Humanities

PHILOSOPHY

To develop Queenswayans into concerned students and critical thinkers in a globalised world.

TEACHING APPROACH

The Humanities Department in Queensway Secondary School comprises History, Geography and Social Studies.

Central to Humanities education in Queensway Secondary School is the Humanities Inquiry Approach, which seeks to promote learning through inquiry. The process entails looking at:

the elements of Inquiry,
the process of Inquiry
the culture of Inquiry.

As participants in the inquiry process, students learn to explore the interaction process between people and their environment, as well as the past and the present.

USE OF ICT

Towards supporting the inquiry approach, ICT is used as a means of promoting collaboration among students, scaffolding concepts, formative assessment and self-directed learning. To this end, use of ICT tools to promote the stated objectives include Kahoot as a gauge of student learning, and the use of SLS and Nearpod to introduce new concepts to students, as well as to allow for independent learning.

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

Differentiated Instruction within the Humanities Department focuses on differentiation in pedagogy and content. Within the classroom, different levels of scaffolding may be introduced to cater for differing student abilities. Also, content for classwork activities are also differentiated, and students of mixed abilities may also use the differentiated content within a gamification setting, as made possible within the social studies classroom.

ENRICHMENT PROGRAMMES

The yearly Humanities Day offers a series of enrichment activities for students to extend their learning about the world around them. The Humanities department organizes learning journeys to various organizations for students to learn beyond the confines of the classroom. Students get to learn more about the various cultures in Singapore and visit places of historical value. Besides being exposed to topics related to History and Geography, students are also exposed to current affairs issues through the talks organized for them.

Students with passion and aptitude in the Humanities are encouraged to take part in national-level competitions. These competitions include the NUS Geography Challenge and the MOE History Challenge, the ASEAN Symposium and the United Nations Mock Conference. Students get to observe Parliament sessions in action on Sitting Days in Parliament. They also took part in conversations with external stakeholders such as the EU@School programme.

ASSESSMENT

Towards promoting inquiry learning, formative assessment within the department takes place across all levels. Students at lower Secondary take part in Historical and Geographical Inquiry, while those in Upper Secondary also engage in inquiry tasks for Social Studies.