Best of the Best...REVISION TECHNIQUES!

Post your ideas for revision strategies and activities as comments below!!! Then pick one that you've not tried before and give it a go!! (And comment to let us know how it goes!).
Lets see if we can find the best of the best revision techniques!!!

Here's one for you to start with: 
(From SLN GeoRevision)

Red Pen Black Pen

The idea is that the two colours work on the two halves of the brain. The black pen signifies the information that you already hold in your conscious memory. The red pen signifies those things in your unconscious memory that you wish to transfer into your conscious memory. The red pen strongly signifies danger and is held by your unconscious memory without realising it.

The revision technique has several stages :

Stage 1 – Produce a concept map to cover a topic you wish to revise e.g. farming (attached). Could be set as a homework, obviously how you set out your concept map is personal to you and students will learn faster by having completed this first step themselves.

Stage 2 – Produce a blank skeleton of your concept map (attached)

Stage 3 – In the lesson ask the students to revise from their concept map for 10 minutes – no longer !

Stage 4 – Turnover the concept map with the answers on it. With your black pen write down everything that you can remember.

Stage 5 – When you cannot remember anymore turn over the answer sheet and then fill in the blanks in red. This is the end of the first evolution.

Stage 6 – Spend 10 minutes revising from the sheet you have been working on.

Repeat from stage 4 !

During the exercise the amount of black ink should increase and the red pen decrease as you transfer more information into your conscious memory.

 

Saudi Arabia - The first ever women-only city?!

Kate told us about an amazing current event - the design and building of a brand new city in Saudi Arabia... for women only!!

Is this something to celebrate as CHANGE in recognition of women's rights in a society where inequality is so evident, or is it an example of CONTINUING gender segregation?
See her full report for more information and how it relates to the Society and Culture concepts.

World Countries - International Stats

Here is a great website to find out a bit about different countries around the world. Not so much focussed on social and cultural elements but interesting none-the-less!
http://hdr.undp.org/en/data/map/
Click on the statistics tables tabs for more data too.

Tips and Look Out's- when planning and using methodologies

Here are some excellent Top Tips and Things to Think about for whenever you are planning your research methodologies (in a project) or having to analyse their usefulness or validity (in an Evaluation of a project, or in an exam question). 

Research Methodologies - Glossary

Here is a link to your official guide for Research Methodologies. You will need these for assignments, exams and of course... your PIP!

Olympic Truce Campaign - 'Equal Olympic Opportunity'?!

With all the hype and excitement of the Olympics at the moment, Monica decided to look a little more closely at what issues have arisen in Olympics past and how they are today. A little healthy competition and banter between teams and countries is in full flow at the moment, but it has not always been a positive, internationally harmonious event.

Inequality and discrimination has been seen throughout the years the Olympic Games have started from the beginning until now. It was not until 1992 that the world united and everyone from all countries were able to compete in the Olympic Games. The following examples show some of the history:

The Olympic truce campaign has been created for all countries to travel to and from the games in peace with no racial discrimination from other countries or no conflicts and to also achieve peace throughout the games.  Within  the Olympic Village is an Olympic Peace Wall 2012 which is signed by all competitors of the Olympic  Games that have all agreed to live and compete in peace.

Colorado Shootings "I am the Joker"

Lucy analyses the recent news of the Colorado "Batman movie' shooting, linking it to a variety of the Society and Culture concepts.

A gunman wearing a gas mask and sheathed head-to-toe in body armor opened fire in a theater packed for a midnight showing of a just-released Batman movie, killing at least 12 people and wounding 58 others.

MEDIA: The suspected shooter, James E. Holmes, considered himself as the Joker from the famous batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises”. He was influenced from this type of media to go on the rampage in Colorado, and tried to bring the character to life.

PERSONAL IDENTITY: James E. Holmes identified himself as ‘the Joker.’ He was trying to bring a movie character to life, and changed his personal identity to one of a fiction character.
POWER: James E. Holt had a lot of power in the Colorado shootings, and would have felt very confident with all his weapons and his costuming.

Women, race and stereotypes... what message is Disney giving girls today?

Disney Movie Princesses: what messages do they send out to young girls on how to be a woman and will it lead to 'happily ever after' today?  Danielle reviewed these questions using examples of Disney characters.

"For example; Cinderella why did the Prince choose her? Why didn’t he give the UGLY step sisters a chance but gave the household maid a chance first up from her looks? Do all men only go for beautiful looking women and not care about what comes with it? We also see in the movies every successful male is always the strongest and always seems to save the female from anything she couldn’t handle. The Princess is beautiful, always innocent and does what she's told. Is that the messages Disney Movies wanted to make children think life’s all about? Getting told what to do just because you’re a woman?

