Historical Investigation
Secondary 1
Briefing
What is the HI
A way to take on the roles of Historians.
Project based learning.
A movement away from pure test and exam
centered learning.
30% of your history grade.
What skills will you need for the HI
 Time management.
 Communication skills in your group.
 History skills
 Research
 Inference Skills
 Writing Skills
Aims of the Historical Investigation
The aims of this Historical Investigation (HI) are to:
 enhance your understanding of how people in various
occupations lived their lives and contributed to Singapore’s
progress.
 develop an appreciation of how sources can be used to
construct history.
 develop historical thinking skills through the examination
of a range of sources; and
 derive conclusions from examining sources.
What’s new in HI?
HI Reserved in your timetables.
 Requirements should be clear.
Historical Investigation
 Consider multiple perspectives (Caring) on how
historians construct knowledge of the past.
 Students to use authentic historical sources, analyse
them(Critical) , form evidence, consolidate and
present their findings. (Use varied sources; primary
and secondary –including online sources - to
derive at a conclusion on how life was different for
people of different occupations in Singapore.)
CCA
 If you have CCA training or events in school,
you will be able to attend the training from 3:30
pm on Wednesdays.
 If you have an external CCA or other competition,
you should let your history teacher know if it
prevents you from attending HI sessions in
classrooms or otherwise.
Week
Week 3
What you should be working on:
Activities
Understand the inquiry question and Group
read up about the different
contribution 1 (4
occupations that existed in Singapore marks )
before WWII.
As a group, decide on the different
occupations you would like to work
on.
Complete group contribution 1
Venue
Online/
library/museu
ms/
National
Archives
Classrooms
Week
Week 4
What you should be working on:
Start your search for sources
about the occupation you have
chosen (research)
Look for different types of
sources that will help you to
understand what life was like for
the people of your chosen
occupation. (research)
Eg: Text sources about coolies,
pictures, drawings, oral history
documents etc.
Activities
Mass Briefing
on HI
requirements
Venue
Auditorium
Online/
library/museum
s/
National
Archives
Week
What you should be
working on:
Activities
Week 5 Complete
(Work on your
Individual
investigations
contribution 1 with your
groups.)
Venue
Online/
library/mus
eums/
National
Archives
(Staff
meeting)
Week
What you should be working
on:
Week 6 Work on individual
contribution 2
11 Feb
Activities
Visit to the
National
Museum of
Singapore (11
Feb) for group
leaders.
Venue
Classrooms
National
Museum of
Singapore
Week
What you should be working on:
Week Complete
7
individual
contribution 2
Activities
Venue
Chinese
(NIL)
New Year
Work
celebrations from
home.
Week
What you should be working on:
Week 8 Work on group
contribution 2
Activities
Venue
Work with Classrooms
your groups.
Week
What you should be
working on:
Week 9 Complete
group
contribution 2
Activities
Venue
Mass
Auditorium
briefing on
End Product
Week
Week 10
What you
should be
working on:
Work on the
end product
booklet
Activities
Sabbatical Week Nil
Venue
Week
March
Holidays
What you should be
working on:
Work on the
end product
booklet
Activities
Venue
Work from
Home.
Week
Term 2
Week 1
Term 2
Week 2
What you should be
working on:
Activities
Work on the
end product
booklet
Work on the
end product
booklet
Venue
Classrooms
Classrooms
Complete
booklet
Term 2
Week 3
Submissions
week
Submissions
due
Classrooms
1)
Read and understood the inquiry question

2)
Read up about the different occupations

3)
Completed group contribution 1

4)
Completed Individual contribution 1

5)
Completed Individual contribution 1

6)
Completed group contribution 2

7)
Completed end product booklet

8)
Checked your referencing format

9)
Submitted the following items to your teacher via IVLE:
a) Group contribution 1
b) Group contribution 2
c) Individual contribution 1
d) Individual Contribution 2
e) Reflection

10
Submitted the booklet to your teacher

So what evidence do you gather
while at the National Museum?
Inquiry:
How was life different among
the people of different
occupations in Singapore
before World War II?
Scenario for the Historical
Investigation
 Your school is participating in the National Heritage Festival is: ‘Our
Immigrants’. The school wants to design and produce a booklet in
which you will present your response to the question “How was life
different among the people of different occupations in Singapore
before World War II?
 The booklet will be distributed to all lower secondary schjool students.
The aim of producing the booklet is to develop a deeper
understanding among the students of the lives of people in various
occupations, Each group must choose four out of the seven different
occupations listed.
Occupations to choose from
1. Coolies
 2. Chettiars
 3. Rickshaw pullers
 4. Samsui Women
 5.Ship builders
6. British government officials
 7. Dhobis
Each group should choose 4
occupations. This means that each
member of the group will focus on a
different occupation. For Example.
Group
Member 1:
Group
Member 2:
Group
Member 3:
Group
Member 4:
Coolies
Chettiars
Samsui
Women
Shipbuilders
Tips for Online Research