TEACHERS+PAGE

This webquest has been designed as an integrated unit using the palm oil issue of Borneo as a vehicle for students to understand:
 * that there are different viewpoints on an issue
 * that they can contribute to group decision making

This curriculum idea stems from VELS standards level 4 in Civics and Citizenship and was created by Jenni Mills and Jennifer Hoskin, group R, as an assignment for subject EDU4PIN in the Graduate Diploma in education (Primary) 2011 at Latrobe University, Melbourne.

The unit is aimed at a ficticious Grade 5 in a state school in Victoria, Australia. We have 12 girls and 8 boys aged between 10 and 11 years.

This ten-week unit follows an inquiry-based model of:
 * tuning in
 * finding out
 * sorting out
 * going further
 * making connections
 * taking action
 * reflecting

The webquest begins by engaging the children by questioning how they can strengthen their own arguments. It then guides the children through a number of steps and activities in researching and building a body of information on the topic of ** palm oil from Borneo **. The children will be involved in recording and organising information in a digital online file (word documents/dropbox).

The children will participate in a forum where they will share their findings and discuss opinions. This forum is to be guided by the teacher. The forum will include conducting a survey and conclude with the children participating in a secret ballot vote to find a democratic answer to the question 'Should Australia continue to import palm oil products'.

It is expected that the class will discover that such questions are not black and white.

Throughout the process the children are asked to reflect on their learning and record shifts in their understandings using a digital graphic organiser. The act of recording these changes assists in formulating informed and broad opinions.

This webquest could easily be used in other settings with some modifications. For example:
 * the supermarket homework could be conducted as an excursion
 * the research documentation could be done in hard copy or in other digital storage options
 * as an alternative to a forum, you could hold a debate or follow the parliamentary process of introducing a bill to the house

In class 5, students are working toward the Level 4 Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS). The relevant VELS with reference to specific webquest tasks are provided below: **Physical, Personal and Social Learning**
 * < **Domain** ||< **Dimension - Standards** ||
 * < **Civics and Citizenship**

** Tasks:5,6,7 **

** The Forum ** ** Action task 1 ** ||< **Civic Knowledge and Understanding:** **Community Engagement:**
 * Students explain the basic elements of key democratic principles and values such as freedom of speech.
 * Students demonstrate understanding of the roles and responsibilities and of democratic processes, when engaging in school and community activities.
 * They present a point of view on a significant current issue or issues and include recommendations about the actions that individuals and governments can take to resolve issues.
 * They demonstrate understanding that there are different viewpoints on an issue, and contribute to group and class decision making. ||
 * < **Interpersonal Development**

** All Tasks **

** The Forum **

** Action task ** ||< **Building Social Relationships:** **Working in teams:**
 * Students demonstrate, through their interactions in social situations, respect for a diverse range of people and groups.
 * They accept and display empathy for the points of view and feelings of their peers and others.
 * They identify and use a variety of strategies to manage and resolve conflict.
 * Students work effectively in different teams and take on a variety of roles to complete tasks of varying length and complexity.
 * They work cooperatively to allocate tasks and develop timelines.
 * Students accept responsibility for their role and tasks.
 * They explain the benefits of working in a team.
 * They provide feedback to others and evaluate their own and the team’s performance

||
 * < **Personal Learning**

** Most Tasks ** ** The Forum ** ** Action task ** ||< **Managing Personal Learning:**
 * Students develop and implement plans to complete short-term and long-term tasks within timeframes set by the teacher, utilising appropriate resources.
 * They undertake some set tasks independently, identifying stages for completion.
 * They describe task progress and achievements.
 * They persist when experiencing difficulty with learning tasks.
 * They seek and use learning support when needed from peers, teachers and other adults. ||
 * <  ||< **Discipline-based Learning** ||
 * < **Domain** ||< **Dimension - Standards** ||
 * < **English**

** Most Tasks **

** Research File **

** The Forum ** ||< **Reading****:** **Writing:** **Speaking and Listening:**
 * Students read, interpret and respond to a wide range of literary, everyday and media texts in print and in multimodal formats.
 * They analyse these texts and support interpretations with evidence drawn from the text.
 * They describe how texts are constructed for particular purposes and audiences, and identify how sericultural values, attitudes and beliefs are presented in texts.
 * They analyse information, imagery, characterisation, dialogue, point of view.
 * They use strategies such as reading on, using contextual cues, and drawing on knowledge of text organisation when interpreting texts containing unfamiliar ideas and information.
 * Students produce, in print and electronic forms, a variety of texts for different purposes using structures and features of language appropriate to the purpose, audience and context of the writing.
 * They begin to use simple figurative language and visual images.
 * They use a range of vocabulary, a variety of sentence structures, and use punctuation accurately, including apostrophes.
 * They use a range of approaches to spelling, applying morphemic knowledge and an understanding of visual and phonic patterns.
 * They employ a variety of strategies for writing, including note-making, using models, planning, editing and proofreading.
 * Students plan, rehearse and make presentations for different purposes.
 * They sustain a point of view and provide succinct accounts of personal experiences or events.
 * They adjust their speaking to take account of context, purpose and audience, and vary tone, volume and pace of speech to create or emphasise meaning.
 * When listening to spoken texts, they identify the main idea and supporting details and summarise them for others.
 * They identify opinions offered by others, propose other relevant viewpoints and extend ideas in a constructive manner. ||
 * < **The Humanities – Geography**

