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Teaching Politics 


The third step in creating a teaching unit involves developing a theme. The theme serves in sharpening and reformulating the teaching perspective in a way that is suitable for schools. While the theme is derived from the teaching perspective, it's still important to bear a number of important aspects in mind.

Challenges the theme should meet

bulletOne of the most important aspects is making sure that the teaching perspective and theme correspond with each other!
bulletThe theme must be problem orientated!
bulletThe theme must be formulated in an open way (as a question or as a thesis with antithesis)!
bulletThe theme should motivate and be interesting for pupils (e.g. provocative).

Examples

Factual level

Teaching perspective

Theme

Unemployment

Pupils are asked to analyze the causes of unemployment, learn how it impacts on those affected, as well as looking into its economic, social and political consequences.

No work - no future?

Unemployment

Pupils should learn about the laws that underpin the welfare state, work on the main elements of the social security system and investigate their significance for the unemployed.

Are the unemployed cradled in a welfare hammock?

Elections

The pupils can be asked to investigate what impact elections have on the process of forming a political will.

Is there any point in voting?

Globalization

Pupils can be asked to look into the relationship between the economy and politics and make an assessment on how far the globalization process has affected change.

Multinationals - the new masters of the universe?

Globalization

Pupils can be asked to look into the reasons that have led to globalization and to address the fundamental ideology underlying it - neo-liberalism.

Globalization - is it a neo-liberal conspiracy?

[Examples 1-3 taken from: Politikdidaktik kurzgefasst. Questions involving the planning of political education lessons by the Federal Centre for Political Education, series 326, Bonn 1994, p. 67]

... go to the 4th step in creating a teaching unit:
    Planning the course of lessons

[Author: Ragnar Müller]

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Subjects:  Human Rights  I  Examples  I  Democracy  I  Parties  I  Europe  I  Globalisation  I  United Nations  I  Sustainability

Methods:    Teaching Politics    II    Peace Education    II    Methods

     


 

This online service on the subject of political education was developed by agora-wissen, the Stuttgart-based Gesellschaft für Wissensvermittlung über neue Medien und politische Bildung (GbR) (Partnership for the Exchange of Information Using New Media and Political Education). Please contact us with your questions or comments. Translation from German into English by twigg's Übersetzung deutsch-englisch.