynote address. The aim will be to stimulate broad discussion around ideas affecting the teaching of history K-12 and the preparation of history teachers.

Voice Thread
Matt Leeds, St Andrew's Cathedral School, Sydney

Voice Thread is a collaborative social media tool that allows students to develop multimedia slide shows that hold images, documents, and videos and allow students to navigate pages and leave comments. This presentation will enable teachers to create, facilitate and evaluate a range of activates for 7-10 History using Voice Thread. This is your chance to get hands on training and discover how to master a social media tool for your history classroom.

Multi-modal teaching and learning resources
Deborah Cohen, Education Manager, Australian Children’s Television Foundation

The access and availability of digital learning resources both online and on DVD support history teaching and delivers History in an engaging and connected way. The accessibility of our students to personal digital technologies makes it imperative for teachers to engage with digital resources and new pedagogies for delivering them. The new digital media texts, do not privilege verbal language. New digital technologies are visual and offer teachers more jumping off points and connections than ever before. Teachers require relevant and purposeful online and digital resources to support the implementation of the Australian curriculum. An important aspect of effective 21st century teaching resources is that they are multi platform, accessible and interactive offering components that can be delivered directly to students and be highly usable with interactive white boards, online and other digital technologies. They should allow for both passive and active content with scope for students to adapt models for their own leaning.The recent ACTF TV productions and education resources support teachers in the implementation of new curriculum expectations. My Place for Teachers, Screen Asia and Double Trouble adapt well known written texts and films into online free resources that encourage these new connections. It is as important for students to be able to deconstruct and critically evaluate screen text as the ‘screen’ plays an ever increasing importance in their lives.

National Curriculum & Primary History
Jennifer Lawless, NSW Board of Studies

What are the main issues confronting Primary teachers with the introduction of a National Primary History curriculum? Drawing on recent research for a Churchill Fellowship, Jennifer will discuss the implications of the National History Primary curriculum, drawing on best practice from Canada, Britain and Scotland. What can we really expect from Primary students in History? What will it mean for teachers?

Re-examining the Stone Ages through the Inquiry-based process
Kaye De Petro, Pearson Australia

This session will re-visit the concept of Inquiry-based learning for History teachers and use the Inquiry-based learning method to demonstrate how a fresh approach to teaching the Stone Ages can be achieved through:

- An examination of new research and discoveries in this area
- The use of digital and online resources
- The lens of AC history curriculum

It will conclude by putting it all together through displaying a model whereby students can find their answer to the inquiry-based question and suggestions for student presentation of their work.

 W2E

Teaching about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders histories and cultures
Trish Albert, Senior Indigenous Education Officer, National Museum of Australia

'First Australians: Plenty Stories' is a new, exciting and comprehensive teaching and learning resource produced by the National Museum of Australia and publishers Pearson Education designed to help primary and lower secondary students better understand and appreciate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. Written by the Museum's Indigenous education officer, the series covers key events in Australian history and also explores contemporary Indigenous issues through the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. In this session teachers will be introduced to the series and a number of the teaching strategies contained in it.

Historical Fiction and Historical Lies
Jackie French, novelist

At its best, historical fiction can create an era in a few pages. Inaccurate historical fiction, however, merely perpetuates the cliches.
How can you tell the useful from the bad? How do you show students not just the facts, but the ways people lived and spoke and thought?
This workshop will look at different tools to catch kids in the web of history, how historical novels can supplement the history books, as well as using primary sources like old newspapers, online images or facsimile diaries, or even satellite images that show ancient trade routes or how the land was used, to put together the jigsaw pieces of the past.

SOLD OUT! The Rise of Single Party States - Nazi Germany
Robert Skinner, SCEGGS Redlands, Sydney

This session looks at a familiar topic (especially for teachers of the Higher School Certificate in NSW), but in a new guise as a case study for the International Baccalaureate (IB). Approaches to teaching Nazi Germany as an exemplar for Topic 3 (Rise and Rule of Single Party States) in Paper 2 (Higher Level and Standard Level) will be presented in the context of IB History.

Inquiry Methodology: When Teachers and Students are Historians
Dr Rosalie Triolo, Monash University

The Australian National History Curriculum proposes a greater emphasis on inquiry learning, and invites teachers and students to step beyond habitual roles and approaches to become ‘historians’ working closely with primary and secondary sources in diverse forms. Historians constantly sort and ask questions of their sources, synthesise findings and frame tentative hypotheses before repeating such processes or introducing others to confirm or challenge the hypotheses. Such work is dynamic and exciting, as should be the History classroom experience for all participants. This workshop offers strategies to reduce the emphasis in many classrooms on print-heavy secondary sources, to develop skills of value to students in diverse life settings, and to minimise whilst enhancing academically and creatively a teacher’s preparation time.

