Civics and citizenship / Year 8 / Civics and Citizenship Skills / Communication and reflection

Curriculum content descriptions

Present evidence-based civics and citizenship arguments using subject-specific language (ACHCS073)

Elaborations
  • using appropriate terms and concepts such as ‘freedoms’, ‘responsibilities’, ‘statutory law’ and ‘customary law’
  • creating material for public distribution with a specific purpose and context (for example, an advertisement promoting participation in Australia’s democracy)
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
ScOT terms

Reasoning,  Citizenship

Online

Australian Civics and Citizenship Curriculum Year 8 unit of work

The activities and assessments in the unit will help develop students’ understanding of how citizens can participate in a democratic society and the different types of law.

Text

Civics and Citizenship

This resource supports the National Assessment Program Civics and Citizenship (NAPCC) designed to explore student’s knowledge, skills and understanding of the civics and citizenship learning area. This document has been written by teachers to assist in preparation for assessment in the area of Civics and Citizenship. The ...

Video

The Australian Dream: Racism

This clip highlights Adam Goodes’s belief that the whole community needs to work together to put an end to racism. Through the heartbreaking story of Nicky Winmar and Gilbert McAdam, you'll get an insight into how far we've come in tackling racism, but Adam shows us how far we still have to go. Find out how people used ...

Video

Birds and totems

Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian man Bruce Pascoe shares his delight in encountering birds on Country. Bruce explains the significance of Umburra, or black duck, and his obligation to care for the species. Bruce explains that his brothers and sisters look after other animals, such as kangaroos, bream, wallabies, flathead and ...

Video

Aboriginal Cultures, Ch 14: Identity, racism and connection

How do you identify yourself? For some of us our identity is linked to the way we look, but for many people, especially in a multicultural country like Australia, it is generally more complicated. Does the way you look inform how you identify yourself? Grace is a Yorta Yorta person, and her identity is linked to her connection ...

Video

NSW Governor Marie Bashir – 2010 speech to students

This resource is a YouTube playlist containing a series of videos from a speech the NSW Governor Marie Bashir gave to senior high school students at Government House in 2010. She speaks on a range of topics, including the Australian system of government, the history of Australia and NSW, and her life. She also answers ...

Text

SDG Lesson Plans for New Zealand Teachers

This book aims to provide teachers with practical activities to fuel classroom engagement and discussion about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Each lesson plan focusses on an important theme inherent in the SDGs (“Sustainable food”, “Cities”, “Women and equality” etc.) and provides multiple activities ...

Text

Active Citizens: Globally connected, locally engaged

While this is designed for use with adults, some of the learning activities are suitable for use in secondary classrooms. Find learning activities exploring identity, cultural understandings, managing difference and conflict.

Text

Sustainable Foundations: A guide to teaching the Sustainable Development Goals

This extensive guide drills down into each of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and includes useful links and examples of action for each Goal.

Text

The World’s Largest Lesson!

This resource promotes use of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in learning. Find lesson ideas, videos and posters that explore each of the SDGs in detail.

Text

Contemporary issues in Civics and Citizenship

This resource is designed to help teachers to think about their own practices and explore a number of common approaches to the discussion of contemporary issues. The resource includes six professional learning modules, with pre-readings, group activities, discussion questions and prompts, plus other resources. Module themes ...

Text

Australian Constitution Centre Resources

Find detailed lesson plans for appropriate levels of schooling supporting topics such as the Rule of Law, Representative Democracy, Australian identity, federation and the Constitution, Australia’s legal system, the Courts and the Australian Justice System, The Constitution and the Making of Law in Australia, The High Court ...

Text

Vincent Lingiari the Leader

This collection of resources focuses on Vincent Lingiari, his struggle and determination for rights for Indigenous Australians. Find out more about the Wave Hill Walk-off and what Lingiari achieved on behalf of his people.

Video

Key concepts in Civics and Citizenship Levels 3–10

These six videos for teachers unpack key concepts in Civics and Citizenship highlighting perspectives of current primary and secondary teachers and students. Find videos relating to both content and effective pedagogies. Each video is accompanied by questions that can be used to prompt discussions to support teachers’ thinking ...

Online

Sensory Experience

This is a website about how the treatment and mainstream understanding of deaf and blind people has changed overtime. The resource has three sections: Introductory information; Story Objects; and Story Education Resources. There are 16 Story Objects that tell the stories of individuals, events and artefacts of deaf and ...

Text

Wildlife crime and the law

This sequence of five lesson ideas focuses on the concept that Australia's biosecurity and environmental wellbeing are enhanced when individuals understand the behaviours, rules and laws associated with being an environmentally responsible citizen. The resource provides students with the opportunity to explore how Australia’s ...

Video

Get involved

Explore the ways ordinary Australians can get involved in the work of Parliament with this short video (6:25 min). Find out how you can get informed about the work of the Parliament, the role of petitioning and ways to participate in parliamentary inquiries.

Video

The Australian Dream: Cultural identity

Cultural identity gives us a sense of connection and belonging and an understanding of who we are and where we come from. There is a direct connection between people's sense of cultural identity and their health and wellbeing. This clip explores some of our nation’s history, including how Australia Day is seen by both Indigenous ...

Video

BTN: History of voting

Australia's first parliamentary election was in 1843. What was different about voting then? When and how did that change to resemble elections we have now? See if you can list the three significant dates in Australia’s history of voting and the changes that occurred on those dates.

Text

Voting in Australia

The representatives elected to federal Parliament make decisions that affect many aspects of Australian life including tax, marriage, the environment, trade and immigration. This 28 page PDF document explains the history of Australia’s electoral system and how it works, Australia’s system of government and the role citizens ...