You will find little aspects in life where you never knew stereotypes were hidden that seem to reinforce those stereotypes in society. Times have changed but it seems these classic childrens films have not and therefore may mean that these stereotypes and expectations stay around for a long time to come!"

Film Review - 'Never Let Me Go'

Brae reviewed the film 'Never Let me Go' in relation to some of the Society and Culture Concepts:

Time - Only a certain amount of time to live.

Power - The medical breakthrough that occurred changed lives for younger people, however elder people got an advantage.

Authority -  People are under constant watch.

 The film begins with onscreen captions explaining that a medical breakthrough in 1952 has permitted the human lifespan to be extended beyond 100 years.
 The first section of the film depicts the young Kathy, along with her friends Tommy and Ruth, spending their childhood at Hailsham, a seemingly idyllic English boarding school.
It is revealed that the film is set in an alternate twentieth century. One of the teachers is fired after telling the pupils of their fate: they exist to provide donor organs for transplants. They will be nurtured to adult age at which time they will be available for "selection."

Do I look suspicious??

What does our appearance say about us? What we wear, our body language, our style of communication...
The 'hoodie' has become a topic of debate as an item of clothing and what it represents, as well as the ongoing issues of race and skin colour stereotyping.

The fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman took place on February 26, 2012, in Florida, USA.  Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old African American who was unarmed and wearing a hoodie.

George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old multi-racial Hispanic American, was the designated neighbourhood watch coordinator for The Retreat at Twin Lakes, the gated community where the shooting took place. Since the shooting and the trial, there have been protests, marches and campaigns.

Watch the campaign video to find out more about what happened. BUT be sure to look up other sources of information too to get a balanced view of the the story... there are many parts to it!

Disabled care- a human right, not a charity

Jennifer is focussing on the topic and issue of disability in society for her PIP. Here is her take on the recent news on financial support plans from the Government.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme(NDIS) is being put in place to support people with ALL types of disabilities, regardless of how it was aquired, whether through accident or at birth. This also includes Mental Illness. As well as providing much needed funding to the services that support people with disabilities and their families, the scheme also acts as a safety net in the event of an able bodied person aquiring a disability. This is a relief to many people who are new to the challenges a disability brings, as the costs associated are a major burden that doesn't get any lighter- just talk to any parent who has a child with a disability! Hopefully with the introduction of the scheme, parents will be able to get a break from looking after their kids 24/7, particularly those who require 24hr care, 7 days as week. If an important person in parliament had a family member with a disability, the need for more funding wouldn't be an issue. This is long overdue. People with disabilities and their families have struggled enough. See more on the story here.

Jennifer has also raised some questions to consider...

1. What is your perception of people with disabilities?
2. What is your reaction when you see a person in a wheelchair(disgust, fear, embarrassment?)
3. If you had a disability, what do you think would be the worst kind to have(Auditory, Intellectual, Paraplegia, Physical, Mental?)
4. If you aquired a disability tomorrow, how do you think your life would change?



 

A real man...

Thanks to Camille for this excellent discussion:

Are you a real man? Do you know someone who is a ‘real’ man?

1.       Are they chivalrous and respectful? That’s pretty ‘manly.’

OR

2.       Are they disrespectful to women and constantly put them down? That seems to be pretty ‘manly’ these days too.

Herein lies our paradox.

Jackson Katz’ book, The Macho Paradox, profoundly challenges the definition of manhood. Are men real men when violence against women is involved physically and verbally? Are men programmed to be violent or are people naturally violent?

Society and culture are highlighted repeatedly in this book. Concepts of gender and power are major features, as men fearing women constantly slam women to defend their ‘masculinity.’ Are men brought up this way, passed down by enculturation? Has violence against women accelerated along with the technology that allows access to the 10,000 porn videos released in the U.S.A every year? This pattern has led people to evaluate continuity and change that come with gender violence and how societies can prevent it. 

From Eminem to high school sex scandals, this type of violence concerns every individual and influences them to make decisions. This is not a ‘women’s issue’, it is something that men play a role in too and it should be acknowledged. True manhood most certainly shouldn’t involve harming of another human being. Jackson Katz’ discusses hundreds of factors more on this topic from personal experiences to quantitative data. He also acknowledges the book called the ‘Cinderella complex’, where it claims that very independent women still desire to be protected by a male. The gender stereotypes are overwhelming and cease to end! The Macho Paradox proves to be as complex and puzzling as society and culture itself.

