Circus animals
Focus Questions
1. What words do you associate with `the circus’?
2. Describe the role animals have played in circuses over the years.
3. The use of circus animals has been banned across Australia. True or false?
4. What arguments does the owner of Stardust Circus make about animals being used in the circus?
5. Animal liberation is opposed to the use of animals in any way that inhibits their ability to live their life naturally. What do you think that means?
6. Describe the conditions in which the animals are kept.
7. Do you think animals are an important part of a circus? Explain your answer.
8. Which side of the argument was more convincing? Why?
9. Explain your position on animals being kept in zoos.
10. Has your opinion about the use of circus animals changed since watching the BtN story?
Circus row
Students will research and debate the following statement:
`Animals should be banned from the circus’
Divide the class into teams of 6, 3 speaking for the affirmative and 3 against. Other roles that can be assigned are chairperson, time keeper and the remaining class members can adjudicate using the rubric at the end of this activity. Discuss with students the length of time each speaker talks for. Students will need sufficient time to research the topic.
The debate can be structured in the following way:
Speaker 1 Introduce the topic and team’s argument. The 1st speaker for the negative can also rebut (argue against).
Speaker 2 Rebuttal and continue team’s argument
Speaker 3 Rebuttal and summarise/conclude debate
When analysing the issue, students need to consider both sides of the argument as outlined in the BtN story. They may also find it useful to research arguments for and against on the internet. Some key issues/questions students can explore for the debate include:
· Animals are not in their natural habitat
· Conditions which animals are kept it meet the requirements by law
· Consider physical and behavioural needs
· Bred in captivity (is it the only life they know?)
Peer adjudication rubric
Criteria / Needs improvement / Satisfactory / Good / Excellent
Information / Information was inaccurate and unclear / Some information was accurate and clear / Most information was accurate and clear / All information was accurate and clear
Organisation / Arguments were illogical / Most arguments were illogical / Some arguments were illogical / All arguments were logical
Rebuttal / Counter arguments were not accurate or relevant / Some counter arguments were accurate and relevant / Most counter arguments were accurate and relevant / All counter arguments were accurate and relevant
Examples and facts / Few or no relevant examples or facts / Some relevant examples or facts / Many examples and facts given – most relevant / Many examples and facts given – all relevant
Presentation
(tone of voice, body language, enthusiastic, convincing) / Poor presentation style / Satisfactory presentation style / Good presentation style / Excellent presentation style
Reflection
Ask students to think about how difficult it was to think of arguments to support their case. Do they think they could have created a stronger argument if they were speaking for the opposing view?
8 Related Research Links
ABC 730 – Circus row
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-07/circus-row/3995284
Children’s BBC Newsround – Should animals be banned from the circus?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4620000/newsid_4624300/4624372.stm
PBS – History of the circus
http://www.pbs.org/opb/circus/in-the-ring/history-circus/
© ABC 2012