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Yishun Secondary School

Humanities

Discover how the Humanities Department nurtures curious, empathetic students through inquiry-based learning, real-world field trips, and competitions.

Last updated 1 September 2026

Department Goal

The Humanities Department strives to develop inquisitive learners who are able to appreciate and question the world they live in with the hope to groom empathetic and informed global citizens.

Humanities teachers pose together in a library with bookshelves, colorful decor, and wood floors.

Through engaging experiences in the Humanities classroom and the supplementation of the Key Initiatives, students draw connections between their own lived experiences and the larger national, regional and global events that shape the world we live in. The use of inquiry as the main anchor for the classroom experience allows the student space to think critically, ask questions and make reasoned judgements. This is demonstrated in day-to-day conversations with the students and also through commendable competition results such as achieving a Certificate of Achievement (Bronze) for the NUS Geography Challenge and coming in 2nd place for the NLB S.U.R.E. competition.

Department Key Initiatives

Humanities Inquiry

The inquiry process, whereby students are guided through the ability to ask questions about the content they are learning and draw conclusions from sources of information, forms the core of the Humanities. To support this process of inquiry, each unit has designed engaging learning journeys that will allow students to learn beyond the confines of their classroom and to apply their learning to the actual real-world context. Learning journeys include:

  1. Sec 1 Historical Investigation to Eurasian Heritage Gallery, Indian Heritage Centre and Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall

  2. Sec 3 Pure Geography Investigation at East Coast Beach

  3. Sec 3 Social Studies Investigation at The Enabling Village

Humanities Talent Management

Year-round, students from across the various levels and streams are selected to represent the school in competitions. Most notable ones include the NUS Geography Challenge, NLB S.U.R.E competition, Historical Scene Investigation and the MOE History challenge.

Southeast Asian Programme

Every year, a group of Secondary 2 students are selected to take part in the Southeast Asian Programme where they learn more about the region they live in through talks by academics as well as sharing by their peers on how the interconnection between Southeast Asian countries are vital to the survival of this region. This year, they will also embark on interactive sessions such as trying their hands on the Gamelan and Batik painting as they learn about the deep cultural heritage of the region. They will also be going on a learning journey to the National Gallery Singapore where they will learn more about art and architecture that defines Southeast Asia.

A colorful student art quilt with heart drawings, beside students using cardboard VR headsets at a table.
Students in uniform present to a projector screen; separately, three masked students conduct a water testing science experiment.
Students in uniforms and masks work on World Water Day presentations and water quality testing activities in a classroom.
Students in uniforms conduct coastal fieldwork at East Coast Park, measuring beach profiles with ranging poles on sandy shore.
Students in masks sit on a fallen log and work outdoors at East Coast Park, sketching coastal management measures.
Students wearing masks explore Singapore City Gallery, one using a tablet over a city model, others at an interactive display.
Four students in blue school uniforms and face masks hold small test tubes outdoors near a pond.
Four panels show water quality testing with vials compared against color charts for dissolved oxygen, pH, and nitrates.
Students in blue uniforms conduct outdoor water quality testing, comparing test strips to color charts near a pond.
A group of students in blue YSS uniforms and face masks pose outdoors at a school, holding cards and making hand gestures.
A group of students and a teacher in blue uniforms wearing black masks pose outdoors, some holding cards.
Two masked students in blue uniforms hold water testing tools and a color chart in a classroom.
Group of students in blue uniforms wearing face masks posing outdoors, many making peace signs with their hands.
Group of students in blue uniforms and face masks posing outdoors with peace signs near trees.