Episode 27 Questions for discussion 19th September 2017 Hurricane Irma Recovery 1. Briefly summarise the Hurricane Irma story. 2. Where in the United States do Gaby and Bella live? 3. How did they feel when they heard the hurricane was coming? 4. What had the supermarket sold out of? 5. Why were some cars left on the side of the road? 6. Hurricane Irma did huge amounts of damage in places like ______________. 7. Describe the devastation on the island of Saint Martin. 8. Who visited the French territories in the Caribbean? 9. How are Gaby and Bella feeling about going back to their home? 10. What do you understand more clearly after watching the BTN story? Write a message about the story and post it in the comments section on the story page. School Uniform Debate 1. In pairs, discuss the School Uniform story. What issues were raised in the discussion? 2. What did a recent study find about kids who were shorts or pants to school? 3. Who did Sophia write to about the uniform issue? 4. What did the Education Department decide about school uniforms? 5. Western Australia’s government made it compulsory for all public schools to give girls a choice between dresses and pants. True or false? 6. Which other state has said it might bring in similar rules? 7. What is the name of the group that is campaigning for change? 8. What questions do you have about the BTN story? 9. What do you think? Should it be up to individual schools to decide what their students wear? Give reasons for your answer. 10. What’s the uniform policy at your school? Is there anything you would change about your school uniform? Write a message about the story and post it in the comments section on the story page. Kangaroo Control 1. Hold a class discussion for the Kangaroo Control story with another student. Record the main points of your discussion. 2. About how many kangaroos are there in Australia? 3. Why are kangaroos a problem at the Sandy Creek Conservation Park? 4. Why is over-grazing a problem? ©ABC 2017 5. How long has ecologist David Paton been monitoring the fenced-off area? 6. What does he think should happen? 7. What does it mean to `cull’? 8. Why are some people against the idea? 9. Why do some people think eating kangaroo meat is a good way to keep kangaroo numbers down? 10. Do you think culling kangaroos is a good idea? Give reasons for your answer. Check out the Kangaroo Control resource on the Teachers page New $10 Note 1. What did the BTN story explain? 2. What new features does the $10 note have? 3. Describe a security feature of the new note. 4. Who are the two famous faces on the $10 note? 5. Name three facts you learnt about Banjo Patterson. 6. What well known poems did he write? 7. Describe the work that Dame Mary Gilmore did. 8. Why do you think she was included on the $10 note? 9. What did you learn watching the BTN story? 10. Do you like the new $10 note? Give reasons for your answer. Check out the New $10 Note resource on the Teachers page Minecraft Playground 1. Explain the BTN story to another student. 2. Where in Australia has the playground been built? 3. Which computer game did they use to help them with their design? 4. Describe the playground the students designed. 5. What materials did they use to build the playground? 6. Describe one of the features of the playground. 7. Why are computer programs useful when designing something like a park? 8. How do the students feel about the final product? 9. What did you like about the park in the BTN story? 10. Illustrate an aspect of the story. Design a piece of play equipment using a computer program like Minecraft. Do ©ABC 2017 Episode 27 Teacher Resource 19th September 2017 Kangaroo Control 1. Hold a class discussion for the Kangaroo Control story with another Students will explore the issue of culling kangaroos and hold a mini student. Record the main points of your discussion. debate. 2. About how many kangaroos are there in Australia? 3. Why are kangaroos a problem at the Sandy Creek Conservation Park? 4. Why is over-grazing a problem? 5. How long has ecologist David Paton been monitoring the fenced-off Science – Year 6 area? Scientific knowledge is used to 6. What does he think should happen? solve problems and inform 7. What does it mean to `cull’? personal and community decisions 8. Why are some people against the idea? Science – Year 7 9. Why do some people think eating kangaroo meat is a good way to Solutions to contemporary issues keep kangaroo numbers down? that are found using science and technology, may impact on 10. Do you think culling kangaroos is a good idea? Give reasons for your other areas of society and may answer. involve ethical considerations Interactions between organisms, including the effects of human activities can be represented by food chains and food webs After watching the BTN Kangaroo Control story, respond to the following English – Year 5 questions: Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, - What did you SEE in this video? choosing text structures, language - What do you THINK about what you saw in this video? features, images and sound - What does this video make your WONDER? appropriate to purpose and audience - What did you LEARN from this story? - What was SURPRISING about this story? English – Year 6 Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, choosing and experimenting Class Discussion with text structures, language Hold a class discussion asking students the following questions: features, images and digital resources appropriate to purpose • What do you know about kangaroos? and audience • What words would you use to describe kangaroos? • What does it mean to `cull’? • Why do some people think kangaroo populations need to be controlled? • Why are some people against the idea? ©ABC 2017 BTN Stories To gain a deeper understanding about the issue of culling, students can watch the following BTN stories. BTN Camel Plague story BTN Croc Cull story Six Hat Thinking As a class, use Edward De Bono’s Six Hat Thinking to explore the issues raised in the BTN Kangaroo Control story. Make your own coloured hat cut-outs and place on the floor. Students will take it in turns answering questions in relation to what they already know about the issue, what they have learned from the BTN Kangaroo Control story and what they want to learn further about the topic. Ask students the following questions: How did the Kangaroo Control story make you feel? What do you know about kangaroos? What have you learnt from the story? Were there any positives from the story? If so, what were they? What are some of the negatives or challenges that you learnt from the story? Why is it important to find out more about the issue? What questions were raised during this activity? What do you want to learn further about this topic? ©ABC 2017 Creature Feature Students will research and write a Creature Feature about kangaroos. Display your research around the classroom. Use this Creature Feature: Kangaroo worksheet to record your findings. Encourage students to use a range of sources to find their information. ©ABC 2017 Mini Debate – Kangaroo Cull Before preparing for the mini-debate, students will investigate the environmental and moral/ethical issues related to culling kangaroos. Preparing for your mini debate • Working in pairs, students will prepare a 1-2-minute speech for a mini debate on the topic of culling kangaroos. 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. Their debate needs to have an introduction (introducing the topic), middle (three main points) and a conclusion (restating their position). Students practise their speech and then present the mini debate to other students. Guide for giving feedback Reflection • Was the information clear and • How difficult was it to think of points to accurate? support one side of the argument? • Were the arguments logical? • Could I have done a better job • Were the counter arguments accurate supporting the other side of the and relevant? argument? • Comments about the presentation style • Was I able to convince others of my (tone of voice, body language, opinion? enthusiastic, convincing). • Did my opinion change? • What did I learn from this activity? Opinion Poll Students will conduct their own opinion poll on the issue of culling kangaroos. Working in groups, students will need to decide who their sample group will be and how many people will be polled. What method will they use to conduct the poll? (Face to face interviews or written responses). • Ask students to graph the opinion poll results and display in the classroom. Students can reflect on how reliable they think the results were. What would they do differently next time? • Students may want to film their interviews and then create a movie to present to other students.