Sophie Poisel

This year some Year 5 students entered the National History Challenge which is a competition that encourages young people to engage in historical inquiry across a range of topics from Sport to Women. Alice Milner was awarded first place in NSW in the Years 4-12 Museum Exhibit category and Sophie Masnick was a regional finalist in the same category.

Alice’s entry was a museum exhibit on her cousin Greg Sher. He fought in the Australian Defence Force and unfortunately died while serving in Afghanistan. Her research and exhibit are a tribute to Greg’s life and sacrifice, and acknowledges his contribution to making a better world. Sophie’s historical personality was Sophie Scholl. She was an anti-Nazi activist. Her exhibit is to teach people about how Sophie Scholl risked her life to help people by bring attention to what was happening in Germany at the time.

This project was a great experience and the students learnt so much about historical time periods and people. They were also able to work like real historians and research by conducting family interviews and collecting primary sources. Alice learnt to analyse sources. She also replicated primary sources and secondary sources including memorabilia for her display. They got to ask questions (crazy ones were permitted). They needed to be persistent and determined and are so proud of the end piece of work. At the awards ceremony night, Alice got to learn lots from other students’ speeches. She really liked learning about pirates and how they made a better world and the history of sport.

The main challenge was time. The students thought they didn’t have enough time to finish the project but finally they did. Throughout the process, they both made innovations on their exhibits by seeking feedback and looking at the judging criteria. They both added interactive features to engage the viewers and make the exhibitions look more appealing and offer more information.

They would really encourage others to enter the National History Challenge in 2018 because it was really one of their best school experiences.

Alice Milner and Sophie Masnick

Sophie Masnick’s exhibit