Claims+in+the+Media+Eve+01

CLAIMS IN THE MEDIA: ====When searching online through news paper articles I found so many hits, however there was one that stood out to me. The article I read and have based this task on was: ====

Hearld Sun, Bushfire Safety lessons to be taught at school, By Peter Mickelburough, 02.08.2010
====This article was about The Bushfire Royal Commission wanting to implement Bushfire Safety within our schools. The State Government hopes that classes such as these can be implemented as apart of our National Curriculum. It proposes this type of education in our schools as there are so many families living in bushfire prone areas. Therefore this is why The Royal Commission feels that this should be apart of our school curriculum. The article goes on to discuss the importance of this education it would provide students with an understanding of Bushfire effects, how to deal with this and the risks, etc. The Royal Commission wants all government ministers to support Bushfire Studies in our National Curriculum. ==== ====I totally agree with this article 100%. Personally we knew people who lived in Kinglake Victoria a young family with young primary school aged children. The fact that this could happen to families is scary enough, however the fact that children may not have understood what was happening, how servere and dangerous it was can be is scary in itself. I believe that if students can learn what they should or should not do can help protect their lives, homes, families and communities. That it would give parents piece of mind that there children understand what is going on, that they know their children are prepared as best as possible because our schools can educate them in risks, safety and skills of what to do. I believe that if our children were to gain any sort of education in this area that it could save lives, and that's important, it could keep our children safe. So again I totally agree and support this article. ====

Michelle Warren

﻿ CLAIMS IN THE MEDIA
While researching this topic I was overwhelmed by the amount of suggested topics of what should be taught in schools. The article that took my interest involved the topic of ethics classes within NSW schools in the National Times June 7 2010. The article describes how religion is currently taught in schools and for those students who do not wish to participate or their parents have requested they do not attend these classes leaves these students in a void. Is this stigmatizing them? I'm not an overly religious person but learning about different religions and cultures in our multicultural society is extremely important. I feel that how this subject is delivered to the student enhances their learning environment. Maybe the information in this subject could be interwoven into a variety of topics being taught in class. Parents would have to be made aware of this transparent process. Jane Martin

Claims in the Media The article I found was written by Melissa King and Luke McIlven and published in The Adelaide on December 16th 2004 in which RAA said it is important to teach road safety in primary schools.

I believe, young drivers should be taught road safety from a young age. As Peter Brock stated “it will be too late to wait until a teenager has their p- plates”. I strongly agree with this statement because it will be better for students to be aware of the danger on the road before they even start to learn how to drive. The aspects of driving they study should include road rules and regulations. They should be taught of the danger of drink driving and texting while driving before they get caught up in the excitement of learning to drive. Liliana Casley =Week 3 - What Should We Teach=

Claims in the Media
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">If you wish to develop this Wiki to be a useful tool for ongoing sharing of work and for collaboration you can use this page to post your response to the Week 3 activity on stakeholders and the claims made in the media about what should be taught in schools.


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Report on one claim you have seen in the media about schools and what should be taught.


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Do you agree with this claim? Why/why not?

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Please ensure that you have expressed yourself clearly.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 96%;">When making your entry to this wiki please use a subheading to keep this page organised. Nova Christoffersen
 * <span style="color: #009400; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Claims in the Media **

For this task I have selected the article Call for driving education from age 12. This article was written by Robert Grant and was published in The Age on July 23 2010. The article discuses the need for the Victorian government to set up a compulsory driver education program (the Ignition Program) in secondary schools to help reduce the number of accidents on the roads.

I do agree that road safety is important to teach to our children and teenagers, particularly those who are nearing the age where they can obtain their learner or probationary licence. I don’t agree that school is necessarily the right place for the driver education program to take place. Teaching this program in schools may actually take away from the seriousness of the problems they will face as drivers; it may end up being another thing they have to do instead of something they will learn from. Incorporating the driver education program as one of the steps to obtain your learners permit would ensure that all learner drivers have had the necessary car, driving and road safety education.

Claims in the Media - response
The Age newspaper article //Curiculm draft ‘C’ grade,// April 2010 reports the new proposed national curriculum that will be implemented as of next year. This is reported to fall short of a comprehensive and sound curriculum. There is an apparent fear of “overcrowding” due to the increased number of subjects however the addition of mandatory Indigenous studies will surely be welcomed by staff and students. Educating pre-service teachers in Indigenous studies and developing existing teachers professional understanding of this subject is a necessary stepping stone to ensure that students are provided with an in depth and up to date understanding of this area. There has been a study done by Mooney, Craven and Halse, which shows that some teachers have not achieved a level of competence in teaching Indigenous studies which leaves the students body of knowledge falling short. They also discovered that although there has been a mandatory expectation in NSW to include these studies into the curriculum some teachers where unsure of where this should fit into their daily routines and it tended to hold a low priority. Providing teachers and pre-service teachers with the professional development is paramount to ensuring a well-educated generation of students that are knowledgeable about the past and present issues of the Indigenous peoples. This will help to eliminate the lack of education that leads to ignorance and racism. Students who are living and learning in Australia need to know and understand the present need for reconciliation and the Indigenous history of this country. (Megan North)

