Assessment Task Sheet

Assessment Task Information

Faculty: Society and Culture
Course: HSC Society and Culture (Stage 6)
Unit: Social and Cultural Continuity and Change
Task Title: Case Study – Continuity and Change
Task marks: 25 marks
Weighting: 20% Task No: 2 of 4
Date issues: 30/4/18 Date for submission: 14/5/18

Assessment Task Details

Description of Activity:
Take home task which requires students to explore continuity and change in a country of
their choice. They have the option to choose which aspect they would like to examine.
Task instructions:

Students are required to complete a 1000-word case study that explores explore BOTH
continuity AND change in a selected country of their choice through a detailed study.
Students are to communicate ideas and issues that explain the development of personal,
social and cultural identity in reference to ONE of the following topics:
 beliefs, values and lifestyles
 education
 family life and population changes
 gender roles and the status of men and women
 the legal system and political processes.

Context

Contextual statement:
The students take on core unit: Social and Cultural continuity change and are given the
freedom to authenticate their assessment. In doing so, students are able to put their interest
first and still achieve academic excellence. The assessment is designed to ensure all
students are able to achieve maximal results.

Task rationale

Contextual statement:
Students are to demonstrate their newly learnt knowledge and understanding of the content
on Continuity and Change. Students establish clear distinction between personal, social and
cultural identity in order to effectively differentiate between continuity and change through
their chosen topic.

Stage 6 school-based assessment task - Year 12 (500 words) Evaluation (1500 words)
Outcomes to be assessed
Outcome Description
H2 explains the development of personal, social and cultural identity.
H7 selects, organises, synthesises and analyses information from a
variety of sources for usefulness, validity and bias.
H9 applies complex course language and concepts appropriate for a
range of audiences and contexts.
H10 communicates complex information, ideas and issues using
appropriate written, oral and graphic forms.

Criteria for assessing learning

Marking criteria
Mark range Criteria
18-20 - Demonstrates high level examination of cultural diversity and
the relationships between social and cultural groups.
- Critically assesses appropriate course theories and their impact
in societies and cultures.
- Critically analyses continuity and change in order to examine a
country focusing on personal, social and cultural identity.
- Critically analyses research effectively ensuring usefulness and
bias.
- Presents work effectively through a well-structured case study.
15-17 - Demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of cultural
diversity and the relationship between social and cultural
groups.
- Examines appropriate course theories and their impact in
societies and cultures.
- Examines continuity and change in order to study a country
focusing on personal, social and cultural identity.
- Analyses research effectively ensuring usefulness and bias.
- Presents work sufficiently through a well-structured case study.
12-14 - Demonstrates a broad understanding of cultural diversity and the
relationship between social and cultural groups.
- Examines suitable course theories and their impact in societies
and cultures.
- Establishes a correct understanding of continuity and change in
order to study a country focusing on personal, social and cultural
identity.
- Research is completed successfully ensuring usefulness and
bias.
- Presents work effectively through a well-structured case study.
10-12 - Demonstrates a simple understanding of cultural diversity and
the relationship between social and cultural groups.
- Describes course theories and their impact in societies and
cultures demonstrating a sound level of understanding.
- Outlines continuity and change in order to study a country
focusing on personal, social and cultural identity.
- Research is limited but still has solid evidence of usefulness and

Stage 6 school-based assessment task - Year 12 (500 words) Evaluation (1500 words)
 bias.
- Presents work ordinary with evidence of case study structure.
0-9 - Identifies cultural diversity and the connection between social
groups.
- Provides limited use of course theories and their influences in
societies and cultures.
- Limited understanding of continuity and change with little
evaluation of personal, social and cultural identity.
- Little research conducted to back up the evidence of usefulness
and bias.
- Presents work poorly in a poor structured case study.

Stage 6 school-based assessment task - Year 12 (500 words) Evaluation (1500 words)
Scaffold
Sample Scaffold
Choose ONE topic:
 beliefs, values and lifestyles
 education
 family life and population changes
 gender roles and the status of men and women
 the legal system and political processes.