See the powerpoint accompanying this here.

Race in TV

Thanks to Marianne for this review of current issues of race and culture in TV media.

The article relates to society and culture concepts because it highlights cultural stereotypes and the power the media has to dictate what is put on television; people are highly influenced by what we see in the media. This also links to continuity and change because Australia has become a more multicultural country in the last 20 years, so we should therefore portray this image on TV. However, the media still perceives the Australian audience to be intolerant to other races and believes we would rather see white people on TV.

Major television networks are accused of TV racism as it is believed that there are few roles on commercial television for people from Australia’s ethnic mix. Soap operas such as ‘Packed to the Rafters’ and ‘Home and Away’ are being criticized for ‘Racial Tokenism’ as well as reality game shows and news/panel/chat shows which are being described as very anglo-centric. Multicultural Arts Australia also say that when there is racial diversity it usually depicts cultural stereotypes which is being labelled ‘Colour Blind Casting’. A lot of ethnic actors are portrayed as the villain, eg  Middle Eastern actors are portrayed as drug dealers and‘Wog criminals.’

 TV networks and advertisers argue that they are worried that white Australians will tune out if there is more ethnic mix in the media, despite 2009 census revealing that 44% of Australians are born overseas or have at least one foreign born parent. Hence, Australia would be more accepting of other cultures and more ethnic groups might watch shows if they were being represented on television. A professor of sociology also claims that media are worried that they may portray ethnic races in a way that people may deem as offensive and so they stick to the white, ‘mainstream model’.

Read the full article from The Vine.

The importance of EVALUATING YOUR SOURCES!

Last night (3/3/12) a documentary, 'McDonalds Gets Grilled', was aired on Channel 7 where six Australians are invited to spend a week touring farms and factories where McDonald's produce is sourced and made.

However did it give us a RELIABLE view of what things are really like overall?


Knowing the details behind your source of information is important.
-WHEN was the data collected? (currency)?
-WHO collected the data - what are their own perspectives or vested interests? (Bias)?
-HOW was the data collected? Is it a reliable and accurate method? (Accuracy and reliabililty)?
-WHO or WHERE was the information based on/taken from? Is it VALID for all other people/places?

The word documentary makes us think it is a serious and objective source. However it was funded and initiated by McDonalds itself! So is it really going to give us an UNBIASED view?? Probably not - although you can see what their spokesperson and Channel 7 and the Telegraph had to say here.
It gave a pretty positive image of McDonalds farmers and suppliers. But we need to consider:

- Were the farms and suppliers and restaurants shown in the documentary a large enough sample to be representative of all those that they use/run? i.e.  were the results RELIABLE and VALID?
- How was the sample of farms, suppliers and restaurants selected??
- Can we be sure that this is an accurate representation of the whole of McDonalds throughout Australia? What about the rest of the world?

These are the sorts of questions you should be asking about any SOURCE you use and any PRIMARY data you collect yourself!!

'Blue bra girl' rallies Egypt's women vs. oppression

Thank you to Sarah for this write up on a recent relevant news issue - see bold for links to S&C concepts!

A newspaper photo shows Egyptian security forces beating a female demonstrator during clashes in Cairo on Sunday.

Within every country all over the world there is gender inequality, whether it be the workplace, home, government etc. Recently in post-revolution Egypt, gender inequality has been a big issue, many people have been beginning to speak out and protest about woman’s rights and how they are severely lacking in Egypt.  Recently a protest was held in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where thousands of men and women gathered to demonstrate their feelings towards the inequality.

“When thousands of women take to the streets and demand they be listened to then this is a historic event (CHANGE!). The all male military dictatorship are trying to drive them off the streets with brute force, killings and beatings. But not only this brutal rape and humiliations. The military after they took over power in February performed invasive, pseudo-medical 'virginity tests' on several women arrested after a demonstration in March. This was rape intended to intimidate all women. So is the stripping of women and the beating of women in the recent march. The video of the young women where she was stripped and beaten by all male soldiers makes things clear. When her clothes were pulled off she was shown to be wearing a blue bra. She is now referred to as the "blue bra girl" and "blue bra" is being used on twitter to spread the word asking for support for the movement.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2076547/Egypt-protests-Thousands-women-march-mistreatment-Tahrir-Square.html

The people are protesting against the pPesident Mubarak who has been in reign with his own regime for 30yrs. They have been influenced by the sucess of what happened in Tunisia. They want more freedom, more jobs and food prices to go down. The internet has been shut down because it is a way of communicating and protestors can gain support etc in this way. If you are shut down from communications you are more likely to stay at home and do nothing. Mobile phones are not working either. They have also closed down international news channels on tv so the locals do not know what is happening.

