Understanding Our Community
Strands: The unit package is designed to bring about students’ learning
experience covered in the 6 stands of PSHE curriculum.
1. Personal and Social Development :
Self and society
Knowledge
to understand the importance of valuing oneself as an active
community member
Skills
to clarify the values and beliefs underlying his/her own decisions
Values and Attitudes to show concern and care for the community issues
2. Time, Continuity and Change :
Understanding the past, change and
continuity
Knowledge
to understand the significant historical developments of local
community
to understand the positive and negative impacts of changes on local
environment and life of people from historical developments
Skills
to master ways of constructing major historical events in local areas,
the relationships between events and people in the community, as
well as to make logical inference on cause and effect
to respond to various information on community heritage
conservation
Values and Attitudes: to cultivate an enquiring mind through learning changes taken place
in an area
3. Cultural and Heritage :
Customs and traditions
Challenges and repercussions of a society
Cultural diversity and interaction
Knowledge
to understand culture and heritage of major communities of our
society and identify different ways of conserving cultural heritage
Skills
to make use of different sources of information for the understanding
and comparison of major features of different cultures
Values and Attitudes to support work relating to the preservation and conservation of our
heritage
to respect the customs and cultures of peoples from different
communities, people and places of different backgrounds
4. Place and Environment
:
Natural and human features of a place
People-environment interrelationships
Conservation and sustainable development
Knowledge
to understanding how the interaction of natural and man-made
environments affects human activities and explain why people living
in different places respond differently
Skills
to use maps and other graphical representations to explain patterns
observed and processes at work in different places and environment
Values and Attitudes to participate actively in promoting environmental awareness to
others
5. Resources and Economic activities :
Production and consumption
People and work
Knowledge
to recognize the contributions of primary, secondary and tertiary
sectors to the economic development of local community
6. Social systems and citizenship : Rights, responsibility and social virtue
Social system political system and interaction
Knowledge
to know the key features of local social groups and political bodies
to understand the causes and effects of some social and political
issues
Skills
to develop enquiry skills in relation to public issues / civic affairs
to develop civic competency in order to participate in local affairs
Values and Attitudes to keep informed about current affairs, and be willing to contribute to
resolving problems / issues at local level
The Design Rationales
The design of this unit aims at providing a flexible framework with supports of multi-level
teaching and learning materials for school use. It is also designed to suit unique school
cultures and contexts, individual teacher's interests and areas of study, diversified learning
needs of students and availability of community resources.
The unit package consists of 3 parts:
Part One- Sections A - C: 3 core units are designed to carry out investigation on the
relationship between the community and people. These units cover topics on population,
demography, urban design and planning, community facilities and community problems.
After studying the core units, students will have a basic understanding on the community
they live in.
Part Two - Sections D - F: 3 optional units are available for schools with interests and
resources on economy-environment interaction, culture-nature interface and
people-environment interrelationships. The units provide students authentic learning
experiences in the contexts beyond classroom.
Part Three - Section G: The extended learning unit provides guidelines and planning tools
for teachers to carry out an enquiry learning project. Students, with the support from
teachers, engage in active learning and benefit from hands-on learning experience.
Unit structure and focus:
Section
Contact
hours
Unit Title
Focus / key concepts
Part One – Core Units
A
3
Geographical characteristics and
surroundings
local scenic spots
built features
natural environment
population structure,
B
3
Popoulation in the community
birth rate and aging population
population changes
local socio-economic development
community
C
3
Community features and planning
infrastructure
and
facilities
environment and hygiene
town planning
Part Two – Optional Units
D
3
Economic activities and our living
environment
local economic activities
living environment
life in community
origin and history of an area
E
3
Culture and nature
built and cultural heritage
heritage conservation
local community characters
government organizations
F
3
Community needs and supports
non-government organizations
social needs
social supports and services
Part Three – Extended Learning Unit
local problems and developments
G
6
Local developments and
community actions
local groups (social / political)
community care and actions
interviewing and survey
forum and role play
Aims and objectives:
This unit is designed to help students understand better the community they live in.
Through various activities in this unit, students have opportunities to explore
physical features and characteristics of their community. They also study authentic
information and materials about their community so as to understand the
community development and issues taken place in their living environment.