21st Century – The Asian Century
Jillian Wright, Asia Education Foundation, Manager State & Territory Relations

This session unpacks the impact of the Australian context for learning in the Asian region on the study of history. The workshop will assist teachers to address the cross curricular dimension of Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia and the general capability of intercultural understanding in the national curriculum, specifically in History.

History plays a central role in recognising that the knowledge, skills and understandings of Australian students requires more than Western constructs to define local, regional and global history; and furthermore this learning area has the capacity to make more explicit its contribution to student learning within the general capability of intercultural understanding.

W3B

The Making Of Modern Australia - a vital classroom resource
Anne Chesher, Media Consultant, ABC Television

Premiering on ABC Television in mid-2010 The Making Of Modern Australia is a cross-platform, social history television series is a unique and engaging educational resource for teachers and students spanning the post-war period of Australian history.
The Making Of Modern Australia is a true ‘people’s history’ as it draws on stories submitted by ordinary Australians. Through central themes these stories are brought vividly to life to reveal the social and cultural shifts of Australian communities over past decades. The series is enhanced by an interactive content rich curriculum relevant website of resources for Upper Primary and Junior Secondary teachers and students.
And most importantly, in the shaping of this National Scrapbook, The Making Of Modern Australia encourages story contributions from schools, teachers, students and their families.

History in a Primary Classroom - Fact or Fiction?
Maree Whiteley, St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School (primary)

Maree Whiteley will give an overview of the St Mary’s Junior School S&E planning and how their History and Heritage program incorporates local sources to explore history and value heritage. Maree will go through the steps of the whole- school planning process that includes taking the students out of the classroom, storytelling and Australian literature as a stimulus for their learning. Drawing from her own classroom experiences from Year 4 to Year 7, Maree will demonstrate how historical understandings and inquiry skills, as stated in the Australian History Curriculum, can be embedded into current practice.

Living with Laptops!
Kieran O'Regan, Carlingford High School

This presentation - Looks at how we can exploit the motivational potential of laptops and on-line resources, in the classroom. - Poses practical suggestions for overcoming the technical and classroom management issues, which can arise. - Suggests practical lesson activities, which encourage the students to explore the different presentation programs, and shows student work samples. - Demonstrates the potential of laptops for students to access stored on-line resources, units and worksheets.- Provides a list of useful, relevant online resources sites, some with ready-to-use units. - Will leave you thinking: "I'll be able to use that in my next Year 9 / 10 lesson with laptops"!

W3E
& W4E
(repeated session)

Effectively teaching Aboriginal history from a classroom perspective
Dyonne Anderson & Shanene Phillips, Cabbage Tree Island Primary School, NSW

The workshop will focus on Aboriginal viewpoints and perspectives on Australia's history; exploring how to work with local Aboriginal communities and understanding the sensitivities associated with teaching Aboriginal content. The draft national history curriculum will be discussed and workshopped.

Using big ideas pedagogy as starting point, Michael unpacks a new approach to teaching and learning Australian history. In this session the big ideas pedagogy, an approach that uses big questions to enable students to make connections and transfer understandings, will be explained. Applying this pedagogical model to History has proved fruitful as the questioning approach mirrors the methods of historians. Along the way Michael will outline big questions for several popular ‘content topics’, including World War II and the contemporary world, fleshes out some responses and makes some practical suggestions about adopting this approach in your school.

Teaching Literacy through History in the Primary Classroom
Kate Smyth, University of Sydney

History can open a fascinating world for children in K-6, but language is the vital key they will need for unlocking the past. In this session, we will explore this concept and the range of strategies and practical ideas teachers can use to develop literacy skills in the primary classroom.

From historical literacy to a pedagogy of history
Philip Roberts, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Canberra

Over the last decade research into history education has focussed upon the development of definitions of historical literacy. This trend has been in contrast with a similar trend over the same period to develop models of pedagogy. Consequently there is a limited body of research which explores the pedagogy of historical literacies and which provides clear practical classroom advice for pre-service teachers. This presentation will provide an overview of this gap and explore a project aimed at helping provide such advice for pre-service teachers. Examples of how history teacher educators can learn from museum educators and how this can be applied in pre-service education are explored.

