Ability+to+select,+explain+and+justify

Resources that are appropriate to teach aspects of Studies of Society and Environment.

=****Moodle Précis and Wiki Postings****=

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****Précis 1****
Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (Revised 2009). National Consumer and Financial Literacy Framework. Retrieved July 12, 2010, from @http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/mceecdya/national_financial_literacy_framework_homepage,14429.html

**The article can be located** at: @http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/mceecdya/national_financial_literacy_framework_homepage,14429.html


 * The National Consumer and Financial Literacy Framework (Revised 2009)**

The National Consumer and Financial Literacy Framework (NCFLF, 2009) defines consumer and financial literacy as “the application of knowledge, understandings, skills and values in consumer and financial contexts and the related decisions that impact on self, others, the community and the environment”(p. 1).

The NCFLF was developed by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) in 2005 in response to the educational goals set out in the Melbourne Declaration on Education Goals for Young Australians, 1999. It was then revised in 2009 in order to represent the needs of a changing Australian education context, in particular the move towards a national curriculum.

The Framework is designed to: • highlight the significant contribution that consumer and financial literacy education can make to the attainment of the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians and the national education reform agenda • provide guidance to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) in its implementation of the National Curriculum • provide guidance to states and territories in the development of their curricula within the National Curriculum Framework for Years K-12 • provide guidance to developers of support materials and the professional development of all teachers of consumer and financial literacy.

The framework then goes on to look at the how; consumer and financial literacy education is relevant in The National (Australian) Education Context and explains the four dimensions of consumer and financial literacy education. These being:

• Knowledge and understanding - is about the nature and forms of money, how it is used and the consequences of consumer decisions • Competence - is the application of consumer and financial knowledge and skills in a range of changing contexts • Enterprise - is the opportunity to use initiative, build financial capabilities and manage risk-taking when making consumer and financial decisions • Responsibility - is appropriate consumer and financial decisions that display care for self, others, the community and the environment.

These dimensions are interrelated and the document then looks at how these dimensions can be addressed at years 3, 5, 7 and 9. At each year level the dimensions are expanded and examples of the skills, understandings and values, in relation to the key concepts such as income, competition, exchange, liability are given.

****Précis 2****
Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (Revised 2009). National Consumer and Financial Literacy Framework. Retrieved July 12, 2010, from @http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/mceecdya/national_financial_literacy_framework_homepage,14429.html
 * Article 1 **


 * The article can be located** at: @http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/mceecdya/national_financial_literacy_framework_homepage,14429.html

Morcome, C. (2008).Classroom [|Economics]. Prime Number. Vol. 23, No. 3, 2008: 12-14 Available from @http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=237843599133954;res=IELHSS
 * Article 2 – Found by Lauren Miller**
 * This article is from the Informit Database via U Can Search.**

Thanks Lauren for this article, I agree with you that it could be used as an effective way of placing economics education in a ‘real life’ context that students would be keen to engage with and an affective classroom management strategy. I think that this system has many benefits which are also in line with and meet some of the dimensions of the National Consumer and Financial Literacy Framework. These being: • Knowledge and understanding - is about the nature and forms of money, how it is used and the consequences of consumer decisions • Competence - is the application of consumer and financial knowledge and skills in a range of changing contexts • Enterprise - is the opportunity to use initiative, build financial capabilities and manage risk-taking when making consumer and financial decisions • Responsibility - is appropriate consumer and financial decisions that display care for self, others, the community and the environment.

I wanted to share this resource that I have found www.coinland.com.au which aims to achieve the same outcomes and results as both Catherine Morcome and the National Consumer and Financial Literacy Framework. The resources would complement the teaching of economics (financial literacy skills) to years two, three and four, scaffolding learning that would benefit Catherine Morcome’s system.

As stated in the National Consumer and Financial Literacy Framework “developing sound consumer and financial literacy knowledge, skills and behaviours from an early age, all young Australians, including those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, will be better equipped to overcome or avoid financial exclusion” (p. 2).

** Note: ** -More information on the resource can be found on the SoSE 2 Wiki. -If using the resource keep in mind that it has been developed by the Commonwealth Bank. Is it appropriate for large corporations to be involved in child education or should it be left to Government? I’m not too sure, I can see benefits and dangers to both sides.

=****Wiki Postings****=

[|www.coinland.com.au] Coinland is an online program developed by the Commonwealth Bank for students as a commitment to increasing the national level of financial literacy skills (earning, saving and investing money). This [|article] explains the bank’s commitment (Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2009).
 * James Green Economics Resource - Coinland **

I’m not sure if people remember Dollarmites when they were at school but Coinland is the Commonwealths Banks adaptation to make them relevant and exciting to young children in the 21st century. Coinland is a virtual world where children can explore the benefits of earning, saving and investing money by completing jobs/tasks for the Dollarmites (characters in the game) in Coinland. Children can then choose to either save their coins by depositing them in the bank or spend them on items that open more games and rewards. Dollarmites assist children’s learning by explaining values, terms, positives and negatives of spending and saving through a series of fun and interesting videos.

-The Coinland environment is incredible engaging and easy to use. I have currently saved 31 coins, opened a bank account and have a Savings Goal of $88.00 to buy a skateboard haha. To date I have had the notions of saving and spending and had terms such as deposit and interest explained. -When a milestone is reached in the game an e-mail is sent to notify parents of a child’s progress. This allows opportunities for the home discussion to revolve around developing and placing importance on solid financial literacy. -At the moment the videos need a quite good internet connection to stream without being interrupted. -If using the resource keep in mind that it has been developed by the Commonwealth Bank. Is it appropriate for large corporations to be involved in child education or should it be left to Government? I’m not too sure, I can see benefits and dangers to both sides. The commonwealth Bank has been successfully running similar programs for the past 80 years, in which time has strengthened many people’s financial literacy skills however also serves the banks advertising and customer acquisition goals. Who is it for? Coinland is aimed at children between years 5-10.
 * Main Benefits**
 * Main Disadvantages **
 * FAQ’s **


 * Is Coinland Safe? ** The virtual environment has been designed so that children can communicate with others in the game through pre-determined messages. Children are unable to create their own responses and share any personal details within the Coinland environment.

