Civics and Citizenship: Learning about controversial issues and active citizenship

TERM 2

What is happening in Year 4 …

Each Tuesday we will be busy learning to be ‘active citizens’!  We will explore democracy and how Australian’s have a voice in our democratic society.  Your child will develop their own democratic voice as they learn to respect the views of other students and articulate their own points of view in a respectful manner (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2016)

We will discuss what a responsible citizen looks like and develop potential action plans for our class within the school and community as we develop the skills and knowledge to discuss relevant controversial issues in a democratic manner (Gilbert & Hoepper, 2014).

These studies come under the learning area HASS, a term becoming more familiar in your discussions at home.  HASS stands for Humanities and Social Sciences and includes the learning areas of Geography, History, Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business (ACARA, 2016).  This term we will focus on Civics and Citizenship, which the Australian Government promotes as part their world-class curriculum, in which students learn to be active and informed citizens (ACARA, 2012).  To understand this priority I have inserted a portion of the Melbourne Declaration, a guiding document for the Australian Curriculum (ACARA, 2012).

Figure 1. Melbourne declaration- Aims of the Australian Curriculum

Video 1. Why citizenship matters

Within this learning sequence (Figure 2) students will discuss relevant and local topics such as wearing bike helmets and should we buy local milk?  As we explore the milk issue we will discover how recent floods have affected our farmers and how community groups such as Special Emergency Services (SES) assisted farmers through the flood and clean up.  Having a representative from SES will assist students to delve into these topics exploring difference perspectives and uncovering controversies as they ask their prepared questions and our guests listen to student’s debate the topic (Brett, 2017).  Our studies will also involve video presentations (including the ones below), class discussions and research.

Video 2. BTN – What is Democracy? (title is linked)

Video 3. The Flip Side of Bike Helmets (this video is embedded below and linked here)

Video 4. Milk Prices (title is linked)

The majority of this unit of work is inquiry based and student directed which literature confirms engages students, as they are able to learn in the areas of their interests, promoting deep thinking and problem solving (Marsh, Clarke & Pittaway, 2014; Mercer, 2002).  Working collaboratively your child will learn to see multiple perspectives, develop leading questions for exploration and communicate using democratic language to articulate their own points of view (Mercer, 2002).

As we delve into some interesting and controversial topics, this may spill over in your conversations at home.  These chosen topics are not intended to pressure your family but elicit your help in strengthening your child’s ability to articulate their position and make constructive comments on other people’s perspectives.  Asking your child questions will encourage their research for evidence, for example, why do you say that?  Encouraging your child to avoid strong black and white opinions and being ready to embrace new knowledge would be beneficial and productive.

So join our adventure in everything … Civics and Citizenship

Figure 2. Lesson sequence

Links to the Australian Curriculum

Word Count 486

References

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2016, May 17). What is democracy [Video File]. Retrieved http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s4460249.htm

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2016, May 24). Milk prices [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s4464750.htm

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2012). The Shape of the Australian Curriculum. Retrieved from https://acaraweb.blob.core.windows.net/resources/The_Shape_of_the_Australian_Curriculum_V3.pdf

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2012).  The Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Civics and Citizenship. Retrieved from https://acaraweb.blob.core.windows.net/resources/Shape_of_the_Australian_Curriculum__Civics_and_Citizenship_251012.pdf

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2016, December 16). The Australian Curriculum: HASS (Version 8.3), Year 3-6, all curriculum elements, all curriculum dimensions. Retrieved from file:///Users/regina/Downloads/AustralianCurriculum%20(24).pdf

Brett, P. (2017, March 6). Week 2: Civics and Citizenship [Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from https://mylo.utas.edu.au/d2l/le/content/186678/viewContent/2195155/View

CEFA (2014, August, 2014). The Flip Side of Bike Helmet Laws [Video File]. Retrieved from http://yaba.edu.au/flip-side/flip-side-bike-helmet-laws
Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (2014). Teaching humanities and social sciences: History, geography, economics and citizenship in the Australian curriculum. South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning Australia.

Ifcitizenship (2009, April, 23). Why citizenship matters [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XfPdtXSLBk

Marsh, C., Clarke., & Pittaway, S. (2014). Marsh's becoming a teacher. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W: Pearson Australia.

Mercer, N. (2002). Developing dialogues. In Wells, G. & Claxton, G. Learning for life in the C21st: Sociocultural perspectives on the future of education. Retrieved from https://people.ucsc.edu/~gwells/Files/Courses_Folder/documents/Mercer.DevelopingDialoguepdf.pdf

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA), (2008).  Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young Australians. Retrieved from http://www.acara.edu.au/_resources/national_declaration_on_the_educational_goals_for_young_australians.pd