Knowledge -Through the activities in this unit, students will be able to:
describe the physical features, community facilitates and socio-economic
characteristics of their community;
identify the needs of the people in the community and evaluate living
environment;
demonstrate their understanding of community issues and explain the impact
of the issues to the community; and
evaluate information, make judgment according to a set of criteria and suggest
resolutions to an issue.
Skills - Through the activities in this unit, students will be able to:
make sense of various sources of information (e.g. data, text and graphics);
apply previous knowledge and given / collected information to carry out
evaluation and to reach decision individually and collaboratively; and
make use of different sources of information for analysis and for
decision-making.
Values and attitudes -Through the activities in this unit, students may:
respond to and respect views and suggestions of others ;
cultivate respect for and appreciation of the cultural and historical aspects of
people and places; and
show care and concern for the people and the environment.
Unit objective and description
A. Geographical characteristics and features
Learning objectives
In this section, students
have an overview on the
places they live through
collecting pictures and
photos, describing the
places and activities.
Activities
Activity 1
Students collect photos and pictures that represent
the uniqueness of physical and natural setting of the
community. They also suggest what to see and do in
the places they selected.
Activity 2
Students design an itinerary for visitors to go around
in the community and explain how their design fits the
visitors of different interests in a place.
B. People in the community
Learning objectives
In this section, students
pay attention to the
socio-economic
characteristics of the
people living in a place by
using and studying the
statistical data.
Activities
Activity 1
From the statistical data in the local area, students
find out the population composition and compare the
information with that of Hong Kong. They also
suggest the problems / issues to be alert for
community development.
Activity 2
Using the data and information, students find out the
changes taken place about the population
composition over 10 years in the local area.
Activity 3
Studying the recent census data, students show how
the information is useful to their understanding of the
socio-economic aspects of a place.
C. Community features and planning
Learning objectives
In this section, students
explore the features and
characteristics of local
area and suggest
improvement on their
living environment through
using their observations
and a set of criteria.
Activities
Activity 1
Students collect information and give examples of
community facilities from their observation /
investigation.
Activity 2
Students use the given assessment tools, combine
comments of their own with those of their groupmates
and come up with a consensus on 3 problems
needed to resolve in the area.
Activity 3
Students read a local report on a development project
related to the area from a district-based newspaper
and give their views and comments to the issue.
D. Economic activities and our living environment
Learning objectives
In this section, students
reflect on their daily
consumption and
understand how local
economic activities relate
to daily life and living
environment of the people
in the area.
Activities
Activity 1
Students record the shopping list for the past 3 days
and find out how their daily life is related to a variety
of economic activities in the local area.
Activity 2
Students collect examples of various economic
activities in the area and illustrate how these activities
cause impacts on their living and the environment.
E. Culture and nature
Learning objectives
In this section, students
understand the values of
community heritage and
cultivate appreciation to
them through discussing
and applying the public
views and concepts on
heritage conservation.
Activities
Activity 1
Students read the 12 statements about the
development of a community. They select the
descriptions appropriately tell about their community
and give evidence to support their selection.
Activity 2
Students read the 5 articles about community
heritage and values. They discuss the relationships of
community values and people’s attitudes towards
their living environment.
Activity 3
Students select a building / a place of their favorite
and apply the concept of community values (e.g.
emotional attachment / collective memory) to their
selections.
F. Community needs and supports
Learning objectives
In this section, students
explore and are aware of
the social services that
support the people in
need. They raise their
concerns and care of
people in the area through
studying the given cases.
Activities
Activity 1
Students visit a local social service
centre(government / non-government) and give a
brief introduction to its organization and services.
Activity 2
Students study the 9 cases and identify their social
needs. Using the information they collected in Activity
1, students suggest the social services that meet their
needs.
G. Local developments and community actions
Learning objectives
In this section, students
engage in a more in-depth
study on local issues /
problems and pay
attention to local
community actions
initiated by local groups.
They express their views
and suggestions through
participating into role-play
activity and carrying out a
small-scale opinion survey
about the issue.
Activities
Activity 1
Students observe and choose recent community
actions initiated by local parties and tell how their
actions draw attention from the government to
improve the living conditions of the people in the
community.
Activity 2
Following up the issue selected in Activity 1, students
collect more views on the issue and provide evidence
to support / justify their points of views. In the role
play activity, they prepare a meeting with residents
and get ready to explain to them the selected issue.
Activity 3
Students carry out a small-scale opinion survey and
find out how others respond to the issue/problem.
They need to sum up the results and give a short
report on the findings.