Year 12 Stage 6

Assessment Task
Society and Culture

Bronte Ledingham
17787459
 Data Analysis and Essay
Due Date: Friday, week 8 Duration: 1000 - 1500 words
Weighting: 20%
Rationale:

Students are to examine a contemporary issue related to social inclusion and/or exclusion
using the research method of data analysis.

The focus study for this unit is ‘people with a disability’.

Students look at data analysis to make predictions about continuity and change for the
future of disability standards in society.

This assessment task is an essay, to prepare students for their HSC exam, where they will
be asked to write an extended response similar to this.
Outcomes:

H1 evaluates and effectively applies social and cultural concepts

H3 analyses relationships and interactions within and between social and cultural groups

H5 analyses continuity and change and their influence on personal and social futures

H7 selects, organises, synthesises and analyses information from a variety of sources for
usefulness, validity and bias

Instructions:

Examine the statistical data from the following two websites:

Australian Network on Disability demographics:

https://www.and.org.au/pages/disability-statistics.html
China Disability Statistics:
https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/89/11/11-089730/en/

Question:

In class, we have been examining disability standards in China and Australia. Using the
above statistical data with what you have learnt in class and your own research, answer:

How far can data analysis take us when making predictions for the
continuities and changes in social mobility? Answer with reference to persons
with a disability.

In your answer:
(a) Outline the concepts of continuity and change for social mobility with reference to
as least TWO of these fundamental course concepts:
 Persons
 Society
 Culture
 Environment
 Time
(b) Assess the likelihood for continuity and change for social mobility in BOTH China
and Australia. In your answer, refer to ONE of the following features:
 Education
 Health care
 Employment
 The justice system
(c) Suggest a strategy that is likely to reduce discrimination and move towards social
cohesion within your chosen feature. This may be a strategy for Australia OR
China.
(d) Analyse the validity, usefulness, and bias of the statistics provided (at least one
sentence)
 Marking Criteria
 Response is organised, detailed and coherent in a sophisticated way.
 Makes an informed and detailed judgement about the likelihood for
continuity and change for social mobility.
 An informed and detailed strategy is included to reduce A
discrimination and move towards social cohesion. 17-20
 Effectively applies social and cultural concepts throughout.
 Analyses the validity, usefulness, and bias of the statistics provided in
a sophisticated way.
 Response is organised, detailed and coherent.
 Makes a detailed judgement about the likelihood for continuity and
change for social mobility.
 A detailed strategy is included to reduce discrimination and move B
towards social cohesion. 13-16
 Applies social and cultural concepts throughout.
 Analyses the validity, usefulness, and bias of the statistics provided in
a detailed way.
 Response is soundly organised, detailed and coherent.
 Makes a sound judgement about the likelihood for continuity and
change for social mobility.
 A sound strategy is included to reduce discrimination and move C
towards social cohesion. 9-12
 Attempts to apply social and cultural concepts throughout.
 Analyses the validity, usefulness, and bias of the statistics provided in
a sound way.
 Response attempts to be organised, detailed and coherent.
 Makes a general judgement about the likelihood for continuity and
change for social mobility.
 A strategy is included to reduce discrimination and move towards D
social cohesion. 5-8
 Uses some cultural concepts.
 Analyses the validity, usefulness, and bias of the statistics provided.

 Response does not meet the word count.

 The likelihood for continuity and change for social mobility is not
mentioned.
E
 No strategy included.
1-4
 Mentions some social and cultural concepts.
 Does not analyses the validity, usefulness, and bias of the statistics
provided.
Sample Scaffold:

Elements of
Start thinking about how you are going to answer these Write your points into sentences:
your response
Define these concepts with reference to continuity and change for
disability

1. persons:
Continuity and change

2. society:
Continuity and change
Concepts for
continuity and
change:

3. ________
Continuity and change

4. ________
Continuity and change
 5. ________
Continuity and change

Circle one: Education| Health Care| Employment| The Justice

System

Using your chosen area, make predictions for continuity and change
for SOCIAL MOBILITY for persons with disability.
China:
Prediction for continuity in chosen area:
Likelihood for
continuity and
change for
social
mobility:
Prediction for change in chosen area:

Australia:
Prediction for continuity in chosen area:
 Prediction for change in chosen area:

Circle one: Australia| China

Strategy for chosen country:

Suggest a
strategy to
reduce
discrimination:
How this strategy would move towards social cohesion:
How would
this move
towards social
cohesion?
 Speculate on data provided:

Rate from 1-5 and provide a reason for the rating.

