Strategize a Smooth Tenant-to-tenant Migration and Copilot Takeoff
Society culture
1. What is Society
and Culture?
Jodi Arrow, Vice President
Society and Culture Association
2. What Is Society and Culture?
2 Unit Stage 6 Course, since 1983
HSC External Assessment – 2 hour exam (60%) and
Personal Interest Project (40%)
About 4000 students per year – 400 schools
Multidisciplinary course drawing from sociology,
anthropology, communication, cultural studies, media
studies, philosophy, psychology and social ecology
NOT General Studies!
3. The Nature of the Course
The study of the interaction of persons, societies, cultures
and environments across time
Enables students to develop an understanding of:
Themselves
Their own society and culture
The societies and cultures of others
Conceptually based course that fosters skills of
independent thinking and research to develop the
qualities of effective citizenship
4.
5. Objectives of the Course
Knowledge and Understanding
Identity, cultures, interaction of the concepts across time
Continuity and change and research methodologies
Skills
Conduct social and cultural research
Communication
Values and Attitudes
Social justice, intercultural understanding
Informed and active citizenship
Ethical research practices
Lifelong learning
7. The Role of the Concepts
Tools for organising and understanding the content
Fundamental course concepts are persons, society,
culture, environment and time
Four other basic concepts: gender, power, authority and
technology
Concepts are the metalanguage of Society and Culture
Highly abstract and conceptual course – challenging for
less able students
8. Micro/Macro
Central concern of the course
Synthesis of personal experience and public knowledge of
the micro and macro worlds
Important that students can relate the reading they do in
class to their own personal experience
Validates and values students’ own personal experiences,
and everyone has something to contribute
However, important that students don’t just ‘tell stories’
about their own lives, and reach a synthesis of the two
10. Social and Cultural Literacy
Another central aim of the course, the development of
Social and Cultural Literacy
Reflection of the values and attitudes objectives
Not directly assessed, but essential for achievement of the
aims of the course and underpin the content
Central premise: the demonstration of cultural relativism
and overcoming ethnocentrism
Making better citizens!
11.
12. Research Methodologies
Key component of the course; separates Society and
Culture from most other Stage 6 subjects
Students not only learn the theory of conducting research,
they become field researchers themselves
Research methodologies employed in all sections of the
course, most notably in the Personal Interest Project
Develop skills in planning, applying and analysing primary
research instruments
14. Ethical Research
Students are expected to conduct research ethically –
applies to primary and secondary research
Gaining participant consent and maintaining confidentiality
Critical awareness of the students’ own bias/perspective
Not conducting research that poses a threat to the
participant or student, or school or wider community
Not conducting research that places the student at risk
Main ethical concern in recent years – proliferation of
uncritical online research (eg, surveys on facebook!)
