Episode 6 Questions for discussion 13th March 2018 Voting Age Experiment 1. Discuss the BTN story as a class. What points were raised in the discussion? 2. Currently, how old do you have to be to vote? 3. In what year were women given the right to vote? 4. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people weren’t allowed to have their say until ___________. 5. Why do some people think the voting age should be lowered to 16? 6. What are the arguments against lowering the voting age? 7. Why are they holding a mock election at Scotch College? 8. The votes will be included in the official election result. True or false? 9. Do you think the voting age should be lowered to 16? Explain your answer. 10. What questions do you have after watching the BTN story? Check out the Voting Age resource on the Teachers page. Australia’s Population History 1. What did the BTN story explain? 2. The world population is a. 7 million b. 7 billion c. 77 billion 3. The population of Australia is approaching… 4. It’s predicted Australia’s population will reach 39 million by ______________. 5. It’s thought that before the arrival of the First Fleet, Australia’s population was less than a million Indigenous people. True or false? 6. What happened in the 19th century that attracted people to Australia from all over the word? 7. Why was there a baby boom in the 1940s? 8. Why is our population rising faster now? 9. What are the pros and cons of a growing population? 10. What do you understand more clearly since watching the story? Write a message about the story and post it in the comments section on the story page. Kids Contribute 1. Briefly summarise the Kids Contribute story. 2. Describe the volunteer work Kexin does. 3. Who does she volunteer with? 4. She works alongside Peter who is a ____________________. 5. Why are they trying to restore the parklands? 6. Why did Kexin want to start volunteering? 7. What is the BTN Kids Contribute survey hoping to find out? ©ABC 2018 8. Give some examples of how kids can contribute at home, school or in their community. 9. What are the benefits of contributing? 10. How do you contribute? Give an example of what you do and how it makes you feel. Check out the Kids Contribute resource on the Teachers page. Plastic Ocean Campaigner 1. What was the main point of the BTN story? 2. What is the name of the documentary Airlian has made? 3. What does he call himself in the documentary? 4. What is Airlian passionate about? 5. About how much plastic ends up in the ocean every year? a. 1 million tonnes b. 5 million tonnes c. 8 million tonnes 6. What inspired Airlian to make a documentary about plastic waste? 7. What can sea turtles mistake plastic bags for? 8. What are some ways we can reduce the amount of plastic in the environment? 9. What questions do you have after watching the BTN story? 10. How can you make a difference? Working in pairs, brainstorm some solutions to the plastic waste problem. Do the quiz on the BTN website. Oldest Message in a Bottle 1. Explain the BTN story to another student. 2. Where did Tonya find the message in a bottle? 3. How old is the message? 4. What information was written on the note? 5. The note was part of an experiment by the ___________Naval Observatory. 6. What was the purpose of the experiment? 7. When do experts think the message washed up on the beach? 8. What was written on the back of the message? 9. What was surprising about the story? 10. What did you learn watching the BTN Oldest Message in a Bottle story? Write a message about the story and post it in the comments section on the story page. Get your class involved in BTN’s Ask A Reporter! This week’s topic is Voting Age Experiment. ©ABC 2018 Episode 6 Teacher Resource 13th March 2018 November 2016 Voting Age Students will explore and 1. Discuss the BTN story as a class. What points were raised in the understand voting in elections in discussion? Australia. Students will plan 2. Currently, how old do you have to be to vote? presentations using their skills of verbal persuasion to convince the 3. In what year were women given the right to vote? class the voting age should be 4. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people weren’t allowed to have lowered to 16. their say until ___________. 5. Why do some people think the voting age should be lowered to 16? 6. What are the arguments against lowering the voting age? 7. Why are they holding a mock election at Scotch College? HASS / Civics and citizenship – 8. The votes will be included in the official election result. True or false? Year 5 9. Do you think the voting age should be lowered to 16? Explain your The key features of the electoral answer. process in Australia. 10. What questions do you have after watching the BTN story? Civics and Citizenship – Year 7 Reflect on their role as a citizen in Australia’s democracy. English / Literacy – Year 5 Plan, draft and publish imaginative, Class Discussion informative and persuasive print and Discuss the BTN Voting Age story as a class. multimodal texts, choosing text Record what students know about voting on a structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to mind map. What questions do they have about purpose and audience. voting and elections? Use the following questions to help guide English / Literacy – Year 6 Plan, draft and publish imaginative, • What is voting? informative and persuasive texts, • Who can vote? choosing and experimenting with text structures, language • How old do you have to be to vote in features, images and digital Australia? resources appropriate to purpose • Do you think being able to vote is important? Why or why not? and audience. English / Literacy – Year 7 Glossary Plan, draft and publish imaginative, Create your own classroom glossary about voting. Start by brainstorming informative and persuasive texts, selecting aspects of subject matter words as a class using a mind map to record your responses. Add to your list and particular language, visual, and of words by downloading the BTN Voting Age story transcript and audio features to convey information highlighting all the words that relate to voting. Find definitions for each word. and ideas. Consider using pictures and diagrams to illustrate meanings. Vote Election Ballot Box Candidate Political party Campaign Electoral roll Poll Get your class involved in BTN’s Ask A Reporter! This week’s topic is Voting Age Experiment. ©ABC 2018 Class vote Have you ever voted? Students will think of different situations where they have been able to have their vote. For example, in the classroom with hands-up voting, at home in family decisions or at clubs voting for new members. Does your school hold elections? Get Voting is everything you need to run a free and fair election for your class or school. Visit the Source: Australian Electoral Commission Australian Electoral Commission to download resources. Students will investigate the issue of changing the voting age in Australia and develop either a persuasive text or hold a mini debate. Persuasive text Students will explore the issue and develop a persuasive text for or against the following statement: `The voting age in Australia should be lowered to 16. Students can use the information recorded on the mind map and their own research to help develop their argument. Encourage students to use a range of sources. Provide students with the following structure to follow when completing this activity. Structure Tips Introduction o Who is your audience? For example, are o What is the point you are trying to argue? you directing your argument at kids, Construct an introductory paragraph which teachers or politicians? states the issue or topic. o Explore how language choices can have a o Introduce the arguments that will be big impact on persuading your audience. developed in the body of the text. o Which language devices give the report credibility and authority? Body o Which are designed to create an emotional o Construct arguments that support your response in the listener? point of view. o Provide facts and evidence to support your o Each paragraph starts with a topic sentence argument. which introduces each point. o Write in the present tense. o The rest of the paragraph gives more o Check your spelling and punctuation. reasons. o Arguments can be ordered from strongest Use this Read Write Think persuasion map to to weakest. plan your exposition text. Conclusion o Restate your position on the argument. o Construct a concluding paragraph that provides a summary of your arguments and a call to action. ©ABC 2018 Mini Debate • Working in pairs, students will prepare a 1-2 minute speech for a mini debate on the topic of lowering the voting age. One person will speak for the affirmative and the other will speak for the negative. • Before students begin to construct their argument, ask them to record what they already know about the topic and what they would like to find out. Students then research the topic to gain a greater understanding of the issue. • Ask students to list their arguments in point form on paper (without their partner seeing them). When they have done this, ask them to choose the five best points that will form the basis for their debate. • Students will write in point form, their debate on cards that fit into the palm of their hand.