Country of choice:

Continuity Change
Personal identity: Personal identity:

Social identity: Social identity:

Cultural identity: Cultural identity:

Stage 6 school-based assessment task - Year 12 (500 words) Evaluation (1500 words)
 Evaluation

The design of assessment tasks provides students with a sense of purpose by

allowing them to use their critical thinking and applying their knowledge to complete set

components. Assessment tasks allow students to recognise their level of learning ability

and acknowledge how they can improve and enhance their understanding of content

through the feedback provided by their educator. It is important for teacher to design

assessment tasks according to students different learning abilities to provide students with

an opportunity to excel academically. It is crucial to evaluate the assessment design based

on the learning ability of students in the classroom, to provide equal opportunities when

submitting an assessment task as they are able to engage with content based on their

personal interest. An effective assessment task will focus on increasing students’ autonomy

by providing a number of options where students authenticate their assignment and still

meet syllabus requirements and outcomes that will prepare them for the Higher School

Certificate (HSC).

It is important to recognise the different types of assessments that can examine

students’ learning and understanding of content. When assessing students learning it is

important for teachers to move away from tasks that makes students relay information, but

allow students to apply their knowledge and critical thinking. It is crucial to acknowledge

the different ways an educator should assess students understanding of the topic’s content.

This includes testing students’ background knowledge to understand what they do and do

not know, test students’ knowledge and understanding as they are learning (demonstrated

through informal assessments such as quizzes) and testing students’ knowledge at the end

of the unit of work (this is demonstrated through summative assessments) Dixson &

Stage 6 school-based assessment task - Year 12 (500 words) Evaluation (1500 words)
Worrell, (2016). Two methods of assessments that can be implemented throughout teaching

include summative assessment, a formal assessment where students are required to

complete an assessment task after the instruction period and formative assessment –

informal assessments are provided throughout the teaching period where students can

improve their learning without getting penalized.

Summative assessment (assessment of learning) is crucial to student development

as it analyses what the students have learnt throughout the course. It allows the teacher to

understand what learning strategies may or may not have worked. By doing so the teacher

is able to modify their teaching strategies in order for their students to achieve maximal

academic results (Wiliam & Thompson 2017). It is critical to understand that students learn

in different ways meaning that, how one student was able to achieve academic results will

vary to the next. Summative assessment is used at critical times throughout the year and

the results of these assessments go towards HSC results. In saying so, syllabus

requirements must be met in order for students to correctly advance throughout the year.

Summative assessment provides indication to students, parents, educators and outside

groups of the achievements the students have received. This will allow the teachers to

reflect on their work and decided whether changes need to be made for improvement.

Assessment design is a crucial element to creating successful assessments. Students

learn in different ways so it is important to cater for their needs. There are many different

assessment designs that can adopted to assessments to enhance student learning, these

designs include; visual, auditory, kinesthetic and read and write (Mislevy et al., 2017). It is

up to the teacher to decide which method of assessment they wish to put forward to their

students in order to maximise engagement. It is important that assessment design is well

Stage 6 school-based assessment task - Year 12 (500 words) Evaluation (1500 words)
thought over to ensure its reliability and validity. Reliability refers to how precise the

assessment is measured within the learning outcomes. It necessary to ensure that students

are benefiting through assessment tasks specifically relating to content. Validity means that

the assessment is specifically targeting the skills of each student to ensure maximal benefit.

In saying so, the assessment must meet syllabus outcomes in order to measure student

results. Assessments should be designed with inclusion to ensure students have equal

opportunity to pass. Students all have different learning abilities so it is important that the

assessment allows all students to achieve academic credibility. The amount of assessments

given to the students plays a significant role within assessment design.

Validity and reliability play an important role in justifying the amount of

assessments that are given to students each year for each subject. The allow the teachers to

analyse whether their students are struggling or coping with syllabus content in order to

decide how they would like to deliver their assessment tasks. Learning encounters can

influence the way assessment is delivered as students will respond differently to

assessments. By creating assessments that are authentic, you allow the students to take

charge of their own work which will help them improve their marks. By creating tasks that

allow students to take control of their own work, they become instantly engaged as they are

interested in what they are learning.

