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For the good of all - Australian democracy: unit of work

Teacher guide For the good of all - Australian democracy: unit of work

TLF ID M009452

This is a unit of work about constitutions and how they embody a particular view of the common good. Intended for lower and middle secondary students, the unit involves students taking on a particular individual perspective and working in jigsaw groups to draw up a constitution and vote on each of its provisions. The various constitutions are then compared to see what overriding value or principle each constitution upholds. The unit provides templates for a PMI (Plus, Minus and Interesting) chart and a Venn diagram as well as two worksheets.

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Educational details

Educational value
  • This is a useful resource for the civics and citizenship curriculum area. By the end of year 9, students are generally expected to have had the opportunity to explore significant features and principles of democracy in Australia, including the common good. The unit's extended simulation of constitution writing helps students understand that establishing the common good involves compromise and consideration of fairness, equality, freedom, tolerance and equity.
  • Although challenging, the suggested strategies are appropriate for the intended learners. The suggested time for the unit, 80-100 minutes, may be possible for students who know something about constitutions and are experienced in group process and procedures. Teachers will need to use their professional judgement about the time their students will need to complete this interesting activity.
Year level

7; 8; 9

Topics Constitutions Constitutional law
Learning area
  • Civics and citizenship

Other details

Contributors
  • Contributor
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Copyright Holder
  • Name: Commonwealth of Australia
  • Organization: Commonwealth of Australia
  • Address: ACT, AUSTRALIA
  • Publisher
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Name: The Department of Education\, Employment and Workplace Relations (DE
  • Organization: The Department of Education\, Employment and Workplace Relations (DE
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: ACT, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.deewr.gov.au
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Generic
Learning Resource Type
  • Online
Rights
  • © Commonwealth of Australia 2009. With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms and the DEEWR logo and copyright material that is owned by third parties, you may use the material in accordance with a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (CC BY-SA) 3.0 Australia licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/au/ provided that appropriate acknowledgement is made, the material is not subjected to derogatory treatment and any derivative work attributes the original material and identifies the changes that have been made to it.