AS 91229 Annotated exemplars

This annotated exemplar is intended for teacher use only. Annotated exemplars are extracts of student evidence, with commentary, that explain key parts of a standard. These help teachers make assessment judgements at the grade boundaries.

Download all exemplars and commentary [PDF, 2.2 MB]

TKI History assessment resources (external link)

For Excellence, the standard requires students to comprehensively carry out an inquiry of an historical event or place that is of significance to New Zealanders.

In addition to the Achieved and Merit requirements, this involves making perceptive annotations and providing a perceptive evaluation of the inquiry.

The student has identified the topic ‘NZ Medics in the Vietnam War’ and provided a concise precis-paragraph further explaining the topic. They identified 6 specific possible sources (3 of which are included in this partial exemplar) and have given a specific indication of how each source might be useful to the inquiry. Two appropriate focus questions have been developed. The full inquiry proposal demonstrates meaningful preliminary reading has occurred, and helps to satisfy the overall Excellence requirement for a ‘comprehensive’ inquiry.

Evidence has been selected from a variety of sources. While only 4 sources have been exemplified here, 8 were used. There was a good balance between the use of both primary and secondary evidence. The nature of the sources reflects the quality of source evidence that students should be engaging with at curriculum level 7.  Full source details were provided.

Each source contains an annotation that is both explanatory and evaluative. The first portion of the annotation explains, in detail, the main ideas of the source and its relevance to the focus questions. At times, perceptive comments are made about the ‘insights’ gained from the evidence, such as how the tone of voice or use of words reveals the challenges and personal turmoil the medics faced. The ‘reliability’ portion of the annotations is evaluative and at times perceptive. For example, the assessment of reliability of Source 1 and 4. The length of the annotations well exceeds the volume of evidence expected for Excellence.

A perceptive evaluation is provided that clearly shows the student approaching the inquiry with an awareness of a how a historian would do so. The student discusses the process of selecting sources that were most reliable, capturing a range of perspectives and experiences in the selected sources, and the way the sources worked together to ensure ‘sufficient’ coverage of the questions. The comments made in the evaluation about reliability also show a deep understanding (at curriculum level 7) of the types of aspects a historian may consider when assessing the validity of a source (corroboration, intent, authorship, primacy). 

For Merit, the standard requires students to carry out, in-depth, an inquiry of an historical event or place that is of significance to New Zealanders.

In addition to the Achieved requirements, this involves making detailed annotations and providing a coherent evaluation of the inquiry.

The student has identified the topic ‘Chinese miners’ and provided a short contextual paragraph on the focus of the topic (the discrimination of Chinese miners in New Zealand). They have identified 5 specific possible sources and given a generic indication of how each source might be useful to the inquiry. Slightly more specificity in these comments could have been beneficial. They have formulated an appropriate question for level 7 of the curriculum.

Evidence has been selected from a variety of sources. While only 4 sources have been exemplified here, 8 were used. There was strong use of primary evidence (cartoon, newspaper articles from the time, and photographs) and secondary evidence (reputable websites and an academic article). The nature of the sources reflects the quality of source evidence that students should be engaging with at curriculum level 7.  Full source details were provided. The evidence has been effectively organised.

Detailed annotations are provided for each source. The annotations in the right-hand column of the templates tend to provide a detailed explanation of the content of the source and its relevance to the focus question. At the bottom of each template are evaluative annotations that consider the usefulness, reliability, perspective, and bias of a source, as well as the need for caution and whether any limitations of the source can be mitigated.

A coherent evaluation is provided that clearly develops the ideas and provides specific examples. The strengths and weaknesses are evaluated in terms of the impact they had on the inquiry. When discussing the most and least useful sources, comments are valid and specific. The student discusses a reliability issue present in the inquiry (the strong bias found in many of the sources), but considers how this would naturally arise from the nature of the question and also what conclusions can be drawn from this about how representative this bias is.

For Excellence, both the annotations and evaluation need to be perceptive.

A perceptive annotation may acknowledge that very few political sources are neutral, and therefore the student could identify and discuss some of the potential reasons why caution might be required when engaged with the Crown Apology as a source.

A perceptive evaluation might, for example, note the benefits of having sources written years after the event. These benefits include a greater degree of transparency, depth, and accessibility to evidence that often emerges over time, especially in contexts were a group of people have been marginalised or the government has been slow to acknowledge their own role in the grievances.  

For Achieved, the standard requires students to carry out an inquiry of an historical event or place that is of significance to New Zealanders.

This involves preparing to carry out an inquiry by identifying the topic (usually a 2-3 sentence paragraph), developing a focusing question(s), and undertaking preliminary reading to identify potentially useful sources of evidence. Students must select evidence from a variety of sources to answer their focus question(s), organise and annotate this evidence, and record the source details. Finally, the standard requires an evaluation of the inquiry.

The student has identified the topic ‘The Battle of Long Tan’ and provided a short contextual paragraph on the battle and its significance to New Zealand. They identified 6 specific possible sources (3 of which have been exemplified in this partial exemplar) and have given a generic indication of how each source might be useful to the inquiry. They have formulated an appropriate question for level 7 of the curriculum.

Evidence has been selected from a variety of sources. While only 4 sources have been exemplified here, 8 different sources were used. This included primary evidence (archived footage, personal accounts, and photographs) and secondary sources taken from the internet. These were adequately referenced. The evidence has been organised using subheadings and templates.

Annotations are provided for each source. Most of these annotations are a general explanation of the nature of the source, its relevance to the focus question, and how it is useful. Some evaluative annotations are also provided which provide a basic comment about the reliability of the source and begin to discuss why caution may be needed. Attempts are made to cross reference evidence between sources.

Some strengths of the inquiry are identified and discussed at a depth that reflects expectations at curriculum level 7. An issue (the difficulty in finding a book as a source) is identified, and possible solutions to this issue are offered. The student shows an awareness of how the inquiry could be improved (for example, the use of sources that give personal accounts from soldiers who experienced the battle). Some general reasons are offered for why source 6 was the most useful source, with a description of how the reliability issue of source 6 has been countered.

For Merit, the standard requires detailed annotations and a coherent evaluation of the inquiry. This would involve further specificity when making annotations. This might include providing examples of the specific ideas that have been corroborated and more clearly referring to the sources in which this corroboration occurred. Or, expanding further on what motives the person taking the footage of the Battle of Long Tan may have had for being selective in what they chose to capture, and how this was evident in the footage.