Passport to Democracy

Lesson 7

So far we’ve:

Identified the three principles that

underpin Democracy

Identified & explored issues we’re

concerned with

Looked at the three levels of

government

This lesson we will:

Begin researching the issue you’ve

identified

Our issues are:

Cuts to education

Carbon tax

Syrian conflict

New medicines and vaccinations for

diseases

Why are we doing this?

We want to see if we can make an

impact on an issue affecting our

community

First, we need to understand the

issue, who the key decision makers

are and make a action plan

This week we’ll focus on research,

next week, the action plan.

Using the lotus organiser On p.20 of your

workbook is an example of how to then organise all the information relating to your issue.

It will help you think about all the possible aspects of the issue before you decide on a specific problem to take action on.

Assign sub topics for research

Assign each of the sub topics of your issue to someone in the group. They will be responsible for researching that area more closely.

Remember why you are researching this topic. Your aim is to understand more about why this issue is a problem! It’s not just about finding facts, but about answering your personal concerns.

I must not copy and paste... It’s so tempting to just find a website, copy

and paste some stuff and sit back.

But it’s lazy, lazy, lazy thinking...

Use the question board on p.19 to help you think about what information you are looking for. Good research is often about sifting through what isn’t relevant as much as it is about finding loads of stuff. Quality not quantity!!

Using the resource page

On page 21 of your workbook are some online resources that might be relevant to get started. Make sure you consider other sources too!

Make a note of your online sources, including website titles, full addresses and dates you accessed pages.

On page 22 of the workbook there is a summary sheet to use to record your key information.

Putting it all together Come back together

and share resources by filling in a summary of key ideas on the lotus diagram.

Discuss all the information you have and then decide which specific area you want to focus on.

This will become the focus of your action plan.

Animal

Cruelty

Animal testing

Puppy farms

Pets dumped

Live export

Eating meat

Cruelty to

mother pigs

Non stunned slaught

er

Battery hens