DISCOVERING DEMOCRACY UNIT

QUEENSLAND AND VICTORIAN SOSE OUTCOMES

LINKS TO CURRENT TOPICS/PROGRAMS AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• What has government got to do with you?
• Public opinion and government decisions

2. What are the main types of government?

• Ancient Greece – time and place
• Types of government

3. What was it like to live in a democracy in Ancient Athens?

• A citizen’s life; life in Athens; democracy in Athens
• Crossword
• Contrasting Athens and Sparta

4. How do the people rule in Australia?

• Population and democracy
• The House of Representatives and the Senate
• Voting
• More direct democracy for Australia?
• Stories of Democracy CD ROM
• Conduct and interview; class debates

TCC 4.4: Students critique information sources to show the positive and negative effects of a change or continuity on different groups

TCC 5.1: Students use primary and secondary evidence to identify the development of ideas from ancient to modern times

TCC 5.3: Students collaborate to locate and systematically record information about the contributions of people in diverse past settings

TCC 5.5: Students identify values inherent in historical sources to reveal who benefits or is disadvantaged by particular heritages

C&I 5.4: Students describe how governments have caused changes to particular cultural groups

SRP 4.3: Students enact democratic processes in familiar settings using knowledge of representative government

SRP 5.3: Students use a structured decision-making process to suggest participatory action regarding a significant current environmental, business, political or legal issue

SRP 5.5: Students apply the value of social justice to suggest ways of improving access to democracy in Queensland or Australian political settings

SRP 6.5: Students apply understandings of social justice and democratic process to suggest ways of improving access to economic, political and legal power

Victoria

Economy and society

1. Identify key features of Australia’s political system at local, state and federal levels

• Identify and trace the history of the key values of representative democracy, including participation, representation, rights and responsibilities
• Explain the ways in which individuals and community groups can participate in political processes.

2. Explain how and why local rules and laws are made and changed in Australia

• Identify the need for rules and laws and the values which underpin rule and law making
• Identify the difference between legal and non-legal rules and ways of making and changing rules in the home, school and community
• Compare decision-making at school, at home and within community groups, including local and state government.

Government and business/ consumer regulations.

• Stories of Democracy CD ROM – The images and text provide an overview of the unit. Students investigate power in the hands of the people and comapre citizenship in Athens with citizenship in Sparta. The CD offers an opportunity to clarify terms eg ‘direct democracy, dictatorship… The game involves matching words to meanings.
• Parliament at Work CD ROM. Contains information on preferential voting.