Session 3 - Belmont City College Year 9 HASS - Civics and Citizenship

1. Find a partner whose place of birth is closest to where you were born 

2. How can you do this without words?

3. For any solo students, find the person whose place of birth is closest to yours

Speed Debating

1. Sit opposite your partner on each side of the desk

2. Each pair will have a statement taken from the 2025 Vote Compass questionnaire

3. Each station will have 60 seconds to debate your POV - for or against, regardless of your personal belief

4. One side will rotate left, the other will rotate right

Results

1. What was the strongest ‘for’ argument you heard?

2. What was the strongest ‘against’ argument you heard and why?

3. What was the weakest ‘for’ argument you heard?

4. What was the weakest ‘against’ argument you heard and why?

5. Discuss your views

6. Have they changed regarding any of the statements?

7. If so, why?

Reflective Questions

1. Create a question relating to something you heard today but don’t understand

2. Write it on a post it note and stick to the white board 

3. What is something that you discovered today that you didn't already know?

Successes

• Engagement!!!

• They were all interested in what their next topic was

• Loud and passionate debating

• One particular student who is usually less engaged was one of the most animated and engaged

• Adding components to the session based on student response. We decided to get them to add their strongest and weakest arguments onto post it notes rather than just discuss

• Moving between stations was quick and efficient

• Getting students to put their name on the back which meant that they were then accountable for what was written.

Challenges

• 60 seconds was almost too quick. They all had so much to say

• Some students found it difficult to disagree with some of the statements

• Obvious white male privilege evident in some of the answers and debates, along with elements of racism and inequality. Although a challenge, it also helps with deciding how to structure future sessions

• Natural formation of groups into boys and girls

I’m not sure who is enjoying this more, us or the students. We purposefully used the warm up because we knew students would gravitate to those they were familiar with however we were curious to see how they would then manage to present opposing points of view. It was like watching a session of parliament. They were all so animated and got louder and louder, even those who were very quiet to begin with. Using post it notes to gather feedback, pose questions and share findings enabled us to further understand the students who were participating properly amongst the noise and those who could do better. Being able to write down that they wanted to understand tax breaks, subsidies and the difference between income tax and property tax helps us to plan sessions while their ideas on what they felt was the strongest and weakest argument for and against a topic indicates that the students definitely encompass different parts of the political axis. Many of their views appear to be influenced by social media, parents and possibly what they heard during the political campaign so it will be interesting for all of us to see where this leads as they begin to set up their political parties and decide on policies.