History

The aims of the history course at SL and HL are to: 

1. Develop an understanding of, and continuing interest in, the past 
2. Encourage students to engage with multiple perspectives and to appreciate the complex nature of historical concepts, issues, events and developments 
3. Promote international-mindedness through the study of history from more than one region of the world 
4. Develop an understanding of history as a discipline and to develop historical consciousness including a sense of chronology and context, and an understanding of different historical perspectives 
5. Develop key historical skills, including engaging effectively with sources 
6. Increase students’ understanding of themselves and of contemporary society by encouraging reflection on the past.

Paper 1 – One topic

• Rights and Protest – Case study – Civil Rights movement in United States (1954 to 1965)
• Apartheid South Africa (1948 to 1964)

Paper 2 – Two Topics are studied.

• Authoritarian States- comparing and contrasting how different states were ruled and different leaders behaved.
• Independence movements (1800-2000)
• Origins of Movements up to the point of independence.
• Methods of achieving independence and reasons for success.
• Challenges faced in the first 10 years and responses to the challenges.

Paper 3

• The History of the Americas. There is a wide range of themes which can be studied over a wide period on both North and Latin America.

Internal assessment, a historical investigation

• Paper 1: A source-based paper – I hour on the prescribed subjects
• Paper 2: An essay paper based on the world history topics- 1 hour 30 minutes-Choose two questions from different topics-Analytical Essays: Write essays demonstrating your understanding and analysis of the topics.
• Paper 3: An essay paper on one of the four HL regional options  2 hours 30 minutes
• Internal assessment (IA): A historical investigation students must complete a historical investigation for their internal assessment task. Students can investigate any historical topic of their choice, which is worth 20% of the overall mark.