** The Forum ** ** Action task **

** Task 1 ** ||< **Geographical knowledge and understanding** **Geospatial skills:** · * They identify features from maps. || ** Forum task 2, 3 ** ||< === Measurement, chance and data ===
 * Students recommend ways of protecting environmentally sensitive areas in a sustainable way.
 * They provide examples and evidence based on their inquiries.
 * They use geographic language to identify and describe the human and physical characteristics of local and global environments depicted by different kinds of maps, diagrams, photographs and satellite images.
 * < **The Humanities – Economics -** ** Tasks 2, 7 ** ||< === Economic knowledge and understanding ===
 * Students describe the nature of the economic problem (scarcity) and explain how selected goods and services are produced and distributed.
 * Students describe the difference between needs and wants, and their own roles as producers and consumers of goods and services.
 * They explain the need to be an informed consumer. ||
 * < **Mathematics**
 * Students recognise and give consideration to different data types in forming questionnaires and sampling.
 * They distinguish between categorical and numerical data.
 * They present data in appropriate displays (for example, a pie chart for eye colour data and a histogram for grouped data of student heights).
 * Students recognise and investigate the use of mathematics in real situations (for example, determination of test results as a percentage).
 * Students engage in investigations involving mathematical modelling.

Working mathematically
|| ** Task 6 ** ** The Forum ** ** Action task 1 ** ||< **Science at work:**
 * < **Science**
 * Student analyse a range of science-related local issues and describe the relevance of science to their own and other people’s lives.
 * Students explain how sustainable practices have been developed and/or are applied in their local environment. ||
 * <  ||< **Interdisciplinary Learning** ||
 * < **Domain** ||< **Dimension - Standards** ||
 * < **Communication**

** All Tasks **

** Research file ** ||< **Listening, viewing and responding:** **Presenting:**
 * Students ask clarifying questions about ideas and information they listen to and view.
 * They develop interpretations of the content and provide reasons for them.
 * They explain why peers may develop alternative interpretations.
 * Students summarise and organise ideas and information, logically and clearly in a range of presentations.
 * They identify the features of an effective presentation and adapt elements of their own presentations to reflect them.
 * Using provided criteria, they evaluate the effectiveness of their own and others’ presentations. ||
 * < **Information and Communication Technology (ICT)**

** All Tasks ** ||< **ICT for visualising thinking:** **ICT for creating:** **ICT for communicating:**
 * At Level 4, students apply ICT tools and techniques to represent and explore processes, patterns and cause-and-effect relationships.
 * Students use ICT tools and techniques that support the organisation and analysis of concepts, issues and ideas and that allow relationships to be identified and inferences drawn from them.
 * Students review their stored thinking strategies in order to identify similarities and differences in their thinking patterns. They document in their bank of digital evidence how these visualising thinking strategies help them to understand concepts and relationships.
 * Students safely and independently use a range of skills, procedures, equipment and functions to process different data types and produce accurate and suitably formatted products to suit different purposes and audiences.
 * They use design tools to represent how solutions will be produced and the layout of information products.
 * Students select relevant techniques for minimising the time taken to process data, and apply conventions and techniques that improve the appearance of the finished product.
 * Students modify products on an ongoing basis in order to improve meaning and judge their products against agreed criteria.
 * Students create and maintain an up-to-date, logically structured bank of digital evidence of their learning. They password protect and back up important files and use file naming conventions that allow easy retrieval.
 * Students use websites and frequently asked question facilities to acquire from, or share information with, peers and known and unknown experts.
 * They successfully upload their work to a protected public online space. ||
 * < **Thinking Processes**

** Research Tasks **

** All Tasks ** ||< **Reasoning, processing and inquiry:**
 * Students collect relevant information from a range of sources and make judgments about its worth.
 * They distinguish between fact and opinion.
 * They use the information they collect to develop concepts, solve problems or inform decision making.
 * They develop reasoned arguments using supporting evidence.

Creativity

 * Students use creative thinking strategies to generate imaginative solutions when solving problems. ||