Hello Y12

Well done for looking to see which room you're in - genius! Go to Rm 16 for all your GS lessons now; Mrs Price will be your teacher for the remainder of the course where you'll study the Cultural Domain. Enjoy.

It's been fun,

Ms Caldwell

Just to let you know, we DO have a lesson on Monday. I think we should carry on in the Dinner Party style - so bring a bag of crisps!

Please ensure you have a current news story to discuss.

See you then!

Ms Caldwell

Hello General Students!

Right, I feel we have really got somewhere. If anything because it leads into a very good discussion of the Education System (interesting and part of the syllabus!)

On Monday we will have our dinner party! We will have questions on cards and also some (topic free) prompt questions. I also hope we'll have time for a dinner party game. If you would like to, do bring some food to share.

There is now a mock exam in lesson time in the final week of term; this means Monday's lesson will be our last so the dinner party seems like a fitting end.

This is the link to the clip I showed you. I think it raises a range of questions about education. What do you think? What's the solution?

See you Monday

Ms Caldwell

Here it is!

Fundamentalism

Hello Y12

Oh, poor General Studies blog; the most neglected of my little blog family!

Recently, we have been looking at the social divide and influences to our behaviour. Obviously, these fit into a political framework as well. How can things like the social divide fit into politics? What news stories can you think of that link to it? Where do the different political parties stand on this issue? How have they changed in recent years or months?

Over the next couple of weeks we'll look at two contentious and topical political hot potatoes: education systems and the NHS.

Your homework has been to find out about Fundamentalism. The definition as well as research into two fundamentalist groups. There are some definitions here from a range of encyclopaedia on this site. I haven't read it all, but it looks good.

Here is a document I have made for you. It's an overview of everything you need to know for this section of the course. You should be able to link almost of all of these to the news; if you can't find some news stories! Get into the habit of looking at www.bbc.co.uk/news.

If you fancy extending your learning and making your brain buzz have a look at this. It's the programme I was telling you about in lesson the other day.

If I think of anything else, I'll post it.

See you on Monday,

Ms

Hello Y12

A reminder then of what is needed for your presentations. Your presentation is about different voting systems. This should include a detailed analysis of the First-past the Post system. You should be able to different newspaper articles about this that detail opinion; at the time of the election, it was controversial. You should also go into detail about Alternative Vote. You should know about other systems and some examples of where they are in place.

It is very important that everyone emails copies of the presentations so that absence doesn't impact upon the rest of the group.

If you would like some help, this site is useful and informative. Have alook a the parliament site; it has lots of useful links and will help your understanding of how parliament works. It is also worth getting into the habit of looking here. One of the aspects I most like about GS is that being aware of current affairs is worth something. It is obviously invaluable in life.

In terms of assessment, you need to have an objective point of view; you should be able to explain the advantages and disadvantages as well as offer your own opinion. In the presentation you need to be able to give a detailed explanation of which type of voting system your prefer and why.

Ms Caldwell

Btw, we're in Rm 24 P3 on Monday.