Session 4 - Belmont City College Year 9 HASS - Civics and Citizenship

Getting into groups of 5

1. There is a poster on the window indicating particular attributes

2. To get access to the classroom, how successfully can you create the following

3. A group made up of:-

• At least two people of each gender

• At least one person born in a non English speaking country 

• At least one person who can speak a second language

• At least one person living in a non-nuclear family (2 parents and 2-3 children)

• At least one person who is comfortable with public speaking

• At least one person who is a creative thinker

• At least one person who is a balanced mediator

Political Groups

1. In your group, discuss your knowledge of the statements provided

2. Nominate a number for each person according to the following criteria

• 1 = greatly agree

• 2 = agree

• 3 = neutral

• 4 = disagree

• 5 = greatly disagree

1. These will be placed on the board for each group to compare. 

2. What do you need to do to form a group that adheres to the initial criteria but with similar opinions? 

Creative Habits - What are they? How are they beneficial?

• Collaboration

• Persistence

• Discipline

• Imagination

• Inquisitive

Successes

• Collaborating in their groups regardless on who is in it, it is productive and interactive

• Groupings were a success particularly as we didnt have to choose the group as they managed to form them as per the instructions

• The student’s opinions are generally quite informative

Challenges

• Non-nuclear family was a big question mark for most students.

• Although they all claimed to have a mediator in their group, only one student was able to explain what a mediator was

• Students are often sure they know fact from fiction and can be quick to assume they are right

The group activities are working really well. The group selection criteria is being successful and producing interesting group dynamics, particularly mixing male and female after they visually divided themselves last week. 

‘I’m generally very anti working in groups but I’m really pleased to see how well they are functioning’. 

Getting to voice their opinions and have a say is engaging students. A lot of the time they would usually get told the answer rather than being able to work it out themselves. Having no idea what is happening in each session is definitely making them curious.