Conceptual Thinking in the Humanities Classroom

Workshop Presentation
Malcolm Mc Inerney  

This workshop explores the distinction between the so called "vocabulary" of subjects such as history, geography, economics, and civics and the "grammar" of these humanities subjects. A conversation is required to explore the idea that the most important aspect of humanities education is the development of conceptual thinking rather than just learning content and skills. The concepts developed in the Humanities curriculum in the new Australian Curriculum provide a conceptual lens for teachers and students to make sense of their world and to think in a particular way in the Humanities classroom. The workshop will initially demonstrate the nature of the concepts in the Australian Humanities Curriculum and provide practical illustrations that can be used in the classroom. The majority of the workshop will involve participants in a simulation activity developed to demonstrate how student conceptual thinking can be encouraged and developed when studying the myriad of topics encountered in the humanities curriculum. Considerable professional learning is being conducted in Australia using this workshop simulation to move teachers beyond the "vocabulary" of humanities and to use conceptual thinking to develop a high degree of "meaning making" when studying humanities in the classroom.