Geography/Sustainability and Civics & Citizenship revised

This lesson meets the needs of the year five Humanities and Social Sciences Australian Curriculum Document (HSSACD), linking directly with the content descriptor (ACHASSI094) as students identify the cause and effect of proposed and actual tourism developments (ACARA, 2016). As students engage with real-world learning through actual scenarios they will cultivate understandings linked to year five Geography content descriptor (ACHASSK113) “The environmental and human influences on the location and characteristics of a place and the management of spaces within them”, developing their own empathy and informed moral standpoint. This unit of work focuses directly on the proposed cable car development at Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain National Park. In order to construct an informed opinion around the validity of this development, students will begin by first investigating the impact of other international developments.

This lesson will develop students’ understanding of the importance of recognising the viewpoint of all stake-holders impacted by significant developments. Engagement with individual stories of those involved develop students empathetic and analytic mindset from which to create their own informed opinion Reynolds (2014). Furthermore, The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008) argues that a schools legacy to its students should be to develop engaged citizens whom act with a moral and ethical integrity.

Through critically analysing tourism development examples from around the world, students begin to identify differences and similarities to the proposed Cradle Mountain development. Factors including economic gain, employment, sustainability, environmental impact, important stakeholders’ viewpoints and the potential boost in tourism will be the focus of investigations. Tudball & Gordon (2014) suggest that through such investigations into real world scenarios students gain a more insightful and holistic understanding.

The lesson will begin with students being divided into groups of five, each group provided with a highly-scaffolded investigation pack. The packs will focus on the Singapore cable cars, Suez Canal and the Chinese Three Gorges Dam. The pack will include information on a significant development which has occurred in another country, such as:

• Before and after photographs, including aerial pictures.
• An investigative question sheet with probing questions to guide individual aspects of the research. Students will be required to add two other areas for probe investigations.
• short statements from different stakeholders involved in the development
• Information pertaining key economic outcomes, such as total cost, tourism statistics, environmental impact and the impact on the lives of local residents

Each student in the group will choose one of the probe questions investigated by their group, sharing their findings with the class. The teacher will encourage students to identify similarities and differences between their international development and that of the other groups. The higher order thinking which can, as Reynolds (2014) highlights, eventuate from open class discussions will enable students to thoughtfully engage with the Cradle Mountain Cable Car proposal in the following lesson. This next lesson will involve students being randomly assigned the roll of either national park ranger, tourism operator, local chef, international tourist, local building firm, Tasmanian tourism manager or conservationist. Students will develop a short presentation using their previously constructed understandings as they identify similarities and differences between the impact on environment and people studied in the international cases to that of the Cradle Mountain Proposal. Adopting this imagined position, students, as Hoodless (2003) explains will begin to internalise their thinking as they put forward their case for their support or opposition to the proposed development in a mock council community inquiry meeting.

 

Reference:

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2016a). The Australian curriculum (v.7.5): Geography. Retrieved from http://v7-      5.australiancurriculum.edu.au/humanities-and-social-  sciences/geography/curriculum/f-10?layout=1#level5

 Hoodless, P. (Ed.) (2003). Teaching humanities in primary schools. Exeter: Learning Matters

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. (2008). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Retrieved from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/national_declaration_on_the_educational_goals_for_young_australians.pdf

Reynolds, R. (2014). Teaching humanities and social sciences in the primary school (3^rd ed.)         South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

Tudball, L., & Gordon, K. (2014). Teaching for active and informed citizenship. In Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (Eds.), Teaching humanities and social sciences: History,     geography, economics and citizenship in the Australian Curriculum (5^th ed.) (pp.                        176-196).South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning Aust

History and Civics & Citizenship- revised

This lesson, the third in a learning sequence, involves year five students outlining their vision for the future of Burnie. Previous lessons have focussed on Australian’s economic history and how its resources have been used to promote economic growth.

This lesson links directly to the Australian Humanities and Social Sciences year five curriculum through investigations into “Australian communities- their past, present and possible futures” (ACARA, 2016).   Through investigations about the past management of Australia’s natural resources, students’ will develop and present their own ideas about how to manage them in the future. It will involve students engaging with the Making Burnie 2030 document, (Burnie.net, 2016) developing their own vision for Burnie’s future. In the preceding lessons, students were involved in investigations more directly focused on Burnie’s economic history. One of its most significant events involved the closing of the Associated Pulp and Paper Mill (APPM) in 2010, seeing the loss of hundreds of jobs. The aim of this lesson is to develop students’ knowledge on Australia’s reliance on manufacturing, constructing their own ethos on how North-West Tasmania is to effectively move forward in these ever-changing times. Tudball & Gordan, (2014) advocate that through exploring history before developing ones idea of how the future should look, students can gain a more insightful perspective.

Lesson structure:

*Revisit history of Burnie pulp mill (and other industries) through the attached YouTube clip.

*An excursion to the APPM Burnie site, as discussed by Reynolds (2014), helps engage students’ interest and make real-life connections.

*Discuss the key historical concepts of continuity and change in regards to the Tasmanian economy and the cause and effect that these changes have on the community. These discussions form the basis of assessment ‘for’ learning, establishing students’ prior knowledge, as discussed by Churchill (2013).

-Taylor, Fahey, Kriewaldt and Boon (2012) highlight such an exploration of cause and effect as an integral part in developing history concepts. These discussions, which have been enlightened through previous lessons, explore “the impact of a significant development or event on an Australian colony (ACHASSK108)” (ACARA, 2016).This process highlights Tasmania’s changing employment landscape and how Burnie as a community must diversify its economic future, harnessing avenues other than manufacturing.

 

 

 

*Introduce the Making Burnie 2030 document to the students. http://www.burnie.net/Community/Making-Burnie-2030

Discuss each of the five ‘Future Direction’ areas, scaffolding student responses where necessary.

• Brainstorming activity- In groups of five, students share different ideas about what they want to see in Burnie’s future. This activity will be scaffolded through the following probe headings: new developments, new infrastructure, tourism opportunities, how to create a sense of community. At the completion of this brainstorming activity each group will elect a spokesperson who will remain at their table. Moving to the next group, the four students will listen to the spokesperson explain the ideas of their group.

 

*Individually, students will create a proposal outlining their idea of how Burnie will look in 2030 which, after completion, will be put forward to the Burnie City Council. This proposal will involve the use of higher order Information and Communication Technologies i.e Powerpoint, Photostory, animation, blogs etc. It will be assessed using a rubric, which has been outlined to the students at the beginning of this task.

-Through involvement in this process, students are empowered as active citizens to, as Phillips (2010) advocates, contribute to society. Hoodless (2008) highlights the notion that history can develop students’ sense of self within a community.

 

Reference:

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2016). The Australian Curriculum: Humanities and Social Sciences (Version 8.1). (Humanities and Social Sciences, all year levels, all curriculum elements, all curriculum dimensions). Retrieved from: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/download/f10

British Movietone, (2015). TASMANIAN INDUSTRY – SOUND. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6QGw5ub6KM [Accessed 12 Apr. 2016].

Burnie.net. (2016). Making Burnie 2030. [online] Available at: http://www.burnie.net/Community/Making-Burnie-2030 [Accessed 14 Apr. 2016].

Churchhill, R., Ferguson, P., Godinho, S., Johnson, N. F., Deddie, A., Letts, W.,               McGill, M., Moss, J., Nagel, M. C., Nicholson, P., & Vick, M. (2011). Teaching: Making a difference. Milton, QLD: John Wiley and Sons.

Hoodless, P. (2008). Teaching History in primary schools [electronic resource]. Exeter, England: SAGE Publications. Retrieved from http://www.utas.eblib.com.ezproxy.utas.edu.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=820147

Phillips, L. (2010). Social justice storytelling and young children’s active citizenship, Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education.

