Week 2: Civics and Citizenship

Week 2: Civics and Citizenship
Year 3, Parent/Guardian Blog Post

Students are given the opportunity to shape their lives, become active citizens through positively contributing to their local community and have an opinion on matters that affect them and their future through engagement with The Australian Curriculum: Civics and Citizenship (ACARA, 2014).

This unit of work will commence two weeks prior to Clean up Australia Day. Allowing students to develop an understanding of the long term effects humans actions have on the environment, prepare them with a set of crucial skills for becoming an active citizen such as responsibility, integrity and respectfulness, and being informed about the issues occurring in the world around them (Dejaeghere & Tudball, 2007).

• Students will be shown the image in Figure 1, before engaging in a class discussion about why they think this image is an issue.

Figure 1. Government of Western Australia, 2018

How can we minimise the amount of litter in our own community?

Through the exploration of this inquiry-based question, students will work in small groups to brainstorm solutions to the question.

The use of the critical inquiry question as guidance in this lesson fosters students creative thinking skills, the question being based on their local community enhances their engagement and ignites interest, overall resulting in students that are active participants in their learning. (Canadian Education and Association, 2018).

Queensland Government, 2014

• Students will discuss a location within the community that they would like to help clean up on Clean up Australia Day. 

• Students will work in small groups to create posters, inviting you to participate in the clean-up! We would appreciate any help, and this is a great way to demonstrate to the students the importance of working collaboratively for a cleaner community.

• Photographs will be taken during the clean-up day, images will be later used for students to create a project of their choice with a focus on the answer to their inquiry question "How can we minimise the amount of litter in our own community?". 

Students are gaining an understanding of how their lifestyle choices and habits can minimalise the impact on the natural environment (Gilbert, Tudball & Brett, 2020).

Year 3 content descriptors – Humanities and Social Science ·        Why people participate within communities and how students can actively participate and contribute (ACHASSK072) Elaboration: Exploring how they can participate and contribute to a school project.

General capabilities ·        Literacy ·        Ethical Understanding ·        Personal and Social Capability ·        Creative and Critical thinking

Cross-curriculum priorities ·        Sustainability

(Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2014)

Assessment

At the conclusion of the lesson, the students will create a written project based on the before and after of the clean-up day. Critically reflecting on the changes that have occurred and discuss how in the future they will partake in ensuring a clean community is maintained.

This form of assessment is known as a summative assessment, used at the conclusion of the intended learning to monitor the extent of the knowledge the student has gained throughout the lesson (Brady & Kennedy, 2011).

Where to next?
Students will create signage for bins around the school, encouraging the school community to dispose of rubbish correctly.  

Peer feedback

Hi Kristen,

I was impressed by you first blog post and found the content to be relevant and an area of education that can be evidenced to directly affect members through witnessed waste amongst their communities and homes. The inclusion of a child selected location and need for collaboration to effectively clean the area enables a sense of pride amongst students and provides a sense of autonomy. Children would benefit from your chosen area as pollution and waste management can be continued into adult life. I would imagine by the end of your unit of work children would develop beyond the curriculums intention and become proactive in development of a sustainable future.

The inclusion of a photo image and poster creation provides a multimodal effect which would allow children to be engaged and make meaning through what resonates with them, appropriate to year group as children continue to develop their disposition for learning.

I wonder if you were able to include what they have learnt into everyday life such as a school initiative to participate in the management of recycle bins and composted waste left over from the canteen and school lunches. Children could develop signage and assist in the sorting of recycle material I.e. paper waste to be put in assigned bin.

Well done

Octavia Cooper

Reference List

        Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2014). Foundation to year 10 curriculum: Understand how Humanities and Social Sciences works (ACHASSK072). Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-sciences/hass/?strand=Inquiry+and+skills&strand=Knowledge+and+Understanding&capability=ignore&priority=ignore&year=12099&elaborations=true&cd=ACHASSK072&searchTerm=ACHASSK072#dimension-content

         Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. [ACARA]. (2014). Foundation to year 10 curriculum: Humanities and Social Sciences. Curriculum Rationale. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-sciences/civics-and-citizenship/rationale/

       Brady, L., & Kennedy, K. (2011). Assessment and reporting. Melbourne, Australia: Pearson.

       Canadian Education Association [CEA]. (2018). The facts on education: Is inquiry learning effective? Retrieved from https://www.edcan.ca/wp-content/uploads/CEA-FACTS-ON-ED_INQUIRY-BASED-LEARNING.pdf.

       Dejaeghere, J., & Tudball, L. (2007). Looking back, looking forward: critical citizenship as a way ahead for civics and citizenship education in Australia. Citizenship Teaching and Learning, 3(2), 40 - 57.

       Gilbert, R., Tudball, L, and Brett, P. (Eds.) (2020). Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences (7th edn). Melbourne: Cengage. [Formerly Gilbert and Hoepper (2017)]