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Magna Carta: The story of our freedom

Teacher guide Magna Carta: The story of our freedom

TLF ID M019882

This is a resource about the Magna Carta (Great Charter) agreed between King John and his rebellious barons in 1215 and its influence on the development of human rights and democratic freedoms to the present day. The resource consists of: an animated infographic ‘Tell the story’ with hyperlinks to further information; an animated video ‘The story of our freedom’ (4:11min) with audio description and transcript; and a set of teacher resources with study guides for years 5 - 6; and 9 -10. There are numerous links to other student and teacher resources throughout. The teacher resource screen lists six sets of resources about Magna Carta and three about human rights, while the study guides contain website links to enable students to complete the activities suggested.

Tags: Year 10 Civics
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Educational details

Educational value
  • This rich, multi-layered resource is of outstanding value for the civics and citizenship and history curriculums. In the Knowledge and understanding strand of civics and citizenship it supports a range of content descriptions in years 5, 6, 8 and 9 including those referring to the key values that underpin Australia's democratic system of government (year 5); key institutions of Australia's democratic system of government based on the Westminster system (year 6); freedoms that enable active participation in Australia's democracy within the bounds of law (year 8); and key principles of Australia's justice system, including equality before the law (year 9).The resource is equally valuable for the Knowledge and understanding strand of the history curriculum. The year 5 and 6 study guide offers strong support; for content descriptions in year 6 that refer to key events that led to Australia's Federation, including British influences on Australia's system of law and government, and the experiences of Australian democracy and citizenship, including the status and rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, migrants and women.
  • The year 9 and10 study guide is highly relevant for various history depth studies in these years. In the year 9 depth study 'Making a nation'; the guide supports the content description about key events and ideas in the development of Australian self-government and democracy, including women's voting rights. In the year 10 depth study 'Rights and freedoms (1945-the present)', the student investigations are relevant for content descriptions referring to the origins and significance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including Australia's involvement in the development of the declaration, and to the continuing nature of efforts to secure civil rights and freedoms in Australia.
  • The pedagogical approach in the study guides is appropriate for the intended students and likely to engage their interest. The activities provide opportunities for students to develop and enhance the skills emphasised in the Skills strands of both history and civics and citizenship. In history these include processing and synthesising information from a range of sources for use as evidence in an historical argument in years 9 and 10. In civics and citizenship they include content descriptions referring to presenting civics and citizenship ideas and viewpoints using civics and citizenship terms and concepts in years 5 and 6, and to reaching consensus on a course of action relating to a civics or citizenship issue and planning for that action in year 9.
Year level

5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10

Topics Aboriginal history Creating texts Word meanings Treaties Migration Parliamentarians Australian history Lawyers Constitutions Data analysis Economic growth Data representation Parliaments Chinese history Human rights Civil rights Freedom of speech Legal equality International relations Imperialism Constitutional monarchy Law Judiciary Courts Terrorism Evidence Judgement Democracy Social equality Elections Fair play Federation Women´s rights Women Political leaders Indian history Indonesian history International law Japanese history Juries Oral presentations Torres Strait Islander history Significant people Historical sources Indigenous rights
Learning area
  • Humanities and social sciences
  • Civics and citizenship
  • History

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: Australian Human Rights Commission
  • Organization: Australian Human Rights Commission
  • URL: http://www.humanrights.gov.au/
  • Publisher
  • Name: Australian Human Rights Commission
  • Organization: Australian Human Rights Commission
  • Description: Publisher
  • URL: http://www.humanrights.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
  • Unknown
Learning Resource Type
  • Online
  • Video
Rights
  • © Australian Human Rights Commission 2014. With the exception of the Australian Human Rights Commission logo, photographs and images, and any content provided by third parties, material presented in this publication is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence.