Politics and Society · 5th Year

Active learning ideas

Planning a Citizenship Project

This topic provides the roadmap for the Citizenship Project, a cornerstone of the Politics and Society Leaving Certificate. Students learn how to move from an abstract interest in a social issue to a concrete, actionable plan. The unit covers the essential stages of the project: research, action, and reflection, ensuring students understand the NCCA's criteria for a successful 'active citizenship' experience.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• Leaving Certificate Politics and Society, Strand 2, LO 2.7
• Leaving Certificate Politics and Society, Strand 2, LO 2.8

• 30–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Think-Pair-Share
• 30 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: The 'Issue Sieve'

Students brainstorm five issues they care about. In pairs, they put these issues through a 'sieve' of three questions: 1) Is it specific enough? 2) Can I actually do something about it? 3) Is there enough research available? This helps them narrow down a viable topic for their 6th Year project.

How do we identify a pressing community issue?

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Inquiry Circle
• 45 min · Small Groups

Inquiry Circle: The Action Menu

In small groups, students are given a sample issue (e.g., 'Lack of youth spaces in our town'). They must come up with three different types of action: an 'Awareness' action, an 'Advocacy' action, and a 'Direct Service' action. They then discuss which would be most effective for this specific problem.

What are the most effective action strategies?

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Self-Awareness

Activity 03

• Peer Teaching
• 40 min · Small Groups

Peer Teaching: The Ethics of Action

Students are given short scenarios of citizenship projects that went wrong (e.g., a project that accidentally offended the group it was trying to help). In groups, they identify the ethical mistake and 'teach' the class a rule to prevent it. This builds the 'ethical awareness' required by the NCCA.

How do we evaluate the impact of our civic actions?

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

---

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• The project has to be a massive, world-changing event to get a good grade.

  The NCCA rewards the *quality of the process*, the research, the planning, and the reflection, more than the scale of the outcome. A well-executed local project is better than a poorly planned national one. Peer-reviewing past project reports helps students see what 'good' looks like.

• The 'Action' part is just doing a fundraiser.

  While fundraising is an action, the best projects often involve advocacy (writing to a TD) or awareness-raising (creating an educational campaign). Encouraging students to think beyond 'charity' toward 'change' is a key goal of this unit.

---

Methods used in this brief

• Think-Pair-Share
• Inquiry Circle
• Peer Teaching