Is it valid?
Australia:
12345
Why?

Analyse the
validity, China:
usefulness, 12345
and bias of the Why?
statistics
provided:

Is it useful?
Australia:
12345
Why?
China:
12345
Why?

Is it biased?
Australia:
12345
Why?

China:
12345
Why?
 Evaluate the importance of assessment and approaches to feedback and assessment

design that will inform your practice in your teaching area.

Schools have been progressing to adopt a curriculum that develops student’s social

and cultural capabilities. The importance of assessment in Society and Culture looks to

measure student’s progress and assess where their opportunities are for thinking with social

and cultural literacy (Cross, Bazron, Dennis & Isaacs, 1989). Approaches to feedback are

important to ensure students don’t become overwhelmed with feedback opportunities, but

their social and cultural capabilities are strengthened through positive and peer feedback

given. Attention to appropriate methods for assessing and giving feedback, students may

work to succeed in their future assessments and exams via backwards mapping. This

assessment task, for ‘social inclusion and exclusion’, focuses on developing student’s ability

to respond to an HSC style question, while making informed, well researched claims and

predictions for the social and cultural world in the future. This assessment design focuses

largely on backwards mapping to prepare students for their HSC exam, and will be adopted

into my teaching practice of Society and Culture in the future because it is an effective way

to prepare students for their exam, look at learning opportunities, and raise student

confidence for responding to societal exclusion. Australian and International literature has a

strong focus on the positives of backward mapping, adopting an ‘understanding by design’

framework (Wiggins & McTighe, 2011). Looking at this literature alongside teacher

scholarship from relevant professional associations (Smith, 2005) help draw conclusions

about the practice of assessments in Society and Culture, and the larger school base. The

assessment task created above aims to achieve a socially and culturally capable student.

Looking at data analysis allows students to question validity and bias in our society and
make informed decisions about the nature of social inclusion and exclusion in certain

socially valued systems. Students achieve this by examining a contemporary issue that is

related to social inclusion and exclusion. The focus study is ‘people with a disability’ and

students are asked to look at data to make predictions for any changes or continuations for

social mobility for disabled persons in meso and macro society. This assessment task is an

essay so that students may practice organising their ideas in succinct, informed, and

coherent ways. The objective for the question to be addressed is that students practice

responding to a vague question and choosing the specific arguments for their response in a

confident, well thought out way. Scaffolding has been provided to guide students in the

planning process for an essay response, and to ensure their claims are informed and backed

up, as they will need to be when they progress as active citizens in society.

Smith (2005) quotes: “NSW schools are taking more responsibility for their own

performance, are subject to closer public scrutiny and are finding new ways of improving

student outcomes in a world of ever-more demanding standards”. In response to this

statement from Smith (2005), the goal of Society and Culture in Stage 6 is to develop the

social and cultural literacy of students through providing a clear understanding of the

interactions of persons, societies, cultures, environments and time ("Society and Culture,"

2013).

These concepts should be accessed in conjunction with other aspects of society and

cultures, including power, authority, identity, gender, technologies and globalisation

("Society and Culture," 2013). The syllabus looks at helping students take responsibility for

their own performance. This is done through ensuring educators teach content that focuses

on creating socially and culturally literate citizens of society. When undertaking this

assessment task, students investigate the relevance of social and cultural issues in relation
to themselves, their own society and culture, and the societies and cultures of others

("Society and Culture," 2013). They achieve this through making informed predictions for

the future of these institutions and begin thinking about the effects and abundance of social

exclusion for minority groups in Australia and the larger macro world.

Smith’s (2005) quote implies that schools are finding new ways to teach students to

recognise and perform in the demanding standards of their micro, meso, and macro worlds.

In response to this, students have been prompted to evaluate the usefulness, validity, and

bias of data through examining statistics for disability rates in Australia and China. The

Society and Culture Stage 6 syllabus requires students to partake in research throughout,

thus growing skills for their major personal interest project ("Society and Culture," 2013).

