Kildare College, SA: Discovering Democracy Quiz

Kildare College chose a special activity for Celebrating Democracy Week - a whole school quiz which went for a week.

By Francesca Sutton

Discovering Democracy Quiz

An absolute flurry of enthusiasm and energy was sensed in the halls of Kildare College during the period of 18-22 October as students and Pastoral Care classes rushed to the internet, debated past referendums and questioned the recent elections. The democracy quiz was well and truly underway and it caused quite a stir in classrooms and the staffroom alike. Teachers wondering if they were eligible to apply individually, my homeroom feeling a little disadvantaged considering I was the chief overseer of the whole competition.

I was truly overwhelmed at the competitive nature of students and staff alike to race to the library, entry forms in hand waiting in eagerness to see whether their entry would successfully go into the final prize draw …

Description of activity

The quiz was run over five days. Students were asked three questions on each day. They then had to fill in the entry form by the next day (Lesson 1) and place the entry form in the Discovering Democracy box in the library. Students could enter as a Pastoral Care Group or Individually.

There was a theme for each day of the week.

Every student who participated won a prize. Students who achieved less than three correct answers received a chocolate prize for their participation in the competition and every correct entry won a chocolate and the entry was placed into the final draw to win a $50 Westfield Voucher. So realistically a student had five chances of being entered in the major prize round.

Pastoral Care Group entries were given a pizza lunch to the value of $50. There were two extra prizes also given out at the end of the competition. These two prizes went to the two Homeroom Groups which entered the most days in the competition.

Learning outcomes for students

• Students researched and communicated their knowledge and understanding about democracy, parliament and current issues in government.
• Students became active participants in the learning of the terminology, history and contemporary issues through the quiz.
• Students used a variety of sources to collect their information ie: Internet, reference books, textbooks, teachers, community, and other students.
• Students understood That they will be rewarded for their efforts in showing initiative.
• Students were able to work in groups and further developed a rapport with peers and sense of belonging amongst their home group.

I would like to reiterate the amount of discussion and the 'buzz' that was generated during the week about the quiz questions. I was not anticipating this much interest in the whole competition. Students in Years 8-11 were all eager to be involved in searching for the quiz answers and hoping their entry was successful.

Involvement

Every Homeroom Group was involved in this activity. Therefore up to 500 students, 45 staff and undisclosed members off the wider community participated, discussed and/or guided students in the quiz throughout the week. Individual entries were approximately 150.

Congratulations to the winners of the competition

Xavier Curlija (DA) and Pastoral Care Group Kildare B were the individual and Group winners of the competition.

The Discovering Democracy Quiz will be published in the Kildare College newsletter and End of Year Magazine.