CLAIMS IN THE MEDIA
An article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on March 14th of this year questioning what should be included in curriculum taught to current and future Australian students. It was written by Sydney journalist Rachel Browne and delves into the thoughts of author and psychologist Edward de Bono and his stance on the matter. de Bono claims that the education revolution that has been devised by the Australian Government, with then Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard at the forefront, is the "same old stuff all over again". He is passionate on his stance that children these days love thinking and have evolved to a level where they are ready to be educated in the power of thinking. "Teaching thinking gives youngsters the ability to take charge of their lives, the ability to make decisions, make choices and so on," he says. Being a dedicated believer of lateral thinking de Bono goes onto to link the teaching of thinking to a reduction in the rates of depression in society which is at an all time high (around 20% of young people will have experienced significant depressive symptoms by the time they reach adulthood - National Health and Medical Research Council. Depression in Young People: Clinical Practice Guidelines. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service). He states, "The focus should be on the world today, what you need to know now rather than what happened three or four hundred years ago, Education is way behind where it should be." But how much of this role should be left to the parents? The ability to gain common sense and basic life skills that include money management, cooking, cleaning and other necessary accomplishments that children need to master before they leave the nest, should be attained in the home environment. Learning them at an early age fosters independence and helps build confidence. Parents should teach life skills that match the age of their children and their family’s priorities. Including these in the National Curriculum as de Bono calls for, would add increasing pressure to the teachers all ready occupied schedule. de Bono interestingly states, "Schools are very good at teaching history. In England, they know all about the Battle of Hastings and the War of Roses but they have not the faintest idea about how the corner shop works or how to get a mortgage." This is where the parents role as not only a mother or father, but also as a creator, role model, guide and mentor must come into play.

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An article entitled “Why a gaming subject would be an epic win” appeared in the July 2009 issue of “Shine” (a magazine for educators published by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development). The article was written by Briony Heneberry, a teacher at Brentwood Secondary College in Melbourne and stated her case for the inclusion of an online gaming subject in the school curriculum. Ms. Heneberry states that last year, she started “an extracurricular, online, text-based role-playing program” for a number of her students. She listed some of the benefits as “creative writing exercises…as well as honing their typing, comprehension, analytical and decision-making skills”. Later in the article, Ms. Heneberry suggests that she would like to implement a complete semester-long unit around the online game “Runes of Magic”. While I am not familiar with this game, I would be very skeptical of its educational value and appropriateness. It was obviously designed to be an online game rather than for inclusion in the school curriculum. Whilst I can certainly see Ms. Heneberry’s point, I do not believe that an online gaming-specific subject is necessary or, in fact, appropriate. Yes, high school-aged children, boys in particular, are often motivated by online gaming. And yes, we probably should take advantage of this motivating factor in our education system. I would argue, however, that there are far more appropriate ways to do this. There are lots of learning activities online which are based around gaming and role-play for young children. Having investigated many of them for my own son, most are of great benefit. Surely we could and, in fact, should be using a similar approach for our school curriculum. If those in charge of designing our school curriculum would investigate the possibility of providing some of our curriculum content in the online gaming format, it would be a huge step forward. It would surely go a long way to solving the difficult and ongoing issue of how to motivate teenage boys. (Tracie Pirro) ======

Claims in the Media - response - Ceri Rhian Fisher
The article I chose was regarding the RAA’s (Royal Automobile Association in SA) suggestion that driver safety education should be part of the curriculum from the Early Primary Years. The article talks about various problems with young drivers and has some stats with regards to drink/drug driving and how teenagers are not introduced to driving safety until they get their P Plates.

I think including some education regarding safety when driving could be achieved, but I think this would be quite confusing for an early primary student to understand. However, as road safety is taught within school it could be included so the children get some early information about the responsibility of a ‘driver’ as well as pedestrians crossing the road etc. This may help put the subject into context for the children.

I am not convinced that it would have a great impact on the issue of irresponsible P platers. After listening to the lectures in this unit and reading the text, I am starting to see how any problem in society can easily be thrown at the education system to ‘sort out’. I have concerns about whether the amount of extra work for the school and the children would actually have a true benefit to some of those social issues; and ‘driver’ saftety in the curriculum for early primary is one those I doubt.

