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GONZAGA AT SIXTY: A WORK IN PROGRESS
Changes in Syllabus and Curriculum: Two
The main changes that have efected the teaching of History in Gonzaga over the last ten years
have been within the curriculum. It has been developed and reshaped to take account of the
knowledge versus skills debate and has been given clearer focus in terms of the areas of study.
Before 2004 in a Leaving Ceriicate Examinaion essay, if you could remember to emancipate
the serfs, promote Alexander as a good Tsar and Nicholas as being a bad Tsar, open
and close a Duma and present Lenin as the harbinger of peace land and bread then
you would be able to score well. The problem was that the old curriculum ensured
that the able student who was capable of recalling more detail, as opposed to recalling
and understanding material was suitably rewarded. There was also a considerable
pressure to ensure that the whole course was covered adequately to ensure students
had the best choice possible in the examinaion.
The recent changes, introduced in 2005, have seen a move towards a greater
emphasis on the skills of the historian, such as document work and the compleion
of a separately prepared research project. These changes have brought both
encouragement and certain amount of dismay for the student. The new research
project has opened up a great opportunity to research, prepare and drat a substanial
piece of work on a subject of their own choosing. During the past number of years
areas as diverse as ‘Operaion Fork’ the Briish invasion of Iceland in 1939 and the 1967 Israeli
atack on the USS Liberty have been explored by Gonzaga students.
The advent of the document secion of the new curriculum has ensured clearer learning
outcomes and a sharper focus for the student. Every two years the subject to be studied by all
students changes and brings new topics to both the teacher and student’s noice; Northern
Ireland’s recent troubles and European Post-Colonialism have provided two recent subjects for
study. Unfortunately in many respects some of the old problems remain; a student’s memory
coninues in its importance and there are sill ime pressures with which to contend. To add to
this the research project is marked generously and there has been a marked reducion in the
depth of the text books available, with the bulk of them containing what the student needs to
know and relects the demands of the modern leaving ceriicate candidate who desires more
than anything the removal of the superluous.
One major beneit of the new curriculum is the enthusiasm by which various interested
paries have embraced the technological possibiliies of the new courses and the demand for
original source material. Groups such as the Naional Library and University College Cork have
made available online fantasic interacive resources which really assist the teacher and student
in their task. The History student at Gonzaga is blessed with the College’s investment in ICT
and Library provision meaning that the students and teachers can take full advantage of these
developments.
Howard Welch
GONZAGA AT SIXTY: A WORK IN PROGRESS
Changes in Syllabus and Curriculum: Two
The main changes that have efected the teaching of History in Gonzaga over the last ten years
have been within the curriculum. It has been developed and reshaped to take account of the
knowledge versus skills debate and has been given clearer focus in terms of the areas of study.
Before 2004 in a Leaving Ceriicate Examinaion essay, if you could remember to emancipate
the serfs, promote Alexander as a good Tsar and Nicholas as being a bad Tsar, open
and close a Duma and present Lenin as the harbinger of peace land and bread then
you would be able to score well. The problem was that the old curriculum ensured
that the able student who was capable of recalling more detail, as opposed to recalling
and understanding material was suitably rewarded. There was also a considerable
pressure to ensure that the whole course was covered adequately to ensure students
had the best choice possible in the examinaion.
The recent changes, introduced in 2005, have seen a move towards a greater
emphasis on the skills of the historian, such as document work and the compleion
of a separately prepared research project. These changes have brought both
encouragement and certain amount of dismay for the student. The new research
project has opened up a great opportunity to research, prepare and drat a substanial
piece of work on a subject of their own choosing. During the past number of years
areas as diverse as ‘Operaion Fork’ the Briish invasion of Iceland in 1939 and the 1967 Israeli
atack on the USS Liberty have been explored by Gonzaga students.
The advent of the document secion of the new curriculum has ensured clearer learning
outcomes and a sharper focus for the student. Every two years the subject to be studied by all
students changes and brings new topics to both the teacher and student’s noice; Northern
Ireland’s recent troubles and European Post-Colonialism have provided two recent subjects for
study. Unfortunately in many respects some of the old problems remain; a student’s memory
coninues in its importance and there are sill ime pressures with which to contend. To add to
this the research project is marked generously and there has been a marked reducion in the
depth of the text books available, with the bulk of them containing what the student needs to
know and relects the demands of the modern leaving ceriicate candidate who desires more
than anything the removal of the superluous.
One major beneit of the new curriculum is the enthusiasm by which various interested
paries have embraced the technological possibiliies of the new courses and the demand for
original source material. Groups such as the Naional Library and University College Cork have
made available online fantasic interacive resources which really assist the teacher and student
in their task. The History student at Gonzaga is blessed with the College’s investment in ICT
and Library provision meaning that the students and teachers can take full advantage of these
developments.
Howard Welch
