Years 9 and 10 HSIE examinations

Emanuel School students have access to laptops and the internet during class and in the recent yearly examinations our Commerce and Elective Geography students were able to take their computers into the examination room.

The examinations were designed to assess the ability of students to conduct research in a limited timeframe. They were also tested on their proficiency in summarising the information they had found. Students not only sourced information from webpages but also watched YouTube videos so they could better understand the content they were being examined on.

The Year 9 Commerce examination asked students to research some basic statistics and data such as:

• The average weekly rent for an apartment in Sydney
• The real-time price of a share in the ANZ Bank on the ASX.

Students were then asked to explain complex issues such as how stamp duty operates on property purchases in NSW. Students also had to clarify which first home buyers would have a whole or partial exemption from stamp duty. They were then asked to calculate how much duty would be paid on an apartment that was sold in Randwick for $820 000.

Our Year 10 Elective Geography students were tasked with explaining the controversy behind the proposed Adani mine in Queensland. They needed to summarise the arguments for and against the mine and to name the main opponents and supporters of the project.

Year 10 Commerce students investigated the affect that Amazon could have on the Australian retail sector if it expands its operations in Australia. The examination included students visiting the US website of Amazon and critiquing the customer experience and business model of the company.

Before the examinations students were given lessons on how to use Google to effectively research information. There are many tricks that can assist people to better use a search engine. This is a good summary of some of the different search techniques that can be used on Google: www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0DQfwc72PM

Our teachers will use student responses in the examinations to focus on areas where students had difficulties finding and analysing information. Our aim is to ensure that Emanuel students cannot only access the internet but they can use the web to effectively conduct research across the curriculum.