This assessment uses backwards mapping by focusing on validity, usefulness, and bias of the

data, and having students make decisions about the research methods. This is so they can

confidently respond to issues of social mobility in the meso and macro worlds. Students

have better opportunity for recognising false data, fake news, and propaganda as they meet

the demanding standards of society, through practicing making informed decisions about

how literally data should be taken. In response to Smith’s (2005) quote, this assessment has

been created with purpose for students to create informed decisions and predictions about

the future of our social and cultural world. Students are guided to make these predictions

through analysing data to assess the future for social inclusion and exclusion. Students also

make these predictions with the purpose to suggest change for the future. This is a focus

within the syllabus to guide students to social and cultural literacy as they move into

positions for change in their respective worlds. Social mobility is a focus when making

predictions and decisions for the future of our valued resources as the students grow their

skills to be more socially and culturally capable and aware.

 Society and Culture looks at data analysis in ‘social inclusion and exclusion’.

Implementing data analysis into the assessment reflects NSW action to adapt syllabus

requirements in a way that improves student outcomes in their demanding societies. To

accommodate for this, the marking criteria focuses on a student’s ability to make informed

judgements based on the data they were provided with. Opportunities for providing

feedback should be considered heavily so that student learning may be informed and

improved as they move toward sitting the HSC exams. A focus on backwards mapping is

considered for providing feedback, although research from (Nicol, Thomson, & Breslin,

2013) suggests that a more beneficial method for giving feedback is peer review. Nicol,

Thomson, and Breslin (2013) explains that cognitive processes that are accessed during peer

feedback reviews, engage students in acts of evaluative judgement. This method for

feedback aligns well with the Society and Culture Stage 6 syllabus, because it utilises skills

evaluative judgement and quality feedback (Nicol, Thomson, & Breslin, 2013). Wiggins and

McTighe (2005) state that good assessment should incorporate a balance of techniques

which highlights thoughtful observations. Feedback should sometimes be given without

placing a value or grade mark on the performance (Wiggins, & McTighe, 2005). These ideas

from Wiggins, & McTighe (2005) highlight the importance for approaching feedback

methods carefully, with the intent to inform and improve student learning.

The understanding by design framework, when followed, prompts teachers to construct

assessment tasks with the end goal and purpose in mind (Wiggins & McTighe, 2011). The

desired result for this assessment task is for students to develop their social and cultural

literacy skills. This will transfer to other walks of life as students recognise social inclusion

and exclusion, and make socially and culturally aware decisions, and judgements regarding

these situations (Wiggins & McTighe, 2011). Planning this unit with the end result in mind
allows the students to practice for a desired result, and for appropriate pedagogical

practices to be implemented throughout the teaching of the unit. This allows the teachers

to determine what the students know, and what their opportunities are to reach

performance standards as they prepare for the HSC (Brown, 2004).

As educators, it is important to create a scope and sequence that identifies what the

students should understand at a deep level, so they may become socially and culturally

capable citizens as they transfer their knowledge and skills to new situations in their micro,

meso, and macro world (Heineke & McTighe, 2018). This assessment task considers

backwards mapping, conforming to the syllabus rationale, and providing feedback and

assessment strategies for student improvement.

References

Brown, J. L. (2004). Making the Most of Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Cross. T., Bazron, B. Dennis, K. Isaacs, M. (1989). Towards a culturally competent system

of care. Vol. 1: Monograph of effective services for minority children who are

severely emotionally disturbed. Washington: Georgetown University Child

Development Centre, CASSP Technical Assistance Centre; 1989.

Heineke, A. J., & McTighe, J. (2018). Using Understanding by Design in the Culturally and

Linguistically Diverse Classroom. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Nicol, D., Thomson, A., & Breslin, C. (2013). Rethinking feedback practices in higher

education: a peer review perspective. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher

Education, 39(1), 102-122. doi:10.1080/02602938.2013.795518

Smith, M. (2005). "Data for schools in NSW: What is provided and can it help?".

http://research.acer.edu.au/research_conference_2005/11

Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2011). The Understanding by Design Guide to Advanced

Concepts in Creating and Reviewing Units. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.