Humanities

Mission

In line with the school’s mission, the Humanities department strives to do its part to nurture Zhonghuarians to be Passionate Learners, Dynamic Leaders and Connected Citizens.

This is achieved by designing and enacting learning experiences that allow students to strengthen their 21^st century competencies (21CC) and embody the Desired Outcomes of Education such as Confident Persons, Self-Directed Learners, Active Contributors and Concerned Citizens.

Learning Progression

At Lower Secondary, students offering G3 and G2 levels will take both Geography and History where the modes for assessment are both summative and formative in nature. Meanwhile, students offering the G1 level will take G1 Humanities which has replaced the previous NT Social Studies syllabus. However, Social Studies remains the core subject and it is augmented by Humanities Exposure Modules (HEMs) in the areas of History, Geography and Literature to provide students with curated learning experiences in those subjects. Assessment-wise, G1 Humanities continues to be a non-examinable subject where students are assessed through a Performance Task.

At Upper Secondary, all students will get the opportunity to offer Social Studies at varying levels. Students offering Express and Normal Academic courses will sit for the subject at the national examination together with either Geography Elective or History Elective as the 2^nd component for Humanities. In addition, students offering the Express course will also be given the opportunity to read an additional Humanities subject like Full Geography and Full History. 

Similar to their Lower Secondary peers, the students offering Express and Normal Academic courses will be assessed via summative and formative modes at Secondary 3 while the Secondary 4/5 will only sit for summative modes as preparation for the national examinations. For students offering the Normal Technical course, Social Studies will be a non-examinable subject and enacted in a modular manner in Semester 1 (Secondary 4) and Semester 2 (Secondary 3) respectively.

Key Programme

Within and beyond the classroom, students are exposed to varied learning experiences that leverage experiential learning modes and technological affordances and Active Learning strategies. In addition, the department also curates suitable platforms for students to extend and apply their learning in real-world contexts. Examples include:

• NUS Geography Challenge

• International Humanities Symposium @ National Junior College

• Bilingual Youth Model United Nations (BYMUN) @ Nanyang Girls’ High School 

• ZHSS STEAMFEST

• Learning Carnival LJs to Fort Siloso & Singapore Discovery Centre

• Knowgets Makerspace

In short, the department constantly strives to provide a well-rounded and rigorous Humanities education for Zhonghuarians across all levels. Beyond learning in school, the department takes great pride in preparing our students to learn for life.