Student Preconceptions
Aim
To encourage the students to reflect on their own knowledge and preconceptions.
Objectives
| • | Understand some of the basic statistics about refugees. |
| • | Dispel some of the commonly held misconceptions. |
| • | Locate relevant information. |
Resources
| • | Core Activity Sheet 2.1 'Refugees - What do you know?' , to write on, 1 each |
| • | Core Activity Sheet 2.2 and Core Activity Sheet 2.3 'Refugee Fact Sheet,' 1 each |
Tasks
1. What do you think you know?
| This section of the lesson could begin with a brainstorm about what students think they know. | |
| Ask students to complete Core Activity Sheet 2.1 alone, answering true or false. Stress that they shouldn't help each other at this stage. | |
| Once done, students could compare their answers, and discuss what differences there are in their answers |
2. Check the real answers
| Hand out Core Activity Sheet 2.2 and Core Activity Sheet 2.3 and ask the students to research the real answers. | |
| Ask students to correct their answers and add any relevant information to their corrections. |
3. Plenary
| Bring the students together towards the end of the lesson to check the real answers. |
Discussion Points
| • | What questions did people get wrong first time? |
| • | Were there any facts which were surprising? |
| • | Were the numbers of refugees in the world/UK bigger/smaller than expected? |
| • | Why do you think people have different perceptions? |
Extension
Look at some of the internet links to discover more facts about refugees around the world.
Differentiation
Pair up mixed-ability students to do Task 2 of the activity.
Homework
| Ask people from another year or friends and family at home for their answers to some of the questions. | |
| Keep a record of how many people have the correct answers. | |
| Tell them the real facts if they get any answers wrong. |
National Curriculum Focus
| 1(a) Global community and the UN | |
| 2(a - c) Skills of enquiry and communication | |
| Key skills: communication, working with others |