15. Preliminary Course – Year 11
120 indicative hours
The Social and Cultural World – 20% of course time
Personal and Social Identity – 40% of course time
Intercultural Communication – 40% of course time
16. The Social and Cultural World
Introduction to the course
Interaction between the concepts of persons, societies,
cultures, environments and time; and gender, power,
authority and technology
Introduction to the process of research
Cross-cultural study – compare Australian culture with an
overseas culture
Amish, Maasai – popular cross cultural studies
17. Personal and Social Identity
Socialisation, development and coming of age of
individuals in a variety of social and cultural settings
The process of socialisation, growing up and coming of age
Theories of development – Maslow, Piaget, Erikson,
Kohlberg
Adolescent development and influences on development
Rites of passage and coming of age in different cultures
Cross-cultural study within Australia – Yolgnu popular,
using the films Yolgnu Boy and/or Ten Canoes
18. Intercultural Communication
How to facilitate better communication across cultures in
different parts of the world
Communication – effectiveness, role of gender, class and status,
verbal and non-verbal communication
Role of communication in maintaining social control
Intercultural Understanding – using a comparison with another
country
How to recognise and deal with intercultural misunderstanding
Popular cross-cultural studies include Bali, Japan, Vietnam,
India, China
19. HSC Course – Year 12
Core
Personal Interest Project – 30% of course time
Social and Cultural Continuity and Change – 30% of course
time
Depth Studies – TWO of the following – 20% of course time
EACH
Popular Culture
Belief Systems
Equality and Difference
Work and Leisure
20. Social and Cultural Continuity and
Change
20 of the 60 marks in the HSC exam
Process of research and research methodologies
The Nature of Social and Cultural continuity and change
Detailed country study of continuity and change
Applying theories of social change – usually Functionalism,
Conflict Theory and/or Evolutionary Theory
Applying methodologies for hypothesising about the future
Popular country studies – Japan, India, Vietnam, China
Examined using objective response & short-answer questions
21. Depth Studies
Two sections in the exam – either answer a question in
parts OR an extended response
If answer Question in parts for Depth Study A, must
attempt extended response for Depth Study B
Each to the value of 20 marks, spend approximately 40-45
minutes on each section
Expected length of response of approximately 800 words
Changes to the exam after 2008 consultation on the role of
the PIP in assessment
22. Depth Studies
Can appear deceptively simple, especially Popular Culture
and Belief Systems
For students to achieve, they must ensure that they are
combining personal experience with public knowledge
It is not sufficient to just ‘tell stories’ about their own
belief system etc
Importance of valid and credible secondary research
Emphasis is on specific examples, evidence to support and
application of course concepts
23. Personal Interest Project
Often the most challenging but also rewarding part of the
course for students
Develops independent research skills
Students become experts in their field
Excellent preparation for university
Externally assessed – marked by the Board of Studies
corporate marking process out of 30
Best PIPs from each year collected in the State Library
24. What is the PIP?
Approximately 5500 word project, externally marked
Must be personal – a topic of a student’s own choice
(within reason)
Must be related to the Society and Culture course
Must demonstrate the synthesis of personal experience
with public knowledge
Based predominately on primary research methodologies
Must include a perspective different to the student’s own –
a cross-cultural component, and a continuity and change
component
25. Topic Choice
Students must choose their topic in conference with their
teacher
Must avoid topics that are unethical or have the potential to be
too controversial – must discuss with Principal
Something they are interested in (or personally affected by)
which has a clear relation to the course
Should be original in either topic choice, execution or analysis
Narrow is better – allows for more depth
Students should seek to explain why a phenomena occurs rather
than simply describing it
26. Examples of Topics
Some of the prize-winning PIPs from 2011 HSC:
‘Rise of the Tiger Cubs’
‘Gaga vs Gillard: the Rise of Raunch Culture and the Demise
of Female Political Identity’
‘Sikh Gender Roles’
Quality over Quantity: ‘Only Children’ in Society
List of all prizewinners at www.scansw.com.au
Popular topics often come from: issues of identity, belief
system, forms of popular culture, subcultures, racial issues
& multiculturalism, body image
27. Components of the PIP
Must demonstrate consistent application of course
concepts
Must be clearly communicated
Methodologies must be applied ethically and consistently,
and should be appropriate to the topic
Students need to demonstrate awareness of the
limitations of their work and analyse their own process
All subject matter should be clearly relevant
28. Research for the PIP
Secondary research crucial for fulfilling the ‘public
knowledge’ component
Trend towards students using the internet (including
Wikipedia!) as their main source of information
Should be relying upon books & academic journals
(Sociology, Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Media Studies)
Students still plagiarise, especially from the internet, in
spite of the All My Own Work requirements
29. Primary Research
Students must conduct a range of primary research
methodologies
Generally, 4-5 is a good number of methodologies – must
be manageable, but demonstrate their skills
Questionnaires are popular – should be conducted in paper
form or in a controlled online environment (eg, Survey
Monkey), sample size of at least 50
Interviews and focus groups – libraries can be useful sites
to conduct these
All methodologies must be reliably recorded
30. Issues with Research
Content Analysis – confused with secondary research
Observation – not adequately recorded or implemented
correctly
Use of the Internet
Interviews over email or on MSN
Surveys conducted on online forums like
www.boredofstudies.com
Focus groups – as above
31. How Can Libraries Help?
Access to online databases and journals
Provision of basic sociology books, like Sociology Australia
by Bessant & Watts (1st year University level is perfect)
Wide range of books/journals on contemporary social
issues, especially regarding Australia
Wide range of periodicals – Guardian, New Internationalist
Gently steer students towards genuine, face-to-face
primary research and away from online focus groups or
questionnaires!
32. How Can the Association Help?
Our journal, Culturescope – 3 editions per year, resources,
articles and teaching strategies
The ‘Best of’ Culturescope series – $20-$30 each, one for
each Preliminary and HSC topic (although these will be
updated soon)
Our website – www.scansw.com.au
Details for membership, Culturescope resources, extracts
from past Prize-winning PIPs
Dear Pippa – pippa@scansw.com.au - Advice line for
students and teachers
33. Other Helpful Resources
Heinemann Society and Culture (2nd Edn), by Bernie Howitt
& Robin Julian, Heinemann, 2009
Society and Culture Preliminary and HSC, by Leaver et al,
Thomson, 2007
Society and Culture, by Fleming & Fleming, Excel
Notas del editor
The course diagram illustrates the central concern of Society and Culture – how persons are shaped by their societies and culture, within different environments, across time.
Example – when discussing sociological theories of the family, students would be invited to relate these theories to their own family and the families they know about through personal experience
Common to link the cross-cultural study with the year 12 Core – Social and Cultural Continuity and Change
Narrow PIP topics allow students to really go into detail and be highly analytical. For example, a PIP that looked at how the internet is changing the way people interact is very broad. It could be narrowed down to looking at the effects of Second Life on ‘real world’ identity.
Excel – too hard most of the time Problem with text books – most teachers will want to create their own cross cultural studies, and develop their own focus studies for the Depth Study topics, so textbooks have limited utility