In term 3 our Inquiry Studies unit in Year 6 was government. The initial thought of the students was this unit is going to be boring ( and sometimes this is the reaction of the teacher as well). Anyhow the unit was rewritten and reworked to make sure it was more of a true inquiry unit and one that would appeal to the students.- What does a government do and what would occur if we did not have a government?
This provoked some interesting questions and discussions amongst the class with the students thinking deeply about their responses.
2. Different types of government.
In this section we looked at democracy, communism, dictatorships and monarchies. Students were divided into groups who had to do a short presentation on their assigned topic. The students used http://www.glogster.com/ and http://www.wallwisher.com/ for their presentations. I was most impressed with the quality of what each group presented. Whilst the presentations were occurring the rest of the class were on their laptops taking notes using a live chat on www.todaysmeet.com This was excellent as the students took terrific notes which I believe they would not have done if using a pen and paper.
3. Taking a Stand
This was probably the most impressive part of the unit. Basically students had to choose an issue that interested them, research so they were fully aware of all aspects of the issue and then take action and make others aware of the issue. Some of the topics chosen by the students were children in detention, live cattle export, pollution in Hong Kong, shark finning, coal seam gas mining, the use of horses to pull carriages and the right to vote in Hong Kong to name a few. Some of the associated activities to spread their message was done through twitter, creating online petitions, creating a facebook page, designing posters and building a website. I was so impressed with all of the students and what they did in this section. They now have the awareness that they can make a difference in a democracy.
4. How an Australian Election takes place.
The students were fascinated with the election process and also how preferential voting works. We conducted an election based on favourite foods and this was given to all students in Years 2 and 3. During the voting count informal votes became clear as did how a second and third preference can truly count.
5. How the Australian Parliament work?
The structure of the current Australian parliament and the independent members holding the balance of power made this section very interesting. We redesigned our classroom to resemble the House of Representatives and this showed the students how it all works so to speak. The biggest issue in Australian politics during this unit was that of refugees being sent off shore and the high court ruling this illegal. This issue led to numerous questions from the students particularly on what Julia Gillard needed to do to make this a law.
Overall I was thrilled at the way this unit worked. I was thrilled with the interest shown by the students and the manner in which they participated. I look forward to teaching it again in the future.