Reynolds, R. (2014). Teaching humanities and social sciences in the primary school (3^rd ed.)         South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

Taylor, T., Fahey, C., Kriewaldt, J., & Boon, D. (2012). Place and time: Explorations in teaching geography and history. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.

Tudball, L., & Gordon, K. (2014). Teaching for active and informed citizenship. In Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (Eds.), Teaching humanities and social sciences: History, geography, economics and citizenship in the Australian Curriculum (5^th ed.) (pp. 176- 196). South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning Australia.

Civics and Citizenship revised

 

http://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/81766/450k-fire-destroys-heritage-train-carriage/

 

The Australian curriculum highlights the importance of Civics and Citizenship education (CCE) for its ability to develop the skills and understandings required for individuals to become empowered citizens, capable of effectively engaging in a democratic society. These capabilities as explained by Tudball and Brett (2014) help to create motivated students able to identify societal problems and become the catalyst for social change.

This unit of work will involve year six students being tasked with creating a one minute advertisement about a significant issue in their local community, with the objective to create social change. Such an undertaking, as Melaville (2006) explains, engages students in active citizenship through involvement in acting on social issues. Students will identify and research an issue in their local community, gather information from a range of sources, form an opinion and create a persuasive advertisement with the intention of influencing others. Ribeiro, Rodrigues, Caetano, Pais & Menezes (2012) explain that through immersion in the decision making processes that impact ones community, an individual can truly begin to understand themselves as active citizens in a democratic society.

Assessment of this task will involve the use of a rubric designed through teacher/student collaboration in a previous lesson. The rubric was developed through a process whereby students watched and analysed recent television advertisements. Students critiqued the advertisements, identifying individual aspects which impact the viewer. These included camera angle, sound, persuasive language, content and dynamics.

This task will be carried out amongst year six students in several participating Tasmanian schools, with completed presentations shown in a special screening in unison across these schools. This unit will encompass many aspects of Information Computer Technologies (ICT), from research of topic, sharing of ideas and production of advertisement through to the publication and joint sharing of completed works. Reynolds, R. (2014) advocates the benefit of these strong ICT aspects, identifying that through this connectivism approach to CCE students connect with others, their community and their world helping to foster truly global thinkers. After viewing the video presentations, students will be involved in a voting process to choose the top five shortlisted entries which will be forwarded to the local Television station who have agreed to air the winning entry for a period of eight weeks.

The year six students in a Tasmanian North West primary school have elected to focus on the issue of vandalism. A recent class excursion to the Burnie port led to discussions about the arson attack on a historical train carriage. The production of this media presentation directly links with the Australian Curriculum Civics and Citizenship (ACCC) content descriptor (ACHASSI123) “Locate and collect relevant information and data from primary and secondary sources”. This will be evident as students conduct interviews, researching vandalism statistics and relevant media report pertaining the carriage’s destruction. Furthermore students will be engaged in the process of active citizenship, working as a cohesive unit to communicate their viewpoint on the important issue of vandalism and express their proposal to create social change. This problem-solving and active participation in change action links directly with ACCC content descriptor (ACHASSI133) “present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions”. The production of this advertising empowers active citizenship education as the students move beyond simply engaging with the content and are involved in social betterment change.

 

References

 

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority                                                       (ACARA). (2015, December 15^th). The Australian Curriculum: Humanities and Social Sciences (Version 8.1). (Humanities and Social Sciences, Year 6, all curriculum elements, all curriculum dimensions). Retrieved from                                                               http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/download/f10

Melaville, A., Berg, A.C., & Blank, M.J. (2006). Community-based learning: Engaging students for success and citizenship. Washington, DC: Coalition for Community Schools.

