Citizenship at key stage 3 (Year 7-9)
Unit 11: Why is it so difficult to keep the peace in the world today?
Section 1: What is the fighting about this time?
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Objectives |
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- in outline, about the main issues of a current conflict
- about aspects of the world as a global community
- to identify and analyse the key features of the situation
- to identify appropriate questions and possible sources of information
- to select relevant information from sources
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Activities |
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Outcomes |
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Children: |
- Choose a current event or recent news story from an area where there is conflict. Start discussion by finding out what pupils already know, using newspaper headlines or a TV news clip. Use maps to help pupils locate places mentioned in the discussion.
- Alternatively, use pictures or news footage of military forces in the area of the conflict. Who are they? UN forces? British soldiers? Why are they in this part of the world?
- From this introduction, make a list of key words, eg names of places and individuals, for the next activity.
- Working on their own or in twos or threes, pupils use available resources, including ICT, to research the key words and produce definitions or summaries to contribute to a class information board.
- Draw out key issues from pupils' research through class discussion. Encourage pupils to ask questions: What do they need to know to understand the situation? How can they find out? Add pupils' questions to the class information board.
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- identify and describe the main issues of the conflict
- select and bring together information from different sources when researching aspects of a topical political issue
- identify key features of a current conflict
- begin to analyse key issues in a contemporary conflict and pose relevant questions
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Points to note |
- This unit can be used as a 'template' to investigate any events happening in the world that are covered by the media.
- Teachers will need to be sensitive to pupils who have experience of conflict, for example members of refugee or service families.
- An important aim of this opening section is to show the relevance of an event of current interest to pupils. A focus on individual human stories may help. It is important not to be overwhelmed by details at this point.
- A focus on the Balkan conflict, for example, could use TV footage of people fleeing a village that is under attack or of UN soldiers patrolling the border.
- It will be helpful to have relevant maps on display throughout this unit.
- Pupils could use an information board to display newspaper accounts of the conflict or information from international agencies. They could be encouraged to make the display interactive by adding questions and giving answers or comments.
- Link with thinking skills: enquiry.
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This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of
activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by
moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.
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