Understanding Money []
 * Two other websites that I have found very useful.**

Financial Literacy []

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (2009). //Coinland.// Retrieved July 12, 2010, from [] Commonwealth Bank of Australia (2009). //Commonwealth Bank determined to bring financial literacy to one million kids.// Retrieved July 12, 2010, from []
 * References**

=**Geography**=

****Precis 1****
Australian [|Geography] Teachers Association Ltd, Institute of Australian Geographers Inc and The Royal Geographical Society of Queensland (2009). Towards a National Geography Curriculum for Australia. Retrieved July 12, 2010, from http://www.ngc.org.au/#

**The document can be located at:** http://www.ngc.org.au/#


 * Towards a National Geography Curriculum for Australia**

This paper has been written as a result of the Australian Government’s commitment in 2008 to begin the establishment of a national curriculum. The Geography bodies and associations listed in the reference above developed a project and composed this paper to present what they think should be included in and aid the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) in gathering ideas and developing a national geography curriculum.

“The towards a National Geography Curriculum Project Steering Committee has endeavoured to create a document, based on research and wide consultation, which sets out the overarching principles and preferred directions for a national geography curriculum, that geography teachers, academic geographers, and community geographers can agree upon in principle” (p. 45).

“This paper does not attempt to define the content of this curriculum, but it does take a position on some of the key structural issues that have to be decided in shaping this curriculum” (p. 6). The Paper sees these important decisions being: -the definition of geography -the contribution of geography to the education of young Australians -the nature of procedural and substantive knowledge in geography, and -the structure of the curriculum. The project was launched with the website and a range of questions such as: -How should geography be defined in the curriculum? -Why is it important for students to study geography? -What should be the objectives of a geographical education? (p. 5)

These were developed to gain responses and information from the public which have been used to develop the content of the paper. It provides recommendations of what could be included and how it could be included in the national curriculum. The paper also advocates for particular teaching pedagogy and ways of delivering the curriculum to students. These mainly include the scope to allow inquiry-based learning approaches for teaching procedural knowledge (skills, methods, perspectives and questions) as a way of developing substantiative knowledge (content). I think this is a useful document, although long, combats this by having a fairly comprehensive contents page and written text that is quite easy to follow. Also recommend reading the conclusion after or even before the introduction as is sums up and explains the main arguments of the paper well.

****Precis 2****
Australian [|Geography] Teachers Association Ltd, Institute of Australian Geographers Inc and The Royal Geographical Society of Queensland (2009). Towards a National Geography Curriculum for Australia. Retrieved July 12, 2010, from http://www.ngc.org.au/#
 * Article 1 **


 * The document can be located at:** http://www.ngc.org.au/#

**Article 2 – Found by Sally Gore-Johnson** Martin, F. (2006). Everyday Geography: Re-Visioning Primary Geography for the 21st Century. Geographical Education, 19, 31-36.


 * Located on** ** [|e-reserve] **

**Resource** – can be found at online bookshops Fanelli, S. (2006). My Map Book. London: Walker Books LTD.
 * My Map Book by Sara Fanelli**

I found the article Everyday Geographer by Dr Fran Martin very useful. I think it identifed an effective strategy for teaching learners and developing the skills they need to investigate and solve issues in the environment (Reynolds, 2009). I think a resource that supports both Reynold’s and Martin’s ideas on teaching Geography is 'My Map Book' by Sara Fanelli. Martin claims that taking an ‘everday geographer’ approach, which is about teaching from the students world out is a useful way to connect them, their lives, and the concepts within geography. 'My Map Book' can be used as a resource to achieve this. This book contains twelve detailed and engaging maps such as ‘Map of my day’ and ‘Map of my dog’. Each spread of this picture book contains a full-coloured map that can be used to illustrate the uses of, and ease with which maps can be created to young learners. One of the best features of this book is that the maps are set in the context of a students every day life (everyday geographer) helping to teach the concepts of geography, location, relative location and spatial association from the students perspective out. These concepts such as location, relative location and spactial association are also identifed as being important in the Paper Towards a National Geography Curiculum for Australia.

Reynolds, R. (2009). Teaching Studies of Society & Environment in the Primary School. Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.
 * References**
 * Wiki Posting **
 * James Green Geography Resource **

**My Map Book** – By Sarah Fanelli ** Year level ** K-2 **Curriculum Links**
 * ELA 21**. The student understands about Australia and Australians
 * 21.EC.10** Recognise Australia's shape (e.g. in images and on maps) and some of its places (e.g. relevant to students' experiences or classroom focus).



This book contains twelve detailed and engaging maps such as ‘Map of my day’ and ‘Map of my dog’. Each spread of this picture book contains a full-coloured map that can be used to illustrate the uses of, and ease with which maps can be created to young learners. One of the best features of this book is that the maps are set in the context of a student’s everyday life helping to teach the concepts of geography, location, relative location and spatial association from the student’s perspective out.

Fanelli, S. (2006). //My Map Book.// London: Walker Books LTD.
 * References**

ACT Department of Education and Training. (2007). //Every Chance to Learn, Curriculum Framework for ACT schools, Preschool to year 10.//Canberra ACT: ACT Department of Education and Training.