Blog 2- Geography learning in the context of civics and citizenship learning

Hello again, to parents and guardians of grade 3 students. In today’s blog post we will be focusing on citizenship learning in the context of our Geography topic for this term. This is based on the neighbouring countries of Australia and their diverse characteristics with a focus on global awareness. 

Geography Education is a significant part of the HASS curriculum as it aims to help students engage with the world around them by exploring the concepts shown below. The teaching of global awareness has changed from outlining this topic to it now being explicitly linked to the content that is taught throughout the curriculum. This is an important concept for students to learn as the world become increasingly interconnected it would be useful for them to be able to relate and communicate across cultures as if they were active and informed citizens. Also, through developing their understanding of these key geographical skills they will be able to better understand the issues surrounding “place” and how they can manage these problems. 

Through looking at the HASS curriculum it is clear that the Grade 3 students will be looking at the geographical similarities and differences between Australia’s neighbouring countries and Australia content descriptor. This will help further develop their global perspective on some of the geographical concepts shown earlier as well as beginning their journey to becoming more globally aware. This will also help them in meeting other aspects of the Australian Curriculum such as the cross-curriculum priorities of Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia as well as sustainability. 

To allow students to achieve this standard of the HASS curriculum they will undertake a project developed for them to complete. To engage students in this topic they will complete a geography quiz as a whole class (Shown below). This is useful as it will allow for some form of discussion surrounding what the students know about Australia's neighbouring countries. This project is going to focus on the students undertaking research about a country located within the Asia Pacific region such as Indonesian and to compare the natural and human characteristics from this country to Australia's geographical characteristics. Natural and human characteristics can refer to topics such as weather, the vegetation that is grown in a particular country, the way the population communicates, and how the political system is running. Upon the completion of this quiz, the students will undertake research on their chosen country and Australia through answering some key questions (see appendix 1) which will be communicated to the whole class through the use of programs such as PowerPoint or Prezi. 

As a parent or carer, you can support your child’s learning in a range of ways. Examples of this include asking questions of your child about what they are learning at school in HASS and talk about your own personal experiences. For example, if you have travelled to neighbouring countries from Australia discuss what you did and saw so the students can fully appreciate the geographical differences between each country. 

                                                          Reference List

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2019, March 16). The Australian Curriculum: Humanities and Social Sciences (Version 8.3), All Subjects, Year 3, all curriculum elements, all curriculum dimensions. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/download?view=f10

Dyer, J. (2002). Shifting constructs of global education: The role of travel in meeting new challenges for teachers. The Social Educator, 28 (2), 4-11. 

MCEETYA. (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 primary school. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.                          

Skelton, M., Wigford, A., Harper, P., Reeves, G. (2002). Beyond food, festivals, and flags. Educational Leadership. 60 (2), 52-55

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

                                                             Appendixes 

Blog 1- Civics and Citizenship Blog

                                     

                                         

Hello, to all parents and guardians of grade 3 students. Welcome, to our class blog, this is where I will be discussing what our students are learning about in Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS).  Within this blog post, I will be talking about the importance of civics and citizenship education (CCE) as well as our first unit of work which is based on the topic of participation in communities.

In the Australian Curriculum, CCE is an important element as it provides young Australians with the knowledge and skills needed to be a fully participative and enthusiastic citizen in a democratic society. According to Tudball and Brett (2014) CCE places emphasis on the learning of moral knowledge, contemporary issues, and action based skills to help students communicate with local, global, and national communities. These are important skills that students need to develop to successfully contribute to society and is the major reason why they are being fully focused upon in this unit of work.  

In year 3 CCE the students are briefly introduced to the idea of democracy and what this is. The students, in particular, will get an opportunity to reflect and learn about the idea of being a citizen within a group or a community and how an individual can be involved in them which is an explicit focus of our first unit of work. By teaching students about this aspect of CCE it will help them develop their understanding of action based skills and contemporary issues as they will participate in decision-making processes based on an issue. Through looking at the curriculum it is clear the students will be looking at the content descriptor related to how and why individuals participate in community activities and ways they themselves can participate in their community.

                                            

To allow students to achieve this standard of the curriculum an active citizenship project has been developed for the grade 3’s. This project is going to focus on the issue of sustainability, with attention given to the importance of Clean Up Australia Day (CUAD). To engage students in this task they will collect data surrounding the trash that is generated around the school and the effects this is having on our environment. Students will be presented with a range of photos of an environment where rubbish pollution has affected it. They will be guided in this discussion through questions such as how can we keep our environment clean?, what is the importance of CUAD?  and is there ways we can encourage our community to keep the environment clean? The students will be placed into small groups where they will design an ad campaign to help encourage community members to participate in CUAD.

As a parent or guardian, you can support your child’s learning in many ways. Examples include asking the students questions at home about their learning, follow on from the Clean Up Australia Day focus by having a clean-up at home, and through participating in other community events to help reinforce your child’s learning.

                                                        Reference List

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2019). The Australian Curriculum: Humanities and Social Sciences (Version 8.1). (Humanities and Social Sciences, Year 3, curriculum elements). Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

Mellor, S. (2013). [online] Available at: https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=civics [Accessed 12th Mar. 2019].

Sigauke, A. (2013). [online] Ro.ecu.edu.au. Available at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1930&context=ajte [Accessed 8th Mar. 2019].

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.

Schulz, W. (2008). [online] Research.acer.edu.au. Available at: https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=civics [Accessed 13 Mar. 2019].