Lesson Focus Learning Area / Strand Year Level Implementation Date

Democratic Decision Making HASS- Exploring Places 3 Duration

1 hour

Prior knowledge of learners

 Students have engaged in vote taking throughout their school career, as well as regularly in the
classroom for a variety of things.
 Students are most likely unfamiliar with the term ‘democratic decision making’.

Lesson objective/s
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:

 Understand the reasons for and features of a democratic decision-making process.

Links to the curriculum
Knowledge and understanding
Civics and citizenship
The importance of making decisions democratically (ACHASSK070)
Who makes rules, why rules are important and the consequences of rules not being followed (ACHASSK071)
Inquiry and skills
Researching
Locate and collect information and data from different sources, including observations (ACHASSI053)
Analysing
Examine information to identify different points of view and distinguish facts from opinion (ACHASSI056)
Evaluating and reflecting
Draw simple conclusions based on analysis of information and data (ACHASSI058)
Interact with others with respect to share points of view (ACHASSI059)
Reflect on learning to propose actions in response to an issue or challenge and consider possible effects of
proposed actions (ACHASSK060)
Communicating
Present ideas, findings and conclusions in texts and modes that incorporate digital and non-digital
representations and discipline-specific terms (ACHASSI061)

General capabilities
Literacy
 Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
 Text knowledge
 Word knowledge
 Visual knowledge
Critical and creative thinking
 Inquiring — identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
 Generating ideas, possibilities and actions
 Reflecting on thinking and processes
 Analysing, synthesising and evaluating reasoning and procedures
Ethical understanding
 Understanding ethical concepts and issues
 Reasoning in decision-making and actions
 Exploring values, rights and responsibilities
Intercultural understanding
 Recognising culture and developing respect

Evidence of learning
Can the student:
Use information to share views on the importance of fairness in decision-making?
Present ideas about the steps involved in making a decision democratically?

Classroom Management Strategies

Scan the entire room

‘I’ll wait’- actually waiting
Positive reinforcement- paperclips
Hands up to ask a question- no calling out
Don’t get the work done- stay inside at lunch
High Five
Behaviour Ladder
Secret Student

Resources

HASS books
Pencil
Rubber
Ruler
Slideshow — Democratic decision-making
Sheet — Fact or opinion?
Sheet — Democratic decision-making

Talking sticks (Kagan structure)

Differentiation strategies

Students will work in mixed ability groups (seating plan)

Students will use talking sticks during group activities to ensure everyone gets a say and there are no ‘hogs’ or
‘logs’ during the activity.

Lesson Introduction
 Introducing the topic
Explore why decisions are made democratically in communities
 Engagement of the
learners  Understand how and why decisions are made democratically in communities
(slideshow Democratic decision-making). Slideshow from C2C
Students were able to make connections from their own experiences to relate to the
concept which helped them to understand what was being taught.
Whole group discussion on real life situations that students have experienced where
they have been exposed to democratic decision making
Highlight the ‘majority rules’ aspect of a democracy
Interpret information from sources to distinguish between facts and
opinions
 Use information to distinguish facts from opinions in a discussion about a civics
and citizenship issue (sheet Fact or opinion). Worksheet from C2C
Lesson Body
 Delivering the After fact and opinion worksheet, working in their ‘teams’ that students are seated in
content through (mixed ability groups) (KAGAN structure for cooperative learning implemented) to create
specific strategies an issue that has two solutions that the class will have to vote on. Using the ‘talking
sticks’ each student will be able to have their say on what the issue should be and how
they can resolve it.
The talking sticks (KAGAN structure used for cooperative learning) will also be used to
create the script to ensure that every student’s gets an equal say in the performance.

Students will have 30 minutes to discuss their issue and options for a resolution and
write their script down. (Timed activity to keep students on task. They understood their
end goal and knew what was expected of them.)

I used the classroom management strategy of ‘high five’ to gain students attention when
I needed to share information or when the class was beginning to become too loud. This
was a fast and effective way to gain the attention of all students. As students worked in
their cooperative groups, I walked around and helped each group where needed while
taking anecdotal notes of who was understanding and who was struggling. These notes
assisted me in creating the following lesson.

Lesson Conclusion
 Concluding activities After the 30 minutes, students will each present their script and issue to the class for the
 Summarizing the class to then take a vote. Majority rules wins, just like a democracy. The students had so
lesson much fun ‘performing’ their scripts for the class to take a vote. This was a fun way to
introduce the concept of democratic decision making.

In future, I would probably give the students their issues to discuss as they spent
majority of the time discussing what their issue should be which took away from them
creating two reasonable resolutions for the class to vote on.
Evaluation / Reflection