Introduction
EPR360: Advanced Humanities and Social Sciences [HASS] Education will extend your understanding of disciplinary content and pedagogy beyond that which you learned in the introductory unit, EPR260. The Australian Curriculum learning area of Humanities and Social Sciences requires children from Prep to Year 6 to think about and respond to key historical, geographical, political, economic and societal issues, and how these different factors interrelate.
The focus of this unit is on deepening your understanding around engaging teaching and learning strategies to integrate HASS and to make connections with the Australian Curriculum’s Cross-curriculum Priorities and General Capabilities (notably Literacy, Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical thinking and behaviour, Personal and Social competence and ICT). If you are planning Prep to Year 2 lessons you can use relevant HASS-related learning outcomes from the Early Years Learning Framework.
Emphasis will be on developing discipline-specific skills, key organising concepts, and active teaching approaches. AT1 focuses especially on Civics and Citizenship education. AT2 has a particular focus upon developing your assessment skills in a HASS context. Both develop key professional skills. Assessment tasks aim to broaden your knowledge of research in HASS education, and to develop your skills of critical thinking. You will also be encouraged to use technologies that will re-imagine how History, Geography and Civics and Citizenship can be taught both in and beyond the classroom.
Summary
| Unit name | Advanced Humanities and Social Sciences Education |
| Unit code | EPR360 |
| Credit points | 12.5 |
| College/School | Arts and Society Faculty of Education |
| Discipline | Education |
| Coordinator | Doctor Kim Beasy |
| Available as an elective? | No |
| Delivered By | University of Tasmania |
| Level | Advanced |
Sustainable Development Goals
The Unit Coordinator has identified that this unit aligns with the following UN Sustainable Development Goals. We welcome your thoughts and feedback on the alignment of the unit with these goals.
Availability
Specific information on 2027 unit availability will be available in August
Learning Outcomes
- integrate HASS content, concepts, and skills with cross-curriculum priorities and general capabilities for teaching, learning and assessment
- critically evaluate a range of HASS topics, skills and pedagogical approaches, including the work of peers
- reflect upon working collaboratively with peers and demonstrate adaption of planning and thinking in the light of on-line involvement and feedback
- plan an assessment instrument that integrates HASS knowledge and skills with cross-curricular elements
- communicate with parents/carers, learners and academic audiences using professional and academic writing conventions and technologies.
Fee Information
2027 fee information will be available in August.
Requisites
Concurrent Prerequisites
EPR260 or ESH260Teaching
| Teaching Pattern | You will all engage with the unit through weekly lecture content, readings, assessment-linked tasks, tutorials, webinars, MyLO contributions, and through the completion of assignment work. You are expected to timetable 10 hours of study time per week, realising that this includes time spent reading or viewing resources provided to you, searching for additional information/resources necessary for the completion of assessment tasks and other activities, and participating in weekly tasks and webinar tutorials or assessment-focused briefings. Your navigation around the various learning resources in MYLO should be fairly self-explanatory. Plenty of video material has been provided for you – often seeing is believing in terms of teaching practice! We hope that you both enjoy this unit and that you find it professionally valuable.
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| Assessment | Assessing integrated HASS learning (50%)|Blog post for parents/carers (50%) |
| Timetable | View the lecture timetable | View the full unit timetable |
Textbooks
| Required |
You will need the following text: This is the 8th edition of the textbook, but you may use the 7th edition if you already purchased it for EPR260. You can secure a 10% discount through using the offer code shared in MyLO. You also have the option of buying an e-book version rather than a hardcopy. Earlier editions of the text can also be helpful but become progressively further distanced from Australian Curriculum updates and recent academic references. Dr Peter Brett's lectures reference material in the 8th edition (2025) of the text. Individual chapters are also available in the 'Reading Lists' tab on the front page of MyLO. Required readings - ECE students |
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| Recommended | Recommended Readings will be useful for this Unit to develop your knowledge and understanding of teaching and course-specific content. If you are seeking sources of evidence to support your assessment work, you will find these readings a useful starting point. There is no requirement to buy these texts/materials.
The journal publications listed below are highly recommended for further reading on the topics covered in the unit. You will be advised of additional sources through lectures and tutorials and are expected to refer to policy documents as appropriate:
The Social Educator: The Journal of the Social and Citizenship Educators’ Association of Australia (SCEAA) has a strong Civics and Citizenship focus and is highly recommended reading. It is available from the UTAS data bases in A+ Education. For a variety of other texts related to specific teaching sessions see MyLO and the Library Reading List for this unit. I have made sure that there is a really good range of possible readings available to you via the Reading List that you can link to through MYLO. Other Recommended Readings – ECE students
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The University reserves the right to amend or remove courses and unit availabilities, as appropriate.