Activities

Activities for environmental politics

Activity 1

Read the "Background" material. Underline or highlight all the words, phrases and concepts that you don't fully understand.

Before attempting your answers to these activities clarify with your teacher, or through additional research, your understanding of these words, phrases and concepts.

Activity 2

a)The whole class should divide into small groups of four people.

b)Each member of the group should select one of the parties 'environment' platforms for the 2001 federal election - Figures 1, 3 and 5 and the section on the Greens Party

c)After reading one of the parties 'environment' platforms for the 2001 federal election each member of the group should state what major features they noticed in their chosen 'environment' platform.

d)Each member of the group should then read the other parties 'environment' platforms for the 2001 federal election.

e)The group should then discuss the following questions:

·Are they alike?

·How are they alike?

·Are they different?

·How are they different?

·Can any of the platforms be grouped together?

·If not, why can't they be grouped?

·If so, why can they be grouped?

·What would be a good name for the new group? (try and choose a name that strongly suggests a connection with the environment)

·Can the platforms be grouped in other ways?

·On what basis would these groupings occur?

Activity 3

a)The whole class should divide into small groups of three people.

b)After reading one of the parties 'environment' platforms for the 2001 federal election (compare Figures 1 and 2 or 3 and 4 or 5 and 6) each member of the group should write down what major features they noticed in their chosen 'environment' platform were not mentioned in the 1996 'environment' platform.

c)Each member of the group should then read the points of difference to the other members of the group.

d)The group should then discuss the following questions for each political party:

·Are the 1996 and 2001 platforms alike?

·How are the 1996 and 2001 platforms alike?

·Are the 1996 and 2001 platforms different?

·How are the 1996 and 2001 platforms different?

·Can any of the 1996 platforms of one party be grouped with the 2001 platforms of

another party?

Activity 4

a)Each member of the group should select five points from any of the parties' 'environment' platforms for the 2001 federal election and write them on separate slips of paper. The five points should express each person's views on what they think are the most important environmental issues in Australia at the present time.

(Note: some or all of the five points could come from issues that are not listed in the parties'

platforms)

b)Once the five points have been written on separate slips of paper they should be bundled together, shuffled and three slips then dealt to each member of the group. The remaining slips that have not been dealt should be left as a pile in t he middle of the group.

c)Each member of the group reads the three slips, listing three environmental issues that they have been dealt and decides whether they are happy with these three environmental issues.

d)If they are dealt three issues that are the similar (they may be three issues that are of concern to three different political parties) or three issues with which they are not satisfied, they return the slips to the bottom of the pile of un-allocated s lips and take new slips from the top of the pile. They continue to do this until they are satisfied with their choice of the three issues.

e)Each member of the group then tells the others in the group what choices they have made and why they are important to them.

f)The group then chooses from these individual choices the three most significant environmental issues for the whole group.

g)These three choices are then identified to the others groups.

h)The whole class then discusses the following questions:

·What does this process show? (ie reducing many possible environmental issues to a choice of three per group)

·What does the process mean to you?

·How does it feel to be part of the process used in this activity?

·Can you explain the feelings in your own words?

·What common elements are revealed when the whole group compares the process?

i)The whole class then discusses the following questions:

·What environmental issues (if any) emerged as the most important for the whole class?

·How can we summarize these environmental issues?

·How is the whole class' list of environmental issues related to those that may be chosen by the general public?

·Why do you think so?

·What is a fair way to test our hypothesis?

·What resources are needed?

·Do findings support it?

·Do we need more data?

·How should we collect it?

·What changes/trends would the class have noticed if we compared their choice of environmental issues with those of another similar class that had been doing the same activity ten years before?

·What do you think will happen in the future? Why?

·What changes/trends would the class noticed if we were able to compare their choice of environmental issues with those of another similar class that were doing the same activity ten years in the future?

·What situations are necessary for that to happen?

·What basis should we use to make any predictions?

·What information should we collect?

Activity 5

Carry out the following steps

·Find all of the quotations from newspapers in the above "Background" sections. Read all of the quotations. Read all of the headlines in the sections "Newspaper articles on the 2001 Australian Federal election campaign".

·Select the most challenging quotation or headline in this unit.

·Also, from the "Background" sections select the sentence or paragraph which surprised you the most.

·Support you choices with a short paragraph statement on why you chose them and what impact each choice had on you.

·Compare your choices and justifications with others in your class.

·Discuss