Reynolds, R. (2014). Teaching humanities and social sciences in the primary school (3^rd ed.) South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

Ribeiro, A. B., Rodrigues, M., Caetano, A., Pais, S., & Menezes, I. (2012). Promoting “Active Citizens”? The Critical Vision of NGOs over Citizenship Education as an Educational Priority across Europe. International Journal of Progressive Education, 8 (3), 32-47.

Tudball, L., & Brett, P. (2014). What matters and what’s next for civics and citizenship education in Australia? The Social Educator, 32 (2), 4-15.

 

Geography, Civis and Citizenship

Geography, sustainability and Civics and Citizenship Education

This lesson will meet the needs of the year five Humanities and Social Sciences Australian Curriculum Document (HSSACD), linking directly with the content descriptor (ACHASSI094) as students are involved in identifying the cause and effect of proposed and actual tourism developments (ACARA, 2016). As students engage with real world learning through actual scenarios they will be developing understandings linked to year five Geography content descriptor (ACHASSK111), becoming better equipped to develop their own understanding, empathy and informed moral standpoint. This unit of work will focus directly on the proposed cable car development at the Cradle Mountain National Park in Tasmania. In order to construct an informed opinion around the validity of this development, students will begin by first investigating the impact of other international developments.

Through this lesson students will develop an understanding of the importance of recognising the viewpoint of all stake-holders impacted by significant developments. It is through such engagement with the individual stories of those involved that students will develop an empathetic and analytic mindset from which to create their own informed opinion. Furthermore, The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008) argues that a schools legacy to its students should be to develop engaged citizens whom act with a moral and ethical integrity.

Through critical analysis of tourism development examples from around the world, students will begin to identify differences and similarities in regards to the proposed Cradle Mountain development. Factors including economic gain, employment, sustainability, environmental impact, the viewpoint of important stakeholders and the potential boost in tourism will be the focus of investigations. Tudball & Gordon (2014) suggest that through such investigations into real world scenarios students gain a more insightful and holistic understanding.

The lesson will begin with students being divided into groups of five, each group will be provided with a highly-scaffolded investigation pack. The pack will include information on a significant development which has occurred in another country, such as:

• Before and after photographs including aerial pictures.
• An investigative question sheet with probing questions to guide individual aspects of the research.
• short statements from different stakeholders involved in the development
• Information pertaining key economic outcomes, such as total cost, tourism statistics, environmental impact and the impact on the lives of local residents.

Each student in the group will choose one of the probe questions investigated by their group, sharing their findings with the class. The teacher will encourage students to identify similarities and differences between their international development and that of the other groups. The higher order thinking which can, as Reynolds (2004) highlights, eventuate from open class discussions will enable students to thoughtfully engage with the Cradle Mountain Cable Car proposal in the following lesson. This next lesson will involve students being randomly assigned the roll of either national park ranger, tourism operator, local chef, international tourist, local building firm, Tasmanian tourism manager or conservationist. Students will develop a short presentation using their previously constructed understandings as they identify similarities and differences between the impact on environment and people studied in the international cases to that of the Cradle Mountain Proposal. Adopting this imagined position, students, as Hoodless (2003) explains will begin to internalise their thinking as they put forward their case for their support or opposition to the proposed development in a mock council community inquiry meeting.

Word count 558

 

Reference:

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2016a). The Australian curriculum (v.7.5): Geography. Retrieved from http://v7-      5.australiancurriculum.edu.au/humanities-and-social-  sciences/geography/curriculum/f-10?layout=1#level5

 Hoodless, P. (Ed.) (2003). Teaching humanities in primary schools. Exeter: Learning Matters

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. (2008). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Retrieved from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/national_declaration_on_the_educational_goals_for_young_australians.pdf

Reynolds, R. (2014). Teaching humanities and social sciences in the primary school (3^rd ed.)         South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

Tudball, L., & Gordon, K. (2014). Teaching for active and informed citizenship. In Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (Eds.), Teaching humanities and social sciences: History,     geography, economics and citizenship in the Australian Curriculum (5^th ed.) (pp.                        176-196).South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning Aust

Week Three History and Civics

 How should Burnie look in Ten Years?

