Tax spending and our sense of community

This sequence is intended as a framework to be modified and adapted by teachers to suit the needs of a class group. If you assign this activity to a class, your students will be assigned all student resources on their 'My learning' page. You can also hand-pick the resources students are assigned by selecting individual resources when you add a work item to a class in 'My classes'.

Part A: Exploring what it means to be Australian

1. Display the Australian Citizenship Practice test on a whiteboard or screen. 
2. Students open and complete the ‘Australian Citizenship Practice test’. Invite students to share their results. 
3. Discuss the types of questions they were asked to answer and whether students believe they were equipped to answer them. 
4. Display the Deakin University Challenge on a whiteboard or screen. 
5. Go through the first question and ask students for a response. Select the most popular answer and press next. Read the information that accompanies the answer at the bottom of the page. 
6. In pairs, students complete the worksheet.
7. Pose the discussion question: What do the sample citizenship test questions indicate about the knowledge and values considered to be important to an Australian citizen?
8. Set a task for students to write a paragraph explaining: Being Australian; what it means. Refer students to Writing paragraphs in Civics and Citizenship – Model.

Part B: Highlighting examples of governments acting to support a sense of Australian community

1. Use the ‘Class design brief’ on the visualiser to explain that each student will become a graphic designer and will research and design the content of a single page. Discuss examples of possible places, events and institutions that benefit from government funding and could feature in the book such as: 
   • Museum of Australia
   • National Gallery of Australia
   • National War Museum 
   • NAIDOC in the City – City of Sydney Council
   • Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures
   • National Film and Sound Archive
2. Students identify 3 possible inclusions as pages of the book’s content. 
3. From the student-identified possible places, events and institutions, select a page for each student to design and publish so that the book contains unique entries. 
4. Display the example provided on the visualiser. As a class, deconstruct the example and discuss:
   • the role of the title
   • colour, font and the use of space
   • the importance of an image/images 
   • key text about people and the valuing of the Australian community 
   • link to further information
   • acknowledgement of government funding. 
5. Choose a software program that all students will use and explore its functions. 
6. Identify publishing ‘expert buddies’ to assist other students. 
7. As a class, establish and document design criteria. Possible questions to prompt the drafting of criteria include:
   • Should the style of the page reflect the nature of the place, event or institution?
   • Does the key information describe its purposes?
   • Is the page layout clean and simple? 
   • Has government funding been declared?
8. Using a sample website, students practise locating key information and the steps for copying and pasting text and images (if available, a screen snipping tool can be useful). 
9. Allocate time for student designing. At points throughout the process, students provide feedback on each other’s design by referring to the design criteria. 
10. Print and assemble the publication.
11. Following publication, ask students to reflect and draft a one sentence response to the question: 

    • Why should revenue from taxpayers be used to fund the places, events and institutions highlighted in the book?