RI Y4 SS Capstone Project Task Handout 2022

2022 Y4 SS-PL Capstone Project Page 1 of 16 Raffles Institution 2022 Year 4 Social Studies & Philosophy Capstone Project Task Handout Being an active citizen means taking an active interest in the society that you live in. Concerned citizens often express their opinions and concerns through various platforms with the intention of raising awareness and implementing change by appealing to others’ empathy and sense of justice by giving reasons and to convince those who might have different values or perspectives. Technology has made it easier for activists to reach out to a larger audience and advocate action, particularly with engaging documentaries that seek to motivate collective action on issues ranging from human rights to environmental protection (e.g. Kony 2012, An Inconvenient Truth (2006), etc.). In this Capstone Project, your aim is to examine a significant social issue in Singapore that is overlooked or persistent, explore possible solutions, and persuade others to take action to address it with an engaging Social Documentary, and in so doing, play your part as an active citizen. In a team of four (or five, depending on class size), your Social Documentary will: ● Raise awareness of a significant social issue that has been largely overlooked or persistent by examining how it manifests in Singapore. ● Develop concern about the issue by examining its impacts on various groups in society, and by building a persuasive argument using various sources of information. ● Inspire viewers to do something to address the issue by examining the causes of the issue, proposing feasible and effective courses of action, and encouraging viewers to act. Leading up to your Social Documentary, you participate in a COI Discussion Forum and submit a Written Report, both of which will directly lend themselves to your final product. A. TASK REQUIREMENTS AND MODE OF SUBMISSION The Capstone Project comprises one ungraded part and three graded parts that total 70% of your overall Social Studies and Philosophy grade. Part 1 – Project Proposal (not graded) Submission deadline: T1W6 ● After deciding on an issue, you will conduct research to understand it, and collate and frame your ideas in a project proposal (refer to the template provided in Section H below). ● Your proposal should not exceed a word limit of 800 words, and must include all the sections specified in the template.

2022 Y4 SS-PL Capstone Project Page 2 of 16 Part 2 – COI Discussion Forum (20% PL) Submission deadline: T1W9-10 ● Promoting a social cause in a diverse society requires you to engage in respectful, rational and productive discourse with people who might have differing views as you. Being an active citizen in a democracy requires a vital set of skills, amongst which is the ability to participate in and contribute to a Community of Inquiry. ● As part of the graded portion of the Capstone Project, you will be participating in a COI-style discussion on IVY discussion forums. ● The discussion forum will explore the roles of citizens and the government in making decisions for society, and help you better understand the context and purpose of your social documentary. ● You will be evaluated on the following criteria: o Clarity & Precision ▪ Are the student’s contributions easily understood? ▪ Does the student seek and provide clarifications? o Logic ▪ Does the student provide arguments with plausible premises that support his conclusions? ▪ Does the student engage with the arguments of others? o Relevance and Significance ▪ Does the student stay on point, and make significant contributions to the discussion? ▪ Is the student able to identify digressions when they arise? ▪ Is the student able to link and organize points raised by the community? o Respect & Openness ▪ Does the student show respect and openness to the views of the community? ▪ Does the student help build a respectful and open community, by inviting others to speak, and encouraging others to be respectful members? ● The assessment will be conducted in class on your IPADs. You will be split into groups of five or six students to conduct the COI discussion (these will not be the same groups as your Social Documentary groups). The duration of the assessment will be 45min. Part 3 – Written Report (20% SS, 5% PL) Submission deadline: T2W6 ● You will present your consolidated research on the issue in the form of a written report, which will flesh out in detail the outline provided by your proposal (refer to the template provided in Section H below) and form the basis for your documentary. ● Your report should not exceed a word length of 3600 words, excluding references, and be written in an appropriate academic register. You should write approximately 500-600 words for each section (including Appendices, but excluding References). ● Exceeding the word count will incur a straight percentage penalty (i.e. 10% over the word limit incurs a 10% mark penalty).

2022 Y4 SS-PL Capstone Project Page 3 of 16 Part 4 – Social Documentary (25% SS) Submission deadline: T3W4 ● Your completed documentary should be a video of no longer than six minutes. ● To inform your audience about the issue and compel them to do something about it, your documentary must include: 1. An engaging introduction to the issue and what it is about, from the perspective of various stakeholders in society, 2. A convincing argument why viewers should be concerned about it using various modes of persuasion (appeals to authority, reason, or emotion – refer to https://owl.excelsior.edu/rhetorical-styles/argumentative-essay/argumentative-essay-modes-of-persuasion/), and 3. An inspiring call to action suggesting how your viewers can help address the issue. ● Creativity and production quality are important, and will help make your documentary more engaging and easier to understand. Think carefully about your approach to and presentation of the issue to make your documentary an effective one. ● Your team is required to submit a full script (refer to Annex A: Script Format Guide) for your documentary. You are advised to write the script before you produce the video, and not simply transcribe what has been recorded. ● Your documentary must not exceed six minutes (excluding credits), or you will incur a straight percentage penalty (i.e. 10% over the time limit incurs a 10% mark penalty). ● You should consult your teacher early to begin production as soon as possible and refer to the suggested schedule of work below to ensure that you remain on task and can meet the submission deadline. ● Interviews with laypersons and experts (such as academics with a relevant area of research) are optional and not necessary. Given the current pandemic situation, you may only interview people you know and interact with (e.g. friends and family) for their opinions in order to gain some perspective on the issue. Note that you should also: o Avoid interviewing members of the public. o Avoid interviewing ministers or other senior civil servants. o Avoid interviewing RI teachers or your own parents unless they are subject-matter experts who are directly relevant to your issue. o Seek approval from your teachers for all correspondence with members of the public, and consult them if you are unsure of any of these guidelines. ● Each member of your group will also have to complete an online individual written reflection on the entire process of planning and producing your social documentary. This reflection is ungraded, but mandatory. You may consider the following questions to help you with your reflection: o Key challenges faced – What difficulties did you encounter? o Important lessons learnt – What have you learnt from the process and issue? o Areas for improvement – What could you have done differently or better?

2022 Y4 SS-PL Capstone Project Page 4 of 16 C. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA ● You are assessed individually for the Discussion Forum and as a group for the