Judgements and Decisions - Australian Teacher · PDF file5/9/2011 · The ‘Judgements and Decisions ... - Give your story a suitable title. ... “At last I can quench my...
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Judgements and Decisions (incorporating good citizenship, ethics and morals)
The ‘Judgements and Decisions’ entries on this page are designed for teachers to read to (or print out for) their students. Responses could either be
written down or discussed among the class; some may spark lively debate.
Zofia’s Kittens Zofia’s family recently arrived from South America and don’t speak much English.
Zofia herself can speak a little English but, as she hasn’t been at your school very long, hasn’t yet
developed any firm friendships.
You hear the popular Carmella Zeni say to some other girls, “Zofia smells,” and you notice that
this group is not friendly to Zofia in the playground. Feeling sorry for Zofia you befriend her
and, before long, you’re invited to her house and she to yours.
Some months pass and one day Zofia brings a cute little kitten to school. It is a fluffy little ball of
white and has big, light-blue eyes. All the students -and the teacher- pat the kitten and generally
make a very big fuss of it. When Zofia says that her parents breed these cats she is, suddenly,
someone everyone wants to know. Zofia, finally, is accepted and liked and she’s now welcomed
into all the playground games.
But there’s something no one but you is aware of…the cats bred by Zofia’s parents are cooped up
in small cages with barely room to move.
What is the best thing you can do?
———————————————– Creative and Original Thinking Suitable for whole-class discussion or as a writing exercise.
Proverbs Make happy those who are near and those who are far will come. (Chinese)
Happiness you pay for is to be found everywhere. (Gypsy)
True happiness lies in giving it to others. (Indian)
Can you say what these three proverbs mean? (even better if you can give examples)
———————————————— Science and Technology Inventors and Inventions: Faster and Better A hundred years ago all nails used by carpenters were handmade, and whole towns were
engaged in nail making—men, women, and children. It was not only cruelly hard work, but was
Exercise: Without using a calculator work out and write down the values of all the square
numbers from 112 to 202
Solutions:
112 = 121 122 = 144 132 = 169 142 = 196 152 = 225
162 = 256 172 = 289 182 = 324 192 = 361 202 = 400
———————————————— English and Literacy Writing Practice: Nature, Wild and Wonderful Choose one of the natural features below and then, adhering to the *additional
instructions, write an interesting fictional story about your experience of it.
thundering waterfall forbidding canyon raging river tranquil lake
towering tree erupting volcano gentle breeze violent earthquake
Do you agree with the story’s moral that every problem has a solution or do you
think there are some problems that don’t? Back up your view with one or more
examples.
———————————————— Science and Technology Inventors and Inventions: Ideas and Methods If you want to invent, look at what is wrong with things you use now.
It is often said that every inventor dreams of making a better mousetrap.
The US Patent Office alone has more than 4 000 mouse-catching devices on file and patent
offices around the world continue to report the improved mousetrap as the most commonly
registered entry.
Many inventors lack the skills they need to let people know what they have created and why
their invention is better than previous inventions.
You may be able to invent without understanding reading, writing, maths, history and science.
However you are not likely to profit from inventing without sound skills in most of these areas.
You need to be able to read well to learn new skills. A good idea is useless if you do not have the
writing skills to be able to tell other people how and why your invention is valuable. You often
need maths to figure out how to make your invention and you always need maths to figure out
the cost to make and sell the invention. You almost always need science to make the invention at
the lowest cost; it is important to be able to make the invention at a price that people can afford.
Before creating something you should meet with different people. Talk with them about how
they would use your invention. What do they like about it? What don’t they like about it? This
will help you decide if your invention is worth pursuing or not.
Talk about or Write about
(justify your responses with explanations and examples wherever possible)
1. Why might mousetraps be such a popular invention?
2. Apart from the mousetrap, can you think of another simple invention that inventors try to
3. If you were interested in inventing a machine that could clear city streets of litter more
effectively than current methods say which people you would need to speak with about your
proposed invention. Include those whose permission you may need as well as those whose
opinions you would seek regarding the positive and negative attributes of your device.
4. What could an inventor do if he/she was not skilled in marketing their invention?
5. If someone is planning on inventing a new type of golf club whose advice should they seek
prior to redesigning the current model?
———————————————————– Citizenship, Morals and Ethics Can of Oil Wherever he went, the old man carried it with him. If he found a door that was squeaking, he
would put a spot of oil on the hinges; if a neighbour’s sewing machine wasn’t running
smoothly, he was always ready with his oil can; and all the boys in the neighbourhood knew
whereto go if their bikes were needing attention.
As the old man went through life, he and his oil can were always there to make life pleasanter
and easier for those with whom he came into contact.
Perhaps some of the people we meet have problems that make their life difficult. And perhaps,
like that old man, we can lubricate it with the oil of kindness, gentleness and thoughtfulness.
If we have our own can of oil ready for such occasions, what a difference it can make!
Talk about or Write about
1. What adjectives can you think of to describe the character of the old man with the can of oil?
2. The old man made others’ lives better by carrying around a can of oil. A person with a special
talent (drawing, singing, dancing, playing a musical instrument, ….) can enrich others’ lives and
lift their spirits by putting their talent on show willingly and freely, expecting nothing in return.
Do you know anyone -child or adult- who has done this? (if you don’t know of anyone personally
you may be able to think of a celebrity who has brought pleasure and joy to others).
3. The can of oil in this passage is used firstly in a literal sense and, at the end, in a metaphorical
way. What is the difference between literal and metaphorical?
4. Smiles, nice manners and random acts of kindness are three ways we can ‘lubricate’ the lives
2) _______ Polo walked from Italy to Asia where he had a series of adventures; he returned
after 24 years.
3) Vice Admiral Horatio _________ won several military victories for Britain, including the
Battle of Trafalgar.
4) This ancient Greek philosopher was a student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle.
5) Julius ________ was a military and political leader in ancient Rome.
6) Louis_______ invented a method of reading for blind people.
Solutions:
1) Napoleon 2) Marco 3) Nelson 4) Plato 5) Caesar 6) Braille
————————————————- English and Literacy Writing Practice: Curious Combinations Use the table below to write a story based on the combination of birthday months particular to
you. You may (but don’t have to) use your combination as the title.
Example 1: If your birthday is in June, your mother’s is in January and your father’s is in
September, you would write a story about Mr Wilson’s absolutely huge chess set (and your
title -if you wanted- could be ‘Mr Wilson’s Absolutely Huge Chess Set’).
Example 2: If your birthday is in December, your mother’s is in April and your father’s is in
February, you would write a story about Sylvia Morris’s gigantic red refrigerator (and your
title -if you wanted- could be ‘Sylvia Morris’s Gigantic Red Refrigerator’).
——————————————————– Creative and Original Thinking Suitable for debate, class discussion or as a written exercise.
“The Traditional Indigenous Lifestyle is better than the Modern Western Lifestyle.” Present a good argument saying why you agree or disagree with the above
statement.
Note to Teachers: Information, thoughts and ideas for this topic may be found at the ‘Our First People’page under
the heading Dreamtime and Dreaming. Click here to go to that page.
——————————————————— Mathematics and Numeracy Child Prodigy: Zerah Colburn Zerah Colburn (1804-1839) was a child prodigy of the 19th century who gained fame as a