Akatsuki+Sec+A+Notes

CXC History Syllabus

The construction of this syllabus has been guided by a particular view of the nature of history as a discipline and of the educational needs of students. History as a discipline has three aspects - its content, its organising principles and its methods of enquiry. The substantive content of Caribbean History is the activities of the peoples of the islands from the Bahamas to Trinidad as well as those of the peoples of Belize and the Guianas, from the coming of the Indigenous Americans to the present. There is no attempt in this syllabus to promote one organising principle or interpretation of Caribbean History. While a thematic arrangement has been imposed on the course of Caribbean History, the content within each theme has been stated in such a way as to permit exploration of a variety of organising principles. Nevertheless, the selection of themes and their content has been informed by a desire to promote a distinctly Caribbean perspective. The methods of studying history, the remaining aspect of the discipline, have determined the aims and objectives stated in the syllabus. In the course of their work, historians raise questions, formulate hypotheses, gather evidence from a variety of data sources, collate and interpret information, make judgments draw conclusions and report their findings. The student activities implied by the aims and objectives of the syllabus are directly related to the procedures used by historians in the study of their discipline. Thus, the objectives of the syllabus were derived from considerations of the nature of history as well as from the perceived needs and interests of students within the Caribbean community. These objectives have informed the evaluation procedures and have the further attribute of suggesting a variety of appropriate teaching approaches; project work, individual enquiry and research, creative representations and such traditional techniques that have helped develop historical understanding in students. The syllabus consists of a Core and ten themes, the latter arranged in Sections A to D. Students are required to study the Core and one theme from each of the four sections.