Charlie Linklater’s War: Using archival sources to teach WWI
Michael Molkentin, Shellharbour Anglican College

In August 1917, Dorothy Linklater received news that brought her world crashing down. Her husband Charles, an infantry captain in the 33rd Battalion, Australian Imperial Force had gone missing on a battlefield in Belgian Flanders. Soon, the letters he regularly wrote her stopped arriving at their home in Ashfield, and an aching silence followed. Dorothy heard nothing definite about her husband’s fate for almost three years. Then, a taciturn, bureaucratic note from German authorities showed up suggesting Charlie had been killed and buried in a shell hole on the battlefield. Nearly a decade later, the Director of the newly established Australian War Memorial wrote to Dorothy asking if she would like to donate the remarkably candid letters Charles had written to her from Egypt, Gallipoli and the Western Front. She agreed, and there the letters have remained for almost a century. In this workshop, Michael Molkentin introduces teachers to Zero Hour, an online digital archive of primary sources and learning activities relating to the wartime experiences of Captain Charles Linklater. By exploring these sources and constructing their own historical narrative, students can explore various aspects of Australia and the First World War, while grappling with the process of evaluating sources and constructing history from the original documents.

What they didn't tell you in College
Rob Shore

Survival lessons for new teachers. Are you a new teacher who is looking for more lesson strategies to use with students so you don’t have to just give notes every lesson? Or are you trying to find a way to get through to students? Are you finding you are just like the teachers you had and who you didn’t like? Then here are some strategies for you to take into to the classroom. No theory, it’s a practical session providing you with some ready-to-use lessons.

Thinking Through Primary History
David Boon, Huonville High School, Tasmania

With the recent debate in Australia in terms of what content should be included in the National History Curriculum and how that content should be sequenced it is important that we don’t lose site of how best to cover that content in a way that helps students develop deep understanding. This session will explore the pedagogical possibilities for implementing the National History Curriculum in primary classrooms. Utilising K-6 examples from my own teaching experience, this session will explore issues such as: 1. Where does curriculum integration sit within the new structure? 2. How can I most successfully incorporate ICT? 3.How do I develop the core inquiry skills of history? 4. How do I fit everything into a crowded curriculum and how can I use history in developing key literacy and numeracy skills?

Story, Role Play & Drama in Primary History
Jennifer Lawless, NSW Board of Studies

All three approaches are wonderful ways of engaging primary students in History. A student's first historical imaginings are often ignited by a story well told. Various ways of introducing these methods will be discussed, a variety of approaches demonstrated with the help of a convict in character, underpinned by the most recent research. A summary of various approaches and research will be provided.

Resources for Teaching Primary History
Kate Smyth, University of Sydney

This session will be a practical one for the busy primary teacher. We will look at how to identify, select and locate great resources and ideas for teaching different historical concepts to primary children. We will also investigate a range of resources available for teachers to develop their own understanding of history.

“Argument is Fine but there has to be evidence” Historical thinking and the disciplinary perspective
Dr Mark Sheehan, Faculty of Education, Victoria University of Wellington

This paper considers how the study of history from a disciplinary perspective informs how we think about present day concerns. It draws on a recent Victoria University of Wellington investigation into how novices and experts who have engaged with the discipline of history (historians, history teachers, history student teachers and senior high school students) draw on this knowledge to interpret and explain controversial and contested contemporary events. As such it has implications for those interested in senior high school history programmes as at this level teachers’ often assume that their subject is a simplified version of the parent discipline (and shape their programmes accordingly). Using semi-guided interviews and elicitation tasks, data was gathered from 84 senior history students in seven New Zealand secondary schools from mid 2009 to early 2010. Data was also collected during this period from 20 pre-service graduate student-history teachers, 28 historians and 24 history teachers. The research identified those aspects of the past novices and experts saw as having high value as well as how they prioritized the disciplinary features of history (especially historical evidence and historical context) in informing interpretations and explanations of contemporary events.

Professor Geoffrey Garrett

Professor Erica McWilliam

Dr Robert Guyver

Currently a Teaching fellow at University College Plymouth St Mark and St John, Plymouth UK, Dr Guyver was a primary teacher in three counties in the UK for 21 years before his appointment to membership of the DES National Curriculum History Working Group in 1989 – 1990. He has since worked as an advisory teacher for primary history and as senior lecturer in a Higher Education setting specialising in primary history initial teacher education. He has been editor of IJHLTR and is editor of CRPE. He now specialises in international comparative history education and is co-editing with Associate Professor Tony Taylor History Wars in the Classroom: Global Perspectives.

Dr Tony Taylor

Dr. Kate da Costa

Professor John Hirst

Jackie French

 Paul Kiem

Anne Barton is currently completing a Masters of Social Science (Policy & Human Services) degree at RMIT. She runs workshops on Eliminating White Racism and in April will be presenting at a White Privilege Conference in Wisconsin USA on white privilege in Australia. She works as a community planner in local government.

Denis Mootz has recently retired after 41 years as a classroom history teacher and head of department. He continues to remain very active in the history community as a teacher educator in history method at the University of NSW; an editor of the HTANSW's Teaching History journal; secretary of the History Teachers' Association of Australia, director of the Professional Teachers' Council, and speaks regularly at teacher and student history conferences.