Part One: Claims in The Media
An Article appeared in the Whittlesea Leader on the 20th July 2010 ( this is a local newspaper): "Food in the raw as school gets a good wrap" In Victoria on Wednesday the 21st July it was State Governments Rubbish Free Lunch Challenge with the sub content of boosting fruit in schools and lunch boxes. This is about teaching our children to care for our environment and our world in general by eating heathly and reducing litter/waste. I think that children should be taught this as they need to know about recycling and how it affects the environment and the flipside is children are being encouraged to eat fruit which helps them to understand how to look after their bodies.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 96%;">After searching through newspaper articles, I have decided to choose an article written by Ted Nugent for the Washington Times. Although the article is American, the information and the claims being made relate to an issue that is pertinent to a large population of children and around the world. The article discusses the issue of childhood obesity with regard to school lunches, exercise and fitness within schools. Mr Nugent claims that //“////<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-style: normal;">Schools // //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-style: normal;">should // //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-style: normal;">teach // and implement healthy food choices as much as they //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-style: normal;">should // //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-style: normal;">teach // math, science and English”. Mr Nugent goes on to discuss how schools could implement different tactics to ensure children are exposed to a healthy living lifestyle – taking away soft drink and lolly vending machines and introducing exercising clubs. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 96%;">I agree with Ted Nugent’s article. Childhood obesity is such a modern day problem; that not only affects a child’s health, but also their self esteem. With the rise in childhood diabetes, it is a problem that needs to be addressed and resolved urgently. I think it is very important for schools to introduce a healthy lifestyle unit of work at each level, starting from a young age. This gives students the opportunity to change bad habits or continue with healthy ones. Teaching children the importance of healthy food, the importance of exercise and the effects of neglect upon their bodies can only be seen as a positive for this generation of overweight children. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 84%;">Nugent, T. (2010, June 16). Michelle, my belly. . . //The Washington Times,// p. 3-3,1. Retrieved from <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 70%;">[] Claims in the media I found this article very interesting as Prof Blainey praises school for their improvement before pointing out a few issues he has. The article I read was from the Herald Sun, published on the 15th of September 2009. This article was talking about the opinions of Prof Geoffery Blainey holds in regards to grammar and history classes. To my surprise he felt that big changes have been made for the better in our schools with students who used proper pronunciation and grammar. In his opinion we have moved away from statements like “them days” and “all of youses”. He seems to be proud that over the past 50 years things have improved even among footballers. Mr Blainey wasn’t that impressed with the way in which history was being taught in schools, he felt that to much history was being taught therefore having the opposite effect intended, it was boring our students. He stated the main reason for this was due to the fact teachers aren’t teaching history it well. I agree that history is a difficult subject to teach and therefore needs the teacher to know their material well, so that they can engage the students in an interesting why. As teachers we want the students to become history researchers to find out, to dig out the past and to be excited about it."It may be that too much history is being taught in primary school or early secondary school -- it's not really appealing to the children," he said.
 * Part 1 - Claims in the Media - Michelle Steenbuck **

CLAIMS IN THE MEDIA
=== The article i found "schools must teach thinking" was featured in the Sydney Morning Herald, 14 March 2010. At the time of print Julia Gillard was the then Minister for Education. Gillard was also on the receiving end of a serious call for 'thinking' to be a part of the national school curriculum. The advocate was Dr Edward De Bono a world renowned psychologist and author of such books as Children Solve Problems (1972) and How To Have Creative Ideas (1999). De Bono was in Australia at the time to attend a conference Happiness and its Causes. Outspoken De Bono obviously had more then happiness on his mind as the articles author Rachel Browne reported. === === De Bono makes clear and convincing reasoning when he suggests Gillards Education Revolution is "the same old thing over again". He further declares "building school halls is not going to solve the problem. There are huge needs in education. Youngsters are ready for it.They love thinking -its a joy for them". Its hard to disagree with the leading authority on creative thinking. "Teaching thinking gives youngsters the ability to take charge of their lives, the ability to make decisions, make choices and so on," he reflects that teaching thinking would in fact see a drop in depression. Even if a reduction in depression levels is the only outcome, surely that would be a positive impact on our individual and collective futures that cant be ignored? === === In my personal view when someone as eminent as Dr De Bono makes a suggestion we should at the very least give it our attention. Thinking is such an important part of our daily lives, I think its a fantastic idea to focus on a skill which remains necessary life long through no matter your age, career etc. As a society we should be insuring that young people receive an education that remains relevant and up to date. Its a sad world in which thinking becomes an unnecessary skill. I'll finish with De Bono "The focus should be on the world today, what you need to know now rather than what happened three- or four-hundred years ago. Education is way behind where it should be" and I agree. ===

(Meaghan Wall-Corrie)
**//﻿Claims In the Media - Part 1//**

The article I have chosen is titled “Intelligent Design to be taught in Queensland schools under national curriculum” written by Carly Hennessy and published in the Courier Mail on May 30 2010.

The article discusses the inclusion of including and teaching Creationism and Intelligent Design in Queensland State Schools, as a part of the new national curriculum. The article states “creationism will be offered for discussion in the subject of ancient history, under the topic of “controversies”. There has been mixed opinions about the inclusion of this controversial subject. Kay Bishop the Head of the Queensland History Teachers Association believes that the inclusion will provide opportunities for debate and discussion, rather than forcing a certain point of view, however Griffith University’s humanities lecturer Paul Williams has quite the opposite stance on the issue. Professor Williams believes that teachers and educators alike are going to have to be conscious of ensuring that this is not used as an opportunity to “push theological barrows” and ensure that this is not taught as theory”.

I personally, coming from a scientific background, tend to agree with Professor Williams. I do however feel that it is important that students are encouraged to approach learning with an open mind and a blank canvas, and various theories/beliefs should be discussed and investigated. I certainly do not feel that Intelligent Design should be the sole explanation for living things.

Bianca-Jade Sly