Open Access College Teaching and Learning Unit Plan 2021

Unit Planner Year 7/8 HASS

Learning Area Subject HASS Year Level 7/8 Sequence
Civics and Citizenship Duration: 10 wks
Unit Title Maintaining Law and Order

Description Within this unit students will learn about the complexities associated with the management of a
multicultural and diverse society through the study of Civics and Citizenship. Students will
explore the concepts of government, law, identity and diversity.

Learning Intentions By the end of this unit students will understand that:

● Diversity is significant and valuable

● Government is a way of managing many diverse people

● Laws are ensure everyone is safe and equal

● Our identity is partially tied to our sense of belonging

Assessment Task/s
Standing the Test of Time

Students will continue to develop their society which they established in the Geography unit, with a renewed focus on the
management of the people in their civilisation. They will come across new challenges in Civics related issues which they
will need to overcome using governance.

Achievement Year 7: Civics and Citizenship

Standards - Identify the ideas, values and principles that underpin the institutions and processes in
Australia’s political and legal systems

- Explain the diverse nature of Australian society

- Identify the importance of shared values in contemporary Australian society

- Formulate significant questions to investigate Australia’s political and legal systems

- Locate, collect and organise useful information from a range of primary and secondary
sources

- Examine sources to determine their origin, purpose and reliability and to identify and
describe values and perspectives

- Evaluate and synthesise information to draw conclusions

- When planning for action, students take into account multiple perspectives to develop
solutions to an issue

- Reflect on the learning to identify ways they can be active and informed citizens

- Present ideas, viewpoints, explanations and conclusions in a range of communication

forms that incorporate source materials, citations, and civics and citizenship terms and
concepts

Year 8: Civics and Citizenship

- Analyse features of Australian democracy, and explain features of Australia’s democracy

that enable active participation

- Recognise different types of law in Australia and explain how laws are made

- Identify the diverse belief systems in Australia and analyse issues about national identity
and the factors that contribute to people’s sense of belonging

- Develop a range of questions to investigate Australia’s political and legal systems and
Open Access College Teaching and Learning Unit Plan 2021

critically analyse information gathered from different sources for relevance

- Explain different points of view on civics and citizenship issues

- When planning for action, take into account multiple perspectives, use democratic
processes, and develop solutions to an issue

- Develop and present reasoned arguments on civics and citizenship issues using
appropriate texts, subject-specific language and concepts

- Identify ways they can be active and informed citizens in different contexts

Literacy Connections Numeracy Connection

Students develop their ability to use the terminology of
Civics and Citizenship through front loaded teaching of the
metalanguage of the subject. Students develop texts and
arguments on Civics issues, as well as, skills in constructing
paragraphs, drafting and editing.
Students develop their ability to use and manipulate
statistical data to strengthen their arguments. Students will
also develop an understanding of proportion in relation to
minorities and majorities to understand how this influences
governance.

Teaching and Week 1

Learning
Lesson 1: What is Civics and Citizenship?

During this lesson students will be introduced to the study of Civics and Citizenship. We will
Ensure elements of explore the etymology of the terms Civics and Citizenship to broaden our knowledge of these
Model, Share, Guide terms. We will also be introduced to the overarching themes for the term: Government, Law,
and Apply Identity and Diversity

Independent Work: Glossary of Terms

Week 2

Lesson 2: How do I fit into society?

During this lesson students will explore their identity by identifying the groups to which they
currently belong with a focus on how these groups have shaped their identity. We will also focus
on what we do to build a Sense of Belonging.

Independent Work: Who are you task

Week 3

Lesson 3: What are values?

During this lesson students will explore values and their importance to society. We will then
focus on the Australian values of Respect, Equality and Responsibility and how these are enacted
in society.

Independent Work: Identifying your Values Task

Week 4

Lesson 4: What unifies diverse people?

During this lesson students will explore how different groups of people come together to form a
collective identity through the use of the Australian Identity. We will explore the concepts of
shared values and shared identity.

Independent Work: Building and Incorporating Diversity into your Society

Open Access College Teaching and Learning Unit Plan 2021

Week 5

Lesson 5: What is the Government and what do they do?

During this lesson students will build an understanding of what government is by exploring the
Australian system. We will explore the division of powers across Federal, State and Local
Governments as well as, exploring the concept of Democracy through etymology. We will also
explore alternative forms of governance focusing on Dictatorship and Monarchy.

Independent Work: How are you going to manage your people?

Week 6

Lesson 6: How do politicians get into Government?

During this lesson students will explore the electoral system to build an understanding as to how
politicians get into power. We will do this by exploring the concept of Diversity and how the
voting system enables many voices to speak as one. If time permits we will explore the concept
of freedom of speech and how this keeps our government in check.

Independent Work: How are you going to incorporate the voice of your people into Governance?

Week 7

Lesson 7: What is the Law?

During the lesson students will explore the lawmaking process and different types of laws with a
focus on Criminal and Civil Laws. We will focus on Australian Law and students will take this
knowledge into their Test of Time task by creating a law for their own society.

Independent Work: Creating Laws

Week 8

Lesson 8: How do we enforce the law?

During the lesson students will explore the concept of Justice to build an understanding of how
laws are enforced with a focus on the criminal system. We will explore this through the ideas of
Burden of Proof, Right to a Fair Trial and Presumption of Innocence.

Independent Work: How are you going to enact justice in your society?

Week 9

Lesson 9: How does Diversity impact a society?

During this lesson students will explore how the diversity of society impacts the government and
law in Australia. We aim to understand that diversity is valuable because it adds value,
perspective and voice to our society. We will explore what diversity adds to our society.

Independent Work: How does diversity impact your society?

Week 10

Lesson 10: Wrapping Up

During this lesson students will understand the importance of the study of Civics and Citizenship
by exploring what we have studied and how they can apply this in their life outside of school.
Open Access College Teaching and Learning Unit Plan 2021