In Area of Study 3 students evaluate the financial and non-financial information of a service business to make informed decisions for the business, including decisions about investment and superannuation. The following activity could be used after students have covered the theory relating to investment and superannuation. The activity allows students to apply their theoretical knowledge to simulated business situations that involve solving problems and making financial decisions in the context of investment and superannuation.

The following tasks can be used as Unit 3 assessment tasks or revision activities. Together they cover the recording and reporting of stock, completion of ledger accounts, balance day adjustments and the financial reports. Question 1 is based on Area of Study 1/Outcome 1 and Question 2 is based on Area of Study 2/Outcome 2. The questions have been formatted similarly to a formal exam and students should aim to spend approximately
1 minute per mark.

Refer to the accompanying tasks that focus on Areas of Study 1 and 2 in Unit 3. Please note: solutions have been amended.

The following activities focus on the Unit 1, Area of Study 2 topic of entrepreneurship and innovation as a source of business opportunity. The following activities are designed to be used after the relevant key knowledge has been covered.

This unit of work focuses on developing a business concept, conducting a feasibility study, and preparing a business plan. It has been designed to address Area of Study 2 in Unit 1, and to be completed over approximately two to three weeks. The unit of work provides different options for assessment tasks for Outcome 1. Possible options include the business plan section, running the planned business as an actual business, or a class presentation about the business proposal and plan.

The following activities are designed as short sets of tasks to be completed following coverage of the relevant key knowledge in Area of Study 2 in Unit 3. Students are required to complete the tasks in each email activity using the resources listed. The activities can be provided progressively and emailed to students or posted on the school intranet.

This assessment task for Outcome 2 in Unit 3 represents one of two tasks for this outcome. The second task (Task B) will be published in Issue 3 of Compak on 12 April. The key knowledge that Task A covers is provided in the ‘Task details’ section.

This article outlines a sample assessment approach using the new assessment option, ‘a folio of annotated media commentaries using print or electronic materials’ (from the list of assessment tasks in the VCE Economics Study Design, 2010–2014, pages 16 and 21).

This assessment task is a test comprising multiple-choice and written-response questions. Answers are provided for the multiple-choice questions. Students are to complete the test in this answer book.

The following activity is based on the film 12 Angry Men (1957/1997). This activity is designed to stimulate class discussion about jury deliberations. It can be used as an introduction to Area of Study 2 in Unit 1, which examines the role of the jury system in criminal cases.

The following activity focuses on recently introduced ‘stop and search’ powers. This activity looks at the reasons why the laws were introduced and traces the progress of the amendments through the legislative process. This activity could be used in Unit 1, Area of Study 1, or in Unit 3, Area of Study 1.

The following sample assessment tasks are designed to assess the outcomes for Unit 3. Outcome 1 is assessed using two folio exercises. Outcome 2 is assessed by a set of structured questions. For Outcome 3 students are asked to prepare an essay that discusses the role of courts in law-making.

VCE VET Business includes a new unit of competence at Units 3 and 4 level, commencing in 2010. Sally Laycock, Senior Educator at NMIT, provides a suggested approach to teaching Element 2 (Criteria 2.1–2.5) of this unit, based on the performance criteria for this element. This article is part of a series on Elements 1–4 of this unit of competence. This article should be read in conjunction with the first article in the series, ‘Promote innovation in a team environment: unit overview and activities for Element 1’, published in Issue 1 of Compak (January 2010). Articles 2–4 are published in this issue of Compak.

VCE VET Business includes a new unit of competence at Units 3 and 4 level, commencing in 2010. Sally Laycock, Senior Educator at NMIT, provides a suggested approach to teaching Element 3 (Criteria 3.1–3.5) of this unit, based on the performance criteria for this element. This article is part of a series on Elements 1–4 of this unit of competence. This article should be read in conjunction with the first article in the series, ‘Promote innovation in a team environment: unit overview and activities for Element 1’, published in Issue 1 of Compak (January 2010). Articles 2–4 are published in this issue of Compak.

VCE VET Business includes a new unit of competence at Units 3 and 4 level, commencing in 2010. Sally Laycock, Senior Educator at NMIT, provides a suggested approach to teaching Element 4 (Criteria 4.1–4.5) of this unit, based on the performance criteria for this element. This article is part of a series on Elements 1–4 of this unit of competence. This article should be read in conjunction with the first article in the series, ‘Promote innovation in a team environment: unit overview and activities for Element 1’, published in Issue 1 of Compak (January 2010). Articles 2–4 are published in this issue of Compak.

This student resource focuses on the Victorian Government’s policy response to the issue of scarcity of water in the state. The activities require students to predict the economic consequences of the government’s proposed polices and assess their impact on themselves and others. They will use economic reasoning, including cost–benefit analysis, to research and propose solutions to the problem of water shortage and evaluate hypotheses, which are aspects of the Level 6 Humanities–Economics standards. The activities address elements of both the ‘Economic knowledge and understanding’ dimension and the ‘Economic reasoning and interpretation’ dimension. The activities also address elements of the Thinking Processes standards in the ‘Reasoning, processing and inquiry’ dimension at Level 6, as students are required to process and interpret a variety of sources creatively to generate solutions to problem-solving tasks.

‘Visible thinking’ is an approach to integrating the development of students’ thinking with content learning across disciplines. The approach, which has been developed by Harvard University, aims to develop students’ thinking skills and inclination to think deeply and creatively, and to promote deeper content learning. This article outlines the approach and how to implement it in the classroom. Visible thinking links to the ‘Reasoning, processing and inquiry’ and ‘Creativity’ dimensions of the Thinking Processes domain of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS), and can be applied across all VELS domains.

This book provides a very good introduction to the world of commerce for Years 9 and 10 students. It has a friendly, accessible format that encourages inquiry learning and provides the opportunity for students to engage their personal interests with local, national and global issues.
The book has five parts, including: Part 1: Work and money; Part 2: Enterprise and business management; Part 3: Economics and the economy; Part 4: Government and our voice; Part 5: Law, the courts and our rights.