About What’s Fair
What's Fair? is based on an approach where students are encouraged to be rational, sensitive, critical, creative and involved because the classroom operates fairly, is based on trust and mutual respect. The approach used is the Community of Inquiry - both students and teachers are active inquirers and the quest for meaning is a joint exercise.

In a Classroom Community of Inquiry students listen to each other, talk to each other, respect each other, and provide reasons for their beliefs, while the teacher primarily provides a guiding, facilitating role.

The supportive, participatory classroom environment also helps students to experience what community can actually be like. The Classroom Community of Inquiry provides students with the chance to practise and develop their abilities to interact with one another and to express their ideas clearly and coherently.

The material caters for a range of interests and abilities appropriate for children in the middle school years, 5-8, and includes suggested activities; discussion questions; and learning, teaching and assessment strategies. Within each unit, teachers can select a logical sequence of activities best suited to the abilities and requirements of their class or individual students.

What's Fair? provides a framework for ethical inquiry which has five stages:
1. Identification and clarification of the ethical issue
2. Discussion and justification of initial responses to the ethical issue
3. Reflection and creative exploration of the issue
4. Consultation with others and re-evaluation of individual position in relation to the issue
5. Action planning in relation to the issue
The teacher's role is to facilitate and nurture student focussed discussion by:
• asking open-ended questions
• listening to students
• developing strategies to ensure all students have opportunities to contribute
and encouraging students to:
• provide sound reasons for their opinions
• consider alternatives
• ask questions of themselves and others
show respect for each other and tolerance of differing viewpoints

The activities in the Teachers' Guidebook can be used separately or in conjunction with each other, and can be adapted to suit the abilities and requirements of particular groups.
1. The teacher should preview the video clip(s)
2. Establish a clear purpose for the viewing by outlining the specific viewing task prior to the screening
3. Repeat the viewing to allow time for students to absorb the narrative and issues or to focus on key details and techniques
4. Discuss with students how we get meaning from film by analysing the techniques used by the filmmakers. The Teacher's Guidebook describes these.
5. Students complete activities selected from the Teacher's Guidebook
6. Student work is assessed. Suggestions for assessment strategies are included in the Teacher's Guidebook.