Day 7: Choosing Preferences and Academic Honesty

We sat in two circles to share with others which issues from the list interested us and why. After sharing with one person the circles randomly rotated so that we shared with other people. It was great to hear the thoughts of others and especially why they were interested in certain issues. This gave us some different perspectives of the issues and helped us understand our own thoughts more.

Based on the cut down list of issues, students were asked to think about the issues and respond to the ones they were interested in by answering a couple questions. Here are a couple examples:

What is the issue?

Habitat loss

 

Do I have any connections to the issue? (Or why does this issue matter to me?) because I did an assignment when I was little about it and I love animals so I have always kept it in the back of my mind. 

 

What questions do I have about the issue?

• I want to know how much habitat loss is here in SA
• I want to know what animals are effected by habitat loss
• I want to know what individuals can do to help
• I want to know what habitats of animals are actually destroyed
• I want to find out if it is necessary to destroy habitats and a way around it

What is the issue

Homelessness

 

Do I have any connections to the issue? (Or why does this issue matter to me?)

When we are walking down near the local Big W and Woolworths we see lots of people sat next to the building asking for money. They look like they have come from bad backgrounds and don’t have a lot of money. I feel like we need to make a change and help people who are local with us.

 

What questions do I have about the issue?

What do the homeless shelters do to help homeless people? How do homeless people lose their home? Have they been taken away, destroyed or not had one to begin with? How can we support them? How can we make a change and help the homeless?

After clarifying our thinking, it was time to select our top three issues preferred issues in which to inquire into. From these preferences, Mrs Eckermann, Mr Boesch and Mr Semmler have the task of trying to sort us all into groups.

In amongst this process, we also looked at ‘Academic Honesty’. We discussed the need to do our own work and show respect to others by referencing them if we get information or images from them. As this is about being a principled learner, we also signed an agreement to make every attempt to be academically honest during the Exhibition process.