Activity

Episode 31 th 30 October 2012

School Swimming
Key Learning
Students will examine the pros and cons of swimming being compulsory in primary school.

The Australian Curriculum > English / Literacy / Interacting with others

Content description
Use interaction skills, varying conventions of spoken interactions such as voice volume, tone, pitch and pace, according to group size, formality of interaction and needs and expertise of the audience. Code ACEL Y1816

General capabilities
Literacy Information and communication technology capability Personal and social capability Critical and creative thinking

Elaboration
Participating in pair, group, class, school and community speaking and listening situations, including informal conversations, discussions, debates and presentations

Focus Questions
1. Discuss the School Swimming story with another student. Report back to the class with the main points of your discussion. 2. According to the report, the number of kids who wont know how to swim by the time they leave primary school is 3. What does the Royal Lifesaving Society want to do to tackle the problem? 4. What do supporters of the idea say? 5. What are some disadvantages of the idea? 6. What do you do to stay safe when swimming? 7. What are some ways people can keep themselves safe in the water? 8. Respond to the following statement: Participation in water activities is part of Australian identity and culture. 9. Illustrate an aspect of the School Swimming story. 10. Should swimming lessons be compulsory in all primary schools? Explain your answer.

Activity
Discuss the issues raised in the School Swimming story with students. Students will research and debate the following statement: Swimming lessons should be compulsory in all primary schools. Divide the class into teams of 6, 3 speaking for the affirmative and 3 against. Other roles that can be assigned are chairperson, time keeper and the remaining class members can give feedback to the speakers. Discuss with students the length of time each speaker talks for. Students will need sufficient time to research the topic.

ABC 2012

The debate can be structured in the following way: Speaker 1 Introduce the topic and teams argument. The 1 speaker for the negative can also rebut (argue against). Speaker 2 Rebuttal and continue teams argument Speaker 3 Rebuttal and summarise/conclude debate When analysing the issue, students need to consider both sides of the argument as outlined in the BtN story. They may also find it useful to research arguments for and against on the internet. Some key issues/questions students can explore for the debate include: Schools teaching swimming to make sure all children learn to swim. Private swimming lessons can be expensive. Some schools cant access pools to teach children to swim. Parents should be responsible for enrolling their children in swimming lessons outside of school. Schools have enough to teach. Guide for giving feedback Was the information clear and accurate? Were the arguments logical? Were the counter arguments accurate and relevant? Comments about the presentation style (tone of voice, body language, enthusiastic, convincing) Reflection Ask students to think about how difficult it was to think of arguments to support their case. Do they think they could have created a stronger argument if they were speaking for the opposing view? Further Investigations What are the water safety issues relevant to young people? Create a poster that gives some tips to young people about how to stay safe at home and the beach.
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Think about your own involvement in water activities. Make a list of activities that you and your family participate in. Brainstorm community organisations that promote and encourage water safety. Choose one organisation and create a profile including information about how they promote safe participation and the benefits of belonging to the group. Share your profile with the class. Related Research Links ABC News Lifesavers want compulsory swim lessons in schools http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-23/lifesavers-call-for-swimming-lessons-in-school/4328082 ABC Sport Swimming skills declining in Australian children http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-23/an-report-shows-drownings-in-ausincreased/4329870?section=sport Royal Life Saving http://www.royallifesaving.com.au/www/html/7-royal-life-saving-website-home-page.asp Swim and Survive Water Safety Education http://www.swimandsurvive.com.au/content_common/pg-schools.seo
ABC 2012