Junior Cycle Business studies Learning Outcomes
Strand: Personal Finance
Element: Exploring business
Learning Outcome:
Students should be able to:
1.7 Distinguish between and appreciate their rights and responsibilities as consumers
Sample Learning Intentions
From the learning outcome above we devised the following learning intentions:
We will know our rights as consumers and the responsibilities of retailers when selling goods and services
We will be able to write a letter of complaint and apply our rights
sharing Success Criteria
Once the students have identified what makes a good letter of complaint in their groups, the students, guided by the teacher will collate and summarise the success criteria. An example of the final success criteria for the learning intention “We will be able to write a letter of complaint and apply our rights” can be seen below:
Addresses
Include the addresses of both the sender and the receiver of the letter
Salutation
Start the letter appropriately, e.g. Dear Mr X/Ms Y if the name is given in the question, otherwise Dear Sir/Madam.
Paragraphs
Opening paragraph should contain details and date of purchase
Second paragraph should contain details of problem and reference to a breach of consumer legislation
Final paragraph should include a request for the remedy required with reference to the responsibilities of the retailer and your rights as a consumer
Closing
Should match the opening salutation, e.g. Dear Sir/Madam ends with Yours faithfully, Dear Mr X/Ms Y ends with Yours sincerely. Include full name of the sender at the end.
Spelling/punctuation/grammar
Use of capitals for first letter of each part of address and first word of new sentences. Spell-check/proof-read before submitting to make sure all words are correctly spelled.
Effective Questioning
Effective questioning can provide teachers with information about the students they teach, allowing them to ascertain where they are with their learning. Questioning can reveal evidence of existing knowledge, gaps in knowledge and any misconceptions that students may have.
The careful planning of a mix of higher and lower order questions in advance, the use of student response systems (SRS), e.g. Socrative, Mentimeter, WizerMe, Google Forms, Microsoft Forms can increase student engagement and allow for improved feedback both for the teacher and by the teacher.
When planning effective questioning it helps to focus on why you are asking the question in the first place (NCCA, 2015).
The questions below from each level of Blooms Taxonomy can be used to stretch students in their thinking and prepare them for the assignment.
Knowledge
List three rights of consumers when purchasing a product or service.
Understanding
How would you explain the term ‘caveat emptor’?
Applying
Develop a set of instructions for being a wise consumer.
Analysing
Distinguish between a valid and a non-valid complaint.
Evaluating
How effective is the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act in protecting consumer rights?
Creating
Create a graph or an infographic showing the steps involved in resolving a valid complaint.
Distributing the assignment
In the example below, the assignment is distributed to the students using the 'Assignment' option in the 'Classwork' tab in Google Classroom.
The teacher decided to use the rubric feature to scaffold the assignment for the students.
The teacher based the rubric on the success criteria that were shared with students as part of the assignment.
The rubric is visible to students as they are completing their assignment and can act as a guide to improve the standard of the work submitted.
returning the assignment
The student views the assignment which has been shared by their teacher and clicks on the attachment to begin work. Once he or she has completed the assignment it can be submitted to the teacher by clicking the 'Turn in' button to the right hand side of the image below.
Below is an example of a first draft of student work which the student will submit for teacher feedback.
Effective Feedback
The example below shows effective feedback from the teacher (or a peer) can be shared using online comments. The comments are structured using an example, scaffold and reminder prompts (Clarke, 2005).
Example prompt
An example prompt can be successful with all students, but particularly those who require additional support, e.g.:
Although you have the correct use of capital letters here, the closing isn't correct, given that you started the letter with "Dear Sir/Madam". Hint: The correct closing should be "Yours f..."
Scaffold prompt
A scaffold prompt scaffolds the learning for students who need more support than a simple reminder, e.g.:
Check how capital letters are used here (Hint: look at how this law is written in your textbook)
Reminder prompt
A reminder prompt is most suitable for able learners, e.g.:
Check your spelling here please
General feedback can also be provided to the student in the 'Private comments' section on the right hand side of the screen. Below is an image showing how this private feedback is viewed by the student. In addition, the teacher used voice/oral feedback for the student using the Mote Chrome extension.
In addition, the student can view the rubric which the teacher selects when grading the assignment to receive further feedback and identify areas for improvement in the next draft of the assignment.
Completed piece of work
The student re-drafts the work based on feedback from the teacher and/or peers and can resubmit this on their virtual learning environment.
When the student resubmits the updated draft, the teacher can provide additional feedback if necessary.