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Citizenship at key stage 3 (Year 7-9)
Unit 20: What's in the public interest?
Section 4: What should be done? How can we take responsible action and have a say?
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Objectives |
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- how to use their scientific knowledge and understanding to explain and interpret observations, measurements/other data and conclusions
- about public policy decisions that are sometimes made in the absence of certainty
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Activities |
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Outcomes |
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Children: |
- Return to a structured class discussion of the issue with which you began, by asking for specific reports from different groups. Each group should consider and agree on how they wish to communicate their findings to the audience. Encourage pupils to:
- consider the evidence gathered (from media reports or elsewhere) by discussing questions such as: How have scientists gathered the evidence? Why might there be conflicting views among scientists? Why aren't scientists certain about the issue? Ask pupils whether the case requires further scientific evidence and whether this is obtainable
- appreciate that, in a democracy, public policy should represent the interests of a majority of people, but this does not mean that everyone gets what they want
- appreciate that public policy needs to be developed even when the scientific case is uncertain, and that this requires political argument and sometimes compromise
- Finally, ask pupils to consider whether they could influence the debate or take action in some way. How? You might ask pupils to write a press release, or to design a campaign poster.
- Extension activity: With more able groups you may want to introduce epidemiological data, carefully explaining the value and meaning of statistical evidence. Help pupils to distinguish between correlational evidence (often what's available) and cause and effect (more difficult to establish).
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- develop their own views and opinions and express and justify their own viewpoints
- recognise the strengths and limitations of existing scientific evidence
- identify some of the processes by which scientific evidence is collected and evaluated
- appreciate that public policy relies on factors other than scientific evidence
- communicate their views to a chosen audience, having agreed on an appropriate method of presentation
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Points to note |
- For information and discussion relating to the processes and practices of science, see Driver, R, Leach, J, Millar, R and Scott, P, Young people's images of science, Open University Press, Buckingham, 1996.
- Additional activities could include: pupils participate in discussions by internet or e-mail as well as in their local communities; pupils make a collage from magazine pictures and headlines that represent their own view.
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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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