EMH104

Week 2 | Task 1

Amy Camilleri

Week 2 Required Task 1

Reflect on the idea that history can be considered the story of humanity as a whole.
Has this changed your understanding of the study of history? Would this change the
way you see primary school history? What do you think about the comment made,
Thats not history, thats science? Has the clip convinced you that it is history?

After watching the five clips provided for Task 1 of Module 2 (Charles Sturt University), I
find the concept of history being considered the story of humanity as a whole extremely
overwhelming. The thought of a billion years ago with the creation of the universe, with the
creation of planets and life over this period, compared to the small fraction of time of
humankind to the timeline of the phenomenon of history, as an overpowering concept. Dick
Smith in clip 3 states that the coming together of all these concepts is when history
becomes really exciting (Big History Project, 2013). Although I agree with this statement, I
also feel that the concept of the creation of humanity as a whole is a complex task for
teachers to teach to primary school students. These concepts challenge perceptions of life,
religion, creation of humanity and what this means to our purpose of being through the
study of historical concepts as a whole.
I feel that these theories taught in depth are too complex for primary school students to
comprehend, and instead should be taught to familiarise the concept instead. In saying
that, I am not certain how in-depth a primary school students reflection on concepts are in
their development in the primary school years. Regardless, given that teachers are
allocated 6-10% (1.5-2.5 hours) of the teaching week to work with students on HSIE
concepts (Board of Studies NSW), and the amount of content that is required to be taught,
this time does not allow for much in-depth teaching. Also we must take into consideration
how history is taught in a Catholic School as opposed to a public school, or a school with
high Indigenous students who believe in the Dreaming stories as the creation of time and
history. Therefore I see primary school history to be challenging in the perspective that a
teacher is only able to skim on such a large concept in numerous different schooling
settings. Taking this into consideration, I can therefore understand why we focus our
pedagogy on local history, such as the history of Australia, instead of going into depth with
the bigger picture.
The comment [t]hats not history, thats science, along with watching the clip (Big History
Project, 2014), made me think that you cant have some historical concepts without the
interference of science, such as the Big Bang Theory. That means that without science,
there would be no logical explanation of phenomenas such as the Big Bang Theory given
that science compounds created the big bang. Therefore, science can be interrelated with
some concepts of history because without it we would not have the current theories
available to our knowledge.
This has definitely challenged my understanding of the meaning of history, what history is,
and how and what should be taught to primary school students.

EMH104

Week 2 | Task 1

Amy Camilleri

Bibliography
Big History Project. (2014, 08 19). Crash Course Big History: The Big Bang. Retrieved 11 25,
2014, from YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkD1RPDYWK8&index=2&list=PL4e9AQVlcJTTkPJL2OWad8R2
MdKsVaYww
Big History Project. (2013, 11 1). The Big Bang: A Brief Big History. Retrieved 25 11, 2014, from
YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPm_4RpX1jUlist=PL4e9AQVlcJTT6WDTjYws21xRntWdYnRUM
Board of Studies NSW. (n.d.). Parents guide to the NSW primary syllabuses. Retrieved 11 25,
2014, from K-6 Educational Resources.
Charles Sturt University. (n.d.). Module 2. Retrieved 11 25, 2014, from Interact:
http://interact.csu.edu.au/portal/site/EMH104_201490_B_D/page/5ea7ed53-2163-4416-00df1afc846c4517