Humankind Core

Aims/Objectives

The Humankind Core class places the student at the centre of the learning process and focuses on connections to the student's own culture. The course aims to nurture the social, emotional, spiritual and intellectual development of the student in order to develop an inquiring, reflective and creative learner who is learning how to learn. Students will develop the capacity to function as an autonomous, self-directed and ethical human with wisdom and compassion.

This course examines the story of humankind across cultures and time by investigating the universal concepts that frame the human experience - Change, Organisation, Resources, Beliefs and the Environment. Students build their own identity by exploring the story of being human as guided by four fundamental questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? What are my relationships with others? Where am I going?

The spiraling, three-year course utilizes a multidisciplinary approach that explores the interconnections between the disciplines of history, geography, economics, politics, philosophy, psychology and the sciences.

Skills

The Humankind Core aims to build upon the learner's emergent skills, and to develop competent and transferable skills that are developmentally appropriate for the middle school learner and form essential foundations for lifelong learning.

The Humankind Core perspective on learner skills is placed in the Information Literacy paradigm, which enables students to engage effectively with, and to make use of, information in all its forms for making sense, building new knowledge and understanding, and producing authentic work.

A 3-stage process for building understanding of the major concepts and the relevant content areas is employed by students engaging in:

1. The learning context by connecting, selecting, gathering, and acquiring information;
2. Constructing understanding by processing, connecting, analysing, evaluating and interacting with information;
3. Demonstrating understanding and achieving assessment aims by applying, ‘outputting', and using information to communicate in various modes (e.g. written, oral, visual, digital, 3-dimensional).

Assessment

Formative and summative assessment tasks in the Humankind Core take the form of Performances of Understanding where students demonstrate their understanding of the concepts covered, the content areas investigated, and engagement in the learning process.

The tools for assessment include Process Assessment, Self Assessment, Peer Feedback, and Teacher Feedback in the form of ratings and comments. Assessment tasks are often negotiated with the teacher and can include a variety of written forms, visual presentations, construction of models and various applications of available technology such as web pages, podcasts and multimedia projects.

The assessment process is based on the key criteria of Knowledge, Concepts, Skills, Organization and Presentation.

Course Descriptions

The entire course is framed by the universal concepts of being human - Change, Organisation, Resources, Beliefs and the Environment. Three significant phases in the story of humankind have been selected for each year and these provide the pathways for exploring these concepts. A case study for each pathway is studied in depth before students undertake independent inquiries. Connections are always made to the modern context and the student's own experiences.  

Grade 6

The first pathway is that of Human Evolution where students are exposed to the theories of how humans evolved. Early human ancestors (Hominids) are presented as the case study and students learn to develop their own theories and consider ways of knowing.

Hunting and gathering was the way of life for humans for a significant period of time and Japan's Ainu people are presented as the case study for this pathway. Students select another nomadic group (e.g. Australian Aborigines, South American Yanomami, African San, North America's First Nations, and Asia's Mongols) for their in-depth research assignment.

Domestication and the birth of civilization provide the next pathway illustrated with Mesopotamia as the case study. The importance of how the environment affects human life is demonstrated through the role that river valleys have played in human history. An early civilization, preferably with some relevance to the student's own life, is chosen for this independent inquiry.

Grade 7

The study of civilizations continues with the first pathway this year exploring the early expansion of civilizations using the Silk Road as the case study. Cross-cultural exchanges of goods and ideas is the focus with various applications made to the modern context and the student's own experiences. The impact of resources on the way humans live is illustrated and further explored by the students in an inquiry into the resources of their own country. The impact of the silk industry launches the ongoing exploration of the history of Yokohama (continued into grade 8).

The growth of empires and the implications these had on the way humans lived is the second pathway. The case study is presented as an introduction to the Roman, Spanish and British empires and students can choose one of these for further research. Connections are made to the corporate ‘empires' that impact on the student's life.

Revolution is the third pathway in grade 7 with the Renaissance serving as the case study to illustrate major changes in the arts, politics, technology and science. Students engage in an in-depth study of a chosen leader in these and other fields. Other revolutionary movements are also highlighted to contextualize the ‘recipe for revolution' that students construct.

Grade 8

The revolution pathway continues in grade 8 with the focus changing to the industrial revolution in Britain and the current technological revolution that impacts the student's everyday life. Comparisons and contrasts between the way humans lived in the 1800-1900s and the way we live today are explored through independent research.

The Vietnam War serves as the case study for the pathway on the conflict of ideologies and the students then go on to further investigate their chosen example of human conflict. Once again, a connection to the student's own culture guides their choice. 

The future of humankind is the final pathway with globalization serving as a modern case study. Students investigate the conditions of life today, the positive and negative effects of corporations and organizations, and the impact the student's own decisions make. The aim is to develop awareness in students that allows them to become an informed and responsible citizen and to contribute to humankind in the local and global context.