Human Rights

Thank you to Miss Stojanovski for an excellent link for information and research on equality and difference.

It is the Australian Human Rights Commission website and there is an abundance of information on anti-discrimination.

http://www.hreoc.gov.au/about/index.html

The reaction to Kony 2012

Thank you to Ellie for providing this information.
It shows how SOURCES of information (e.g. the Kony 2012 campaign video) have to be EVALUATED for validity, accuracy and bias.

In a refugee camp in the shade of giant mango trees, a Congolese man called Jean-Roger is calling for US soldiers to capture the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, Joseph Kony.

"We need a military intervention. [President Barack] Obama must make an effort to finish with Kony," he says in a firm voice.

"The LRA has killed a lot of people, and raped a lot of women, and they kidnap children to train them to become like them. They must be stopped."

This is the response of the African (not necessarily Ugandan) victims of Kony. Read more here.

On the other hand, here is the Ugandan government's response to "Kony 2012".http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/ugandas-government-responds-invisible-children-kony/

Kony 2012 - People Power???

POWER and AUTHORITY: Two key concepts in the Society and Culture course. The Kony 2012 campaign and 'craze' shows big changes in who has power and who influences authority.
A few things to consider:

- Does Kony have power or authority? - or neither? - or both?
- If so, WHY does Kony have power?
- Do Governments (African countries governments, American government, Australian government... and more!) have any power or authority over Kony?
- What sort of power and/or authority does the public have? In Uganda/Africa, in the USA, in Australia, around the world?
- How has the balance of power and authority changed over the last month? To who, from who?
- How has technology influenced this? Do Social Networking sites have any power or authority?

I could go on....

- If the public does have some power - then that includes you... do you feel in a position of power? Do you WANT that power?!!!

Please post more interesting questions in the comments box below!!! Or even your feedback and thoughts on any responses or answers would be even better!!!! :)

Kony 2012 - the video, the social networks.

KONY 2012: How Social Media Fueled the Most Viral Video of All Time

KONY 2012 took the social web by storm last week, as a 30-minute documentary seeking to arrest LRA leader Joseph Kony was viewed online nearly 100 million times.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project investigated how KONY 2012 became the most viral video of all time.

The key, Pew found, was 18 to 29-year-olds sharing links on Twitter and Facebook. While initially 77% of Twitter discussions were positive, the tone shifted as criticisms of the non-profit behind the film, Invisible Children, began to circulate.

Source: Yahoo News

Maybe this is true: Where did you learn about KONY 2012? Are Twitter and Facebook your go-to sources for current events? I am unfortunately out of that 18-29 age bracket and the first place I learnt about it was from YOU- the students, in lessons at school! And then later on the television news. Maybe this is just one small piece of evidence to back up how information and the power of the media is shifting through time.

In addition, our easy access to information today, i.e. via the internet means that we can easily adn quickly find additional information on something that interests us. Within 24 hours the campaign was initially supported and then questioned as people looked more closely at the issues and background to the Kony 2012 campaign and the Invisible Children Organisation.

Or... is this one aspect of our culture today? That as soon as someone or something becomes successful, there are underlying desires to bring that someone or something down? ... 'Tall poppy syndrome?'....???

Parents raise a 'gender-less' child

"Sex is what is 'between the legs' and gender is what is 'between the ears' "
This is quite a nice differentitation between sex and gender for the purpose of our understanding, but has been taken a stage further for a couple and their most recent child in Canada.
They have not told anyone what sex the baby is and will raise him/her as neither a girl or a boy, so that he/she may make their own choice on their gender.

Read one of the news reports on this here.

Clinical psychologist Dr Brenda Todd , a senior lecturer at City University , said the experiment has been tried before in the 1970s by a feminist academic and her husband, with limited success.

"When the child gets older, the influence of the peer group is much stronger than that of the family so, like it or not, it will become gender aware."
Dr Todd pointed to research she and a colleague did on children between the ages of nine months and 36 months.
"We found that they really did have stereotypical preferences even at that age, with the girls going for teddy bears and dolls and the boys going for balls and cars."

Find other reports on this and think about:
- Do you agree with what the parents are doing?
- Why do you think they have chosen to raise a genderless child?
- What benefits or problems do you think this could bring to the child as they grow up?