People Power: citizenship and democracy in Classical Athens and modern day Australia
In this new, Victorian Curriculum 2.0 aligned workshop, students will use the Hellenic Museum exhibits and authentic ancient artefacts to explore democracy from its roots in Classical Athens to the modern day.
Through interactive role-play and object-based-learning, they will unpack the structures of ancient democracy, including sortition, direct democracy and ostracism. They will learn about how citizenship affected the life of ancient Athenians, the surprising connection between democracy and theatre, and how ancient concepts of democracy, citizenship and civics are similar to, and different from our own.
Students will then take part in a debate where they compare and evaluate ancient and modern systems of democracy, and conduct a vote using pebbles, just as the ancients did, to decide what democratic concepts we should keep, return to, or discard.
Is there anything modern democracy can learn from the ancient world?
Duration
Capacity
Cost
1 hour 30 minutes
30 students (min. charge 8 students)
$20 per person
Teachers accompany free
Curriculum Links
This workshop has links to the following learning areas: History, Civics and Citizenship, and English. It utilises ethical, personal and social, and critical and creative thinking capabilities.