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Lismore Session 2 Session 2
Online Session 2 Session 2

Unit Summary

Unit type

UG Coursework Unit

Credit points

12

AQF level

7

Level of learning

Introductory

Former School/College

Former School of Arts and Social Sciences

Unit aim

Examines major changes in politics, economy and society beginning with reconstruction in 1865. The unit takes a critical approach to the subject of American history. Students question, connect, source and argue to consider a range of perspectives on the history of modern America. This class involves weekly discussions that rely on a combination of secondary historical analyses and primary sources.

Unit content

  • Reconstruction 1865-1877
  • America's Gilded Age, 1870-1890
  • Progressive Era, 1900-1916
  • US and World War I, 1916-1920
  • Roaring Twenties to Great Depression, Business to Bust 1920-1932
  • The New Deal, 1932-1940
  • World War II 1941-1945
  • Cold War and American Culture, 1945-1960
  • Sixties 1960-1968
  • Nixon to Reagan: Conservatism 1969-1988
  • Globalisation, 1989-
  • America After September 11, 2001

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

GA1: , GA2: , GA3: , GA4: , GA5: , GA6: , GA7:
On completion of this unit, students should be able to: GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7
1 articulate what they know of American history, explain how they came to know it and on what basis it can be claimed
2 formulate a question for historical inquiry
3 identify the arguments made in American history sources
4 consider arguments that are different to their own
5 connect disparate sources of information
6 organise and evaluate evidence to support claims about US history
7 narrate an episode in modern American history.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. articulate what they know of American history, explain how they came to know it and on what basis it can be claimed
    • GA1:
  2. formulate a question for historical inquiry
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
    • GA5:
  3. identify the arguments made in American history sources
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
    • GA5:
  4. consider arguments that are different to their own
    • GA4:
  5. connect disparate sources of information
    • GA1:
  6. organise and evaluate evidence to support claims about US history
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
  7. narrate an episode in modern American history.
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
    • GA5:

Prescribed texts

  • Foner, E, 2014, Give Me Liberty: An American History Volume II, 4th edn, WW Norton and Company, New York. ISBN: 978-0-393-92031-4.
Prescribed texts may change in future teaching periods.