AC9HC8K01 – Year 8 Humanities and Social Sciences: Government and democracy

This Content Descriptor from Year 8 Humanities and Social Sciences provides the specific knowledge and skills students should learn. Use it to plan lessons, create learning sequences, and design assessments that align with the Australian Curriculum v9.

Elaborations

• 1 investigating how Australians can participate in democracy, such as voting in elections, contacting their elected representatives, joining political parties and standing as candidates, and using lobby groups and taking direct action
• 2 explaining how who can vote and have a say in Australian democracy has changed since Federation, and the importance of an independent electoral service such as the Australian Electoral Commission
• 3 examining the issues of concern to young people in Australia today and investigating different ways they are seeking to influence political processes in addressing these issues
• 4 analysing case studies of citizen participation in political campaigns such as the Uluru Statement from the Heart
• 5 explaining how citizens’ understanding of issues, policies and political choices are shaped and can contribute to active and informed citizenship, including the influence of the media and social media, political parties, interest groups and election campaigns
• 6 examining a range of strategies used to influence citizens’ electoral choices, such as public debate, media and social media, opinion polls and political consulting firms, advertising, interest groups and political party campaigns

Related Achievement Standards