This article is the third in a series from the English-Speaking Union, supporting teachers to develop the use of speech and debate in the Citizenship classroom.
The resources comes with ready to use pupil resource sheets, to introduce pupils to some of the key characteristics of democracy using a balloon debate activity. It can be adapted for use with key stage 3 and 4 pupils who are just begining to learn about the concept of democracy or for those who have been studying democracy as a way to check understanding of the key ideas.
Teaching Democracy - Compulsory voting? is a lesson and pupils' resources designed for use in secondary schools.
'Let's get elected' is a set of teaching activities and resources for students to help develop knowledge and understanding of local democracy and elections using the context of electing the Mayor of London. Pupils explore the process of electoral campaigning to be a city mayor by working in teams to put together an election campaign.
The lesson was designed for use with year 7 and can be adapted for other age groups and election contexts.
This teaching resource was orginally developed by teachers at Blackfen Girls School and has been updated by ACT.
Nick Hills, Head of Citizenship, led work on The ACT Building Resilience Project at the Anglo European School in Essex.
This project focused on critical thinking, problem solving and enquiry skills, and taking informed and responsible actions through five Citizenship lessons with Year 7 pupils. Pupils developed understanding of the concept of community, explored diverse viewpoints and learned why some people hold extreme opinions and undertake terrorist acts.
This module explores what makes an issue controversial. It supports participants by providing tools and information needed in order to teach about controversial issues in an effective and engaging way.You can download this module here. TEACHING ABOUT CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES
ACT have developed a range of CPD modules to support the training and development of all those engaged in teaching citizenship. Each module has the same structure with:
The aim of this module is to examine the nature of critical thinking and its importance in citizenship education and in society at large. Colleagues are introduced to different ways in which critical thinking can be nurtured. You cand download this module here. CRITICAL THINKING IN CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