This lesson is the third in a learning sequence and will involve year five students outlining their vision for the future of Burnie. Previous lessons have focussed on the history of the Australian economy and how  Australia’s resources have been used to promote economic growth.

This lesson as a part of a learning sequence links directly to the Australian Humanities and Social Sciences year five curriculum through investigations into “Australian communities- their past, present and possible futures” (ACARA, 2016).   Through involving students in investigations about how Australians have  managed their natural resources over time, students’ will develop and present their own ideas about how Australia’s resources should be managed in the future. This particular lesson will involve students engaging with the Making Burnie 2030 document (Burnie.net, 2016) to develop their own vision for Burnie in the years to come. In the preceding lessons, students were involved in investigations that were more directly focused on the area’s economic history. One of its most significant economic events in recent history involved the closing of the Australian Pulp and Paper Mill (APPM) in 2010, seeing the loss of hundreds of jobs. The aim of this lesson is to develop students’ knowledge on Australia’s reliance on manufacturing and develop their own ethos on how Australia, Tasmania and, more specifically, North West Tasmania is to effectively move forward in these ever-changing times. Tudball & Gordan, (2014) advocate that through such a process of exploring history before developing ones idea of how the future should look, students can gain a more insightful perspective.

Lesson structure:

*Revisit history of Burnie pulp mill (and other industries) through the attached YouTube clip.

*Lead class discussions about the key historical concepts of continuity and change in regards to the Tasmanian economy and the cause and effect that these changes have on the community.

-Taylor, Fahey, Kriewaldt and Boon (2012) highlight such an exploration of cause and effect as an integral part in developing history concepts. These discussions which have been enlightened through previous lessons explore “the impact of a significant development or event on an Australian colony (ACHASSK108)” (ACARA, 2016).These class discussions will highlight the changing landscape of employment in Tasmania and how Burnie as a community must diversify its economic future harnessing avenues other than manufacturing.

 

*Introduce the Making Burnie 2030 document to the students. http://www.burnie.net/Community/Making-Burnie-2030

Discuss each of the five ‘Future Direction’ areas, scaffolding student responses where necessary.

• Brainstorming activity- In groups of five, students will brainstorm different ideas about what it is they want to see in Burnie in the coming years. This activity will be scaffolded through the following probe headings: new developments, new infrastructure, ideas to increase tourism opportunities, ideas on how to create a sense of community. At the completion of this brainstorming activity each group will elect a spokesperson who will remain at their table. Moving to the next group, the four students will listen to the spokesperson explain the ideas of their group.

 

*Individually, students will be tasked with creating a proposal outlining their idea of how Burnie will look in 2030 which, after completion, will be put forward to the Burnie City Council. The proposal can involve the use and combination of any medium i.e. information report, photography, 3D model, artwork etc. Students will be provided access to the school computers in order to develop their proposal.

-Through such a process students will be involved in decision making, which empowers them as active citizens to, as Phillips (2010) advocates, contribute to their own society. This notion of how history can create a platform for students to develop their own sense of self as an individual within a community is highlighted by Hoodless (2008).

 

Reference:

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2016). The Australian Curriculum: Humanities and Social Sciences (Version 8.1). (Humanities and Social Sciences, all year levels, all curriculum elements, all curriculum dimensions). Retrieved from: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/download/f10

Burnie.net. (2016). Making Burnie 2030. [online] Available at: http://www.burnie.net/Community/Making-Burnie-2030 [Accessed 14 Apr. 2016].

Hoodless, P. (2008). Teaching History in primary schools [electronic resource]. Exeter, England: SAGE Publications. Retrieved from http://www.utas.eblib.com.ezproxy.utas.edu.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=820147

Phillips, L. (2010). Social justice storytelling and young children’s active citizenship, Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education.

