A photo essay on ...

 

Image above: Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Seven million people living in 423 square miles (1,096 sq km).

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


Pictures are worth 100 words but that does not mean that an assignment can be one picture!!!

Photographs are a wonderful way to communicate information, ideas, thoughts, themes and emotions. There is a saying that a picture is worth a 1000 words. In our next assignemnt you are to develop your own photoessay (using Photostory) on your culture.
As an introduction to that task I am asking you to look at the following pictures on Moodle, create a theme and then select the 10 you wish to use to best illustrate the theme. Good luck, I look forward to see your response - interestingly, the selections and themes will all be different based on which images resonate most with you as an individual and the theme you develop as a result. To get the written information on each picture go to http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/10/population-7-billion/100176/ 

Now to get stuck into that photoessay assignment on your culture.  Good luck.



An interesting situation and cultural story
*** Have a look at this fascinating story of cultural survival and potential cultural clashes in a religious community. Food for thought! More questions than answers with this one! ***

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

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.

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

http://onlinecasinosuite.com/gambling/australia

http://wellness.missouri.edu/Gambling/parents.html

http://www.problemgambling.gov.au/facts/

http://www.problemgambling.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Facts-Myths-about-problem-gambling-in-Australia-December-2012.doc

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.

Why do we study this?

Image above: 1915 at the beach in Atlantic City in the US. How society changes.


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

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

The Socialsense blog

I have developed this blog to support the Society and Culture classes at Thebarton Senior College (TSC )in South Australia. The college is located in Adelaide and caters for young people determined to gain an education for their future. The South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) Society and Culture courses have been designed to provides students with the opportunity to explore, analyse and consider the complexities and interconnections of our societies and cultures in the Australian and Global context. This is the first of many, I am sure, as the course progresses.

The Socialsense blog is called socialsense because many of the aims of the SACE Society and Culture courses is for us to try to make sense of our society and cultures in Australia and around the world. The SACE Society and Culture course outline describes the reasons why we do the course as follows.

We study Society and Culture for you to have the opportunity to:

1. investigate and analyse different aspects of, and issues related to, contemporary societies and cultures, in local and global contexts
2. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the nature and causes of social change
3. investigate and analyse ways in which power structures operate in societies
4. evaluate and use a range of sources and perspectives to communicate informed ideas about societies and social and cultural issues
5. collaboratively plan, undertake, and evaluate informed social action as a result of an inquiry
6. demonstrate understanding of ways in which societies and cultures are connected and interdependent.


In a sense, our class is a micro-society with a culture with many of the characteristics of society and cultures on a larger scale. To get to know us I thought the following introductory activity would be a worthwhile exercise to know who we are and what we think. Intoductory activity

Making the world a better place: Some visuals to watch

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

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


Making a difference

How does one work on making the world a better place?  Following on from the last entry on  Skateistan, here are several videos on different topics which show a person/or group of people trying to make a difference.


* An education example
http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html?quote=808


* Global Warming an 'Inconvenient Truth' talk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_mr9EqJg18
 

* Using social media to bring down a Dictator

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

* Overseas aid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJBwhLn-4fE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_GpG_l1rtU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7jsoXS3vTM&feature=related

* World poverty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEqQX8LsrHA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNaGr_biP6k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny-Lz6BFmKI

* Gun control

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaj3MDlZTTM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTyMWoKpMqs

* Obesity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D--AtATgfyM

* Deforestation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzK2XITThZM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46A_wVivbX8