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Unit Summary
Unit type
UG Coursework Unit
Credit points
12
AQF level
Level of learning
Introductory
Former School/College
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.
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:
-
articulate what they know of American history, explain how they came to know it and on what basis it can be claimed
- GA1:
-
formulate a question for historical inquiry
- GA1:
- GA4:
- GA5:
-
identify the arguments made in American history sources
- GA1:
- GA4:
- GA5:
-
consider arguments that are different to their own
- GA4:
-
connect disparate sources of information
- GA1:
-
organise and evaluate evidence to support claims about US history
- GA1:
- GA4:
-
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.