Key Stage 4

Students choose to study this subject at Key Stage 4 because…

• History is interesting – students never cease to be fascinated by people such as Hitler, Stalin or Mandela and the events that helped to shape the world we live in
• History helps you to make sense of today’s world
• You learn skills which apply not only to History but to other subjects such as the ability to question and see events from a variety of perspectives
• You will continue to develop your powers of thinking critically about the world
• History is a highly regarded subject by colleges and employers

What will you study?

This GCSE course requires you to study 4 topics:

1. A source-based investigation into the topic “How was British society changed 1906 – 1918”. It includes looking at the beginnings of the Welfare State, the role of women and the Suffragettes and impact of World War One on Britain
2. Weimar and Nazi Germany 1919 – 1945
3. The Cold War 1945 – 1989 including case studies on Cuba and Vietnam
4. Coursework on South Africa : Apartheid and how it ended

Course structure

In this course students are expected to do:

• Lots of discussion: whole class, in groups and in pairs
• Reading from a wide range of well-illustrated text books
• Evidence based work – looking a propaganda, speeches, statistics, photographs, posters, newspapers, cartoons, maps and diagrams
• Watching videos and films, most of which use archive material from the 20th century
• Coursework completed in class and at home. Coursework is carried out at the end of Year 10 and the beginning of Year 11

Homework

• Homework will be mainly writing up or finishing off work covered in class as you have been used to doing in the lower school
• Occasionally specific homework tasks may be set e.g. typical GCSE exam questions

Assessment

Examination Board: OCR – 1937 (Specification B) – Modern World History. There are TWO final written examinations and coursework

Paper 1 (45%) (2 hours)

Germany, The Cold War

Factual recall and understanding

Paper 2 (30%) (1½ hours)

Britain – source paper

Coursework (25%)

2 assignments on South Africa

Support Information

If you have any questions please speak to your History teacher.