It is critical that teachers analyse their students throughout the unit of work in order

to understand if they are progressing. The teacher must ensure that they are constantly

monitoring their student’s work so that they achieve the syllabus outcomes. Feedback plays

a vital role to student success and can be used as a tool to communicate results between

students and teachers. It is necessary that the teacher is able to deliver feedback to the

Stage 6 school-based assessment task - Year 12 (500 words) Evaluation (1500 words)
students to ensure they understand where they have and have not achieved positive results.

Hattie & Timperley (2007) have established that feedback has proven to have a bigger

impact on student learning and results than any other method of teaching, confirming the

importance of feedback to students. The teacher must be aware of the type of students they

teach in order to identify which feedback method should be used. (Hattie, 2018) has

analysed feedback and has separated feedback into four different methods. The areas of

feedback are; Affirmation, correct and direct, point out the process and the coach method.

Affirmation is a method of feedback whereby the teacher discusses results by

telling the students where they did well with their assessment but does not praise them. It

allows them to understand where they did well in to motivate them to improve their results.

Verbal feedback can be delivered during assessment time in class to lead students in the

right direction so they achieve higher academic results. By doing so you are allowing

students to reflect on their work and understand where they need improvement in future

assessments.

Correct and direct feedback is another approach used within schools to allows

teachers to focus on how they can help their students improve. Mistakes are common and it

is difficult to avoid mistakes so it is critical that the teacher is able to identify these

mistakes for the students. As an educator, you must not allow the student’s mistakes go un

attended, the teacher must recognise these mistakes and inform their students on ways to

improve directly linking their feedback to syllabus outcomes. The point out the process

method of feedback allows the students to understand where they went wrong as the

teacher is specifically telling the students where they need improvement. This type of

feedback is used for the lower academic students who may struggle to understand where or

Stage 6 school-based assessment task - Year 12 (500 words) Evaluation (1500 words)
how they went wrong. By doing so the student will understand exactly what they did

wrong and will be prepared for future assessments.

The final method of feedback that can be implemented into teaching is called the

‘Coach’ method which is often presented to the advanced students known as the gifted and

talented students. The coach method is the process where the teacher will choose to ask the

students questions based on their assessments and the students are required to critically

analyse their work in order to establish their feedback.

The literature provided clearly indicates the importance of assessment and how

feedback intertwines with students’ development and drive towards excelling in their

academic performance. It is crucial that the teacher understands which type of feedback

should be delivered to each students to further enhance their learning. It is critical that

assessment design tailors how students learn but also meets syllabus outcomes to ensure

maximal academic achievement in school towards their Higher School Certificate (HSC).

By authenticating assessment tasks students are able to take responsibility of their work

therefore motivating them to strive for more as they have tailored their assessments.

References

Stage 6 school-based assessment task - Year 12 (500 words) Evaluation (1500 words)
Dixson, D. D., & Worrell, F. C. (2016). Formative and summative assessment in the

classroom. Theory into practice, 55(2), 153-159.

Hattie, J. (2018). Feedback: The first Secret John Hattie Revealied. Retrieved from

http://www.evidencebasedteaching.org.au/crash-course-evidence-based-teaching/how-

to-give-effective-feedback-to-your-students/

Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of educational research,

77(1), 81-112

Mislevy, R. J., Haertel, G., Riconscente, M., Rutstein, D. W., & Ziker, C. (2017). Evidence-

centered assessment design. In Assessing Model-Based Reasoning using Evidence-

Centered Design (pp. 19-24). Springer, Cham.

Performance band descriptions | NSW Education Standards. (2018). Retrieved from

http://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/stage-6-learning-

areas/hsie/society-culture/pbd

Wiliam, D., & Thompson, M. (2017). Integrating assessment with learning: What will it take

to make it work?. In The future of assessment (pp. 53-82). Routledge.

Stage 6 school-based assessment task - Year 12 (500 words) Evaluation (1500 words)