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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

The first assignment on Culture



Contact me at malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu.au
The address for the Socialsense blog
http://culturalscene.blogspot.com.au/


The first assignment 

1. Do your 100 words description of "What a society is?" Please hand this up on Monday next week.

2. First assignment is ready to start
Your first folio assignment is worth 15%.  Start reading the assignment and thinking about who you will interview and the questions you will ask.


3. Defining culture task
Read the blog posting on culture and try to get an understanding of what culture is. Watch this Powerpoint on culture as background to the task. Firstly have a go at researching the information on culture from the blog posting and then in small groups come up with three sentences to describe culture (just like we did with society during the lesson on Wednesday). 

See you next Monday with the 100 words on society, sentences on culture and some ideas on who you will interview for assignment 1.
Good Luck

Friday, February 8, 2013

Just a click away!



Contact me at malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu.au

The address for the Socialsense blog
http://culturalscene.blogspot.com.au/

The Thebarton Senior College Moodle


The research required for your assignment work should go beyond the normal "Googling" process. A more comprehensive process is required which involves the fantastic database research facilities of the TSC library. If you don't know how to use them just ask others and practice using them. The codes are available on the bookmarks supplied – get one from me or the library (I can't put them up on this public blog!). Please note that when you have found the source you must citate in accordance with the Harvard system. Go to citation facility on the library link to create the correct citation for the source.

Here are the library research links we looked at today for you to play with and use. All your research is just a few clicks away!

1. LinksPlus: available to all TSC students using the password.

This is an amazing categorised data base of websites which have educational value for a huge range of issues/topics. LinksPlus is designed to guide research and save time for students, teachers and librarians. Go to http://www.weblinksresearch.com.au/login/, log in using the TSC User name and Password and start looking for sites for your issue/topic.


2. EBSCO Host databases

EBSCOhost databases and discovery technologies are the most-used, premium online information resources for tens of thousands of institutions worldwide, representing millions of end-users. It contains thousands of articles from magazines, journals etc on every imaginable topic/social issue.

EBSCO Host contains:

* Australia New Zealand database


* Australia New Zealand points of view

Again, the User ID and Password is on the bookmark.


Before next Monday use these links to research the gambling age and capital punishment issues ready for our discussion and debate on Monday.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

The issue of gambling




The address for the Socialsense blog
http://culturalscene.blogspot.com.au/

The Thebarton Senior College Moodle

Contact Malcolm at
malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu.au

The issue for Friday's lesson

To raise the gambling age to 21.

  • Come to the class ready to discuss – with some background to your opinions.
  • Are you conservative, moderate or radical on the issue?

 
Some background and articles to get you thinking.

Research has found that:

  • adolescents have higher rates of problem gambling than adults
  • children as young as 10 have been identified as problem gamblers
  • young people engage in a variety of risky behaviours including gambling




Monday, February 4, 2013

Searching for issues to discuss



Contact me at malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu.au

The address for the Socialsense blog
http://culturalscene.blogspot.com.au/


Contact me at malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu.au
The address for the Socialsense blog
http://culturalscene.blogspot.com.au/


Looking for an issue of interest

Today we discussed the nature of issues in society and the need to look at our views on issues and express our opinion about them. Many of you had difficulty thinking about an issue of importance to you. I thought the following websites dedicated to exploring and providing information on issues would be a useful exercise for you to look at and see a topic/issue that you find of interest. You may even find an issue of interest that you could conduct research on later in the year when you are asked to undertake an issue investigation assignment. Start thinking about it now! Spend some time over the next week looking at these sites, identifying issues and learning about them.

Here are some sites to explore:

* Newspapers to explore for issues at http://www.theworldpress.com

* Find out the facts on a wide range of issues at http://www.encyclopedia.com

* Research issues at the Social Issue Research Centre at http://www.sirc.org

* Investigate a catalogue of issues at http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Issues

* Find out information for issue studies at http://www.ipl.org/div/subject

* Investigate a directory of issues at http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/issues_and_Causes

* Look at this Australian social action issue site at http://www.actnow.com.au

* Here is a site full of issue ideas http://spinneypress.com.au/







 
Images: Protesting US style on the issue of peace outside of the White House, Washington



Your task before Wednesday is to pick 5 issues to add to our 'What is your opinion' worksheet and then pick an issue from the sheet (mine or yours and do a reaction statement). The reaction statement should be at 10-15 lines in length.