Taylor, T., Fahey, C., Kriewaldt, J., & Boon, D. (2012). Place and time: Explorations in teaching geography and history. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.

Tudball, L., & Gordon, K. (2014). Teaching for active and informed citizenship. In Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (Eds.), Teaching humanities and social sciences: History, geography, economics and citizenship in the Australian Curriculum (5^th ed.) (pp. 176- 196). South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning Australia.

Civics and Citizenship

http://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/81766/450k-fire-destroys-heritage-train-carriage/

 

The Australian curriculum highlights the importance of Civics and Citizenship education (CCE) for its ability to develop the skills and understandings required for individuals to become empowered citizens, capable of effectively engaging in a democratic society. These capabilities as explained by Tudball and Brett (2014) help to create motivated students able to identify societal problems and become the catalyst for social change.

This unit of work will involve year six students being tasked with the creation of a one minute advertisement about a significant issue in their local community. The objective of the advertisement is to create social change. Such an undertaking as Melaville (2006) explains, engages students in active citizenship through involvement in acting on social issues. Students will identify and research an issue in their local community, gather information from a range of sources, form an opinion and create a persuasive advertisement with the intention of influencing the actions of others. Ribeiro, Rodrigues, Caetano, Pais & Menezes (2012) explain that through this immersion in the decision making processes that impact ones community, an individual can truly begin to understand themselves as active citizens in a democratic society.

This task will be carried out amongst year six students in several participating Tasmanian schools, with the completed presentations being shown in a special screening in unison across these schools. This unit will encompass many aspects of Information Computer Technologies (ICT), from research of topic, sharing of ideas and production of advertisement through to the publication and joint sharing of completed works. Reynolds, R. (2014) advocates the benefit of these strong ICT aspects, identifying that through this connectivism approach to CCE students connect with others, their community and their world helping to foster truly global thinkers. After the viewing of the video presentations students will be involved in a voting process to choose the top five shortlisted entries. These entries will be forwarded to the local Television station who have agreed to air the winning entry for a period of eight weeks.

The year six students in a Tasmanian North West primary school have elected to focus on the issue of vandalism. A recent class excursion to the Burnie port led to discussions about the arson attack on a historical train carriage. The production of this media presentation directly links with the Australian Curriculum Civics and Citizenship (ACCC) content descriptor (ACHASSI123) Locate and collect relevant information and data from primary and secondary sources. This will be evident as students conduct interviews, researching vandalism statistics and relevant media report pertaining the carriage’s destruction. Furthermore students will be engaged in the process of active citizenship, working as a cohesive unit to communicate their viewpoint on the important issue of vandalism and express their proposal to create social change. This problem-solving and active participation in change action links directly with ACCC content descriptor (ACHASSI133) present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions. The production of this advertising empowers active citizenship education as the students move beyond simply engaging with the content and are involved in social betterment change.

 

References

 

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority                                                       (ACARA). (2015, December 15^th). The Australian Curriculum: Humanities and Social Sciences (Version 8.1). (Humanities and Social Sciences, Year 6, all curriculum elements, all curriculum dimensions). Retrieved from                                                               http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/download/f10

Melaville, A., Berg, A.C., & Blank, M.J. (2006). Community-based learning: Engaging students for success and citizenship. Washington, DC: Coalition for Community Schools.

Reynolds, R. (2014). Teaching humanities and social sciences in the primary school (3^rd ed.) South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

Ribeiro, A. B., Rodrigues, M., Caetano, A., Pais, S., & Menezes, I. (2012). Promoting “Active Citizens”? The Critical Vision of NGOs over Citizenship Education as an Educational Priority across Europe. International Journal of Progressive Education, 8 (3), 32-47.

Tudball, L., & Brett, P. (2014). What matters and what’s next for civics and citizenship education in Australia? The Social Educator, 32 (2), 4-15.