Authority Is Constructed

Topic: The Impact of Bantu Education on Society

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this lesson, students must be able to...

• Define different types of authority, eg. subject expertise (scholarship), society position (public office/title), or special experience (participating in historical event)
• Use markers of authority to determine the credibility of sources
• Recognise that authoritative content may be formal or informal and may include audio-visual and non-print sources.

Activities:

1. Based on preliminary examples, students will work in groups of 2-3 and will be asked to locate at least 1 scholarly article, 1 report given by an education specialist (or website) and an interview/documentary with an individual who has been affected by Bantu Education.
2. Using the collected sources, students will be asked to critique and answer a series of questions (based on the CRAAP scale) about author/spokesperson and context of the information sourced. 
3. Students are required to consult social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, etc. to sources information for their research. 

Relation to Knowledge Practices:

1. Students will be taught to identify different different types of authoritative sources of information.
2. Students will learn to evaluate information sources for reliability and credibility.
3. Students will be able to recognise the value of various information sources based on their needs, even though they might not be formal sources, or that sought from academic platforms.

Dispositions:

Activity 1 and 3 will help students maintain an open mind when consulting various sources of information and information platforms. They will also be taught that different types of information can be more or less valuable based on the initial need of the research. 

Research as Inquiry

Introduction: 

A group of first year students were given a research project whereby they have to investigate AOD abuse and risky sexual behaviour and decide whether or not there is a link between the two.

Outcomes:

At the end of the lesson students must be able to...

• Formulate research questions based on gaps in existing research
• Use various research methods to find relevant information
• Draw reasonable conclusions based on the information they have gathered

Activities:

1. Students are given a preliminary list of 5 sources on AOD abuse and risky sexual behaviour to begin their research with. They are then required to critically examine these sources and identify gaps or under-researched areas of investigation. Once that has been done, they will need to formulate at least two research questions as possible areas of investigation for their projects.
2. Students are required to construct and administer 20 surveys to an age group of their choice. They will also be required to interview a minimum of 5 people and transcribe the interviews. Both surveys and interview questions will be around substance abuse and risky sexual behaviour, to access the possibility of a link between the two.
3. Students are then to write an essay whereby they express their opinion on the given research topic.

Relation to Knowledge Practices:

1. Activity 1 helps students to critically examine existing research and identify gaps and weaknesses that exist, which will help them identify areas of investigation for their own research and formulate a research question therefrom. 
2. Students will become familiar with various research methods and the valuable information they each offer. Mind mapping also allows students to organise their thoughts and ideas, and information.
3. Activity 3 helps students to examine information they have and draw their own conclusions and form their own opinions. 

Dispositions:

Through the various activities students students will learn think about research as an open-ended engagement with information. Through activity one, students will be able to thoroughly and critically examine existing information, so as to identify gaps or weaknesses that exist. This will also help them formulate their own ideas as to what areas can be investigated. Activities two will also help students identify their own intellectual limitations and also explore various research methods and become familiar with the limitations or restrictions (ethics and regulations) that may sometimes govern these sources, for example, consent for surveys and special conditions around live interviews. Lastly, activity 1-3 will help students appreciate their own intellectual abilities through being able to critique the work of others and also make their own meaningful contributions to the intellectual world.

Scholarship As Conversation

Introduction

The popularity of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use is constantly on the increase, especially among the youth. Many start off thinking that experimenting with AOD's is something "cool" and that they can stop whenever they want to, not knowing where that road might eventually lead to. Addiction is also one of the most debated topics whereby it is seen in many different lights...

Outcomes

At the end of this lesson:

• Students must be able to critically evaluate contributions made by others in a participatory environment.
• Students must be able to cite the contributing works of others in the production of their own knowledge and information.
• Students will be able to recognise that they are active participants contributing to scholarly conversation, rather than passive recipients of scholarly information.

Activities

1. An addiction therapist from a local rehabilitation centre will speak to students about why addiction is understood as being a brain disease. A neuroscientist will also be asked to speak to students about why addiction is a choice. Each talk will be 30-40min followed by a 10 min question and answer session.
2. Students will be required to write an essay whereby they critically examine the opposing views of addiction. They will then be divided into 2/3 groups whereby they will then present what they have learned about addiction and what their own views are.
3. Students will be required to create a blog whereby they express their views and also report on any new/additional research or information that they have found. They will then be required to comment on each others posts. 

Relation to Knowledge Practices

• Activity one will be a discussion on opposing views of addiction. Through the question and answer session, students will be able to critique and clarify issues and points raised and formulate their own opinion. This will also enable students to engage with the facilitators as well as each other. 
• Activity two will allow students to critically examine existing research while also acknowledging and citing earlier contributions to the topic at hand. Through this activity, students will also be allowed to formulate their own ideas and opinions which they will share among each other.
• Activity three will allow students to recognise and realise that they are active participants in scholarly conversation through these blog posts and comments. 

Dispositions

through the various activities, students will be learning that scholarly conversation can take place in various forms, eg. lectures, blogging, presentations, research, etc. Students will also be able to recognise that scholarly conversation is ongoing, and that learning cannot take place with just one individual but collaborative efforts, whether through feedback on a blog, presentations of findings, rsearch for essays, or expert opinion. These various activities will also help students evaluate the various contributions of their fellow peers, experts, researchers, etc. Lastly, students are empowered, knowing that they are valuable contributors of knowledge and information rather than passive recipients thereof.