Year 7 - Social & Religious Homework - I think it's very hard!!

[friendlymum67]

DD has this as her homework - Explain why it is important to have beliefs and opinions. They are asked to incorporate something called SEEDS - Statement, Evidence, Explain, Develop into their answers.

I know I am not the brightest of people but I think this is quite hard for a Year 7 child and wondered what others think?

TIA.

They are introducing the terms now so it becomes second nature later for GCSEs.
I don't think its difficult its just different compared to how you or I learnt.

The key is for you to ask her whether they have been talking about this in class at all. They may well have looked at some scenarios where people have got into trouble, because they didn't have a clear opinion of their own and were easily swayed.

So it is asking for, at minimum, a four sentence answer:

Why is it important to have your own opinions and beliefs? She should state what she thinks (one sentence)

Then she can give some evidence (hopefully they have talked about what happens to people who have not learned to think for themselves, in class. This would be a very hard homework if they had not had some examples given to them in class as preparation)

She then needs to explain what would be involved in the example she chose (someone choosing to smoke, for example, because they wanted to be like their friends, rather than because they knew the facts and had formed an opinion)

Finally she could come up with a final sentence perhaps broadening the issue to say whether it is important to have your own opinions and how you can do that (Ie talking and listening in RE lessons/PHSE lessons at school can help you to prepare for all sorts of situations before you meet them 'in real life'

HTH

dodo3 - I am definitely feeling my age at the moment! My school days are very much a distant memory!

longtallsally2 - thanks so much for that, it was very helpful. Are you by any chance a teacher?

Explain why it is important to have beliefs and opinions. They are asked to incorporate something called SEEDS - Statement, Evidence, Explain, Develop into their answers.

Beliefs and opinions - (create, maintain, represent, express) personal identity and values/ group identity/ security/ meaning and purpose in life/decision-making possibly? Opinions can be strongly held but some flexibility is essential, for development and growth. SEEDs is just PEE+. Point, evidence, explanation plus a bit more for the development. Introduction stating aims of the work, clarifying the question and approach.Paragraph for each point. Conclusion - It is important to have beliefs and values because....

Very strongly agree with what Longtallsally2 wrote - great ideas there.

What I'd add is the SEEDS concept: here taught as STATEMENT/ EVIDENCE/ EXPLANATION/ DISCUSSION (your DEVELOPMENT)/ SUMMARY

is really useful for more than just this Social & Religion homework - it could apply to any extended writing task on any topic.

It's at core teaching the basic structure of good argument.

By writing in such a structure (and essay writing/ public speaking often relies on this - typical employing 3 examples to make a point or personal experience for example)

It's as applicable to a chemistry experiment write-up as it is to your DC's Social & Religious essay question. Learning to write in such a structure helps your DC to focus on the elements of a good argument and work to plan their own essay to fulfill that.

It's a good habbit to develop.

And - by the way - such questions are entirely open - you can take it in any direction - as long as your argument is supported by evidence and well argued.

HTH

Unfortunately the exams are so formulaic all you can do is practice, practice practice until you can parrot your answer in exactly the way the mark scheme works.

It's utterly insane, but exam technique = more marks than knowledge or understanding

Elephants:

This isn't just an exam technique - this is in fact a structure used in academic writing - whether undergraduate essay or scientific paper in a double blind peer reviewed journal.

It works whether you're proposing to the client that your company is their solution, presenting a documentary of wildlife or whether you're giving a sermon.

It is the underlying structure of a well reasoned argument - and goes well beyond parroting.

The child can do their homework arguing religious beliefs are important/ don't matter at all/ may or may not matter depending on the individual/ only matter to devout people/ etc....

That argument is original and unique to that individual person's thought process. However, learning the formula for a good argument doesn't mean you can't play with that structure altering it to suit your needs.

I think RS topics have never been more interesting and stimulating! Remember that this subject morphs into wider social topics that children need to have opinions on as they become teenagers. One of my favourite homework questions from my ds was "Is violence ever justified"? What a corker! We had such a constructive discussion over that one, the whole family got involved! We concluded that you can have

• a violent cause that ends in a peaceful way (Good Friday Agreement)
• a peaceful cause that ends in a violent way (Ghandi/Martin Luther King)

Really made three teenage boys pause and think hard about what they believed ... such a good thing ...

Oops! Missed your reply there - yup, outed myself there as a teacher, though not an RE teacher! As sellbydate says, however, it's a useful technique to use in lots of subjects - English lit, history even science.

Hope she got on with it OK. Has she has it marked yet?

A simpler way of thinking about this structure is PEEL
POINT
EXPLAIN
EVIDENCE
LINK ( back to question)

longtallsally - Sorry only just came back to this thread, (don't worry, your 'secret's' safe with me! )

She hasn't got it back yet, to be honest there is a fair amount of homework so trying to keep track of it can be difficult!

Hopefully she did ok, I think older parents need a refresher course on current teaching methods etc as some of us are clearly too old for new methods!!