| Lesson
3: Promoting Understanding Activity
Class
time needed: 40 minutes
- Materials
Newsprint or butcher paper
Markers
Sticky notes
- Objectives
Students will understand the difference
between categories and stereotypes.
Students will understand why both good
and bad stereotypes are harmful.
Students will become better aware of
stereotypes about Native Americans.
- Introduction
In Teaching About Cultural Awareness,
Gary Smith and George Otero point out
an important difference between categorizing
and stereotyping.
Because of
the amount of information we have to
assimilate, categorizing is necessary.
It is a way to reduce and simplify an
otherwise impossibly complex world.
Stereotypes . . . go beyond the functionality
of thinking in categories. They are
beliefs about people in categories that
lessen the chances of interaction and
diminish the potential for recognizing
and accepting differences.
This activity is designed to help students
understand the negative consequences
of stereotyping.
- Procedure
1. Post several sections of newsprint
or butcher paper around the classroom.
List one category at the top of each
sheet of paper. Some possible categories
are listed below, but feel free to adapt
this list to make it relevant to your
students.
| Girls |
Gays/Lesbians |
| Boys |
Native Americans |
| Athletes |
Disabled |
| Honor Roll Students |
Black/African American |
| Asians |
|
2. Present or review the terms “category”
and “stereotype.” Point
out that categories help us organize
the information we have about people,
places, and things. For example, it
makes sense to describe someone whose
ancestors lived in North America well
before 1492 as a Native American. But
if we assume that person has certain
characteristics because he or she belongs
to that category, then we are stereotyping.
Stereotypes ignore individual differences
and assume that all of the people in
a given category are alike.
3. Have students look at the posted
categories and, using sticky notes,
write down stereotypes they have heard
about these groups of people. Then have
students place the notes under the appropriate
categories.
4. After everyone has finished, give
students the opportunity to look at
the stereotypes posted under each category.
Then move to the debriefing session.
- Debriefing
Use the following questions to guide
student discussion about stereotypes.
1. Were any stereotypes posted about
groups or categories that you belong
to? How did it feel to see them “in
print?”
2. Where do these stereotypes come from?
How are they perpetuated?
3. Were positive as well as negative
stereotypes posted? Why should positive
stereotypes be avoided?
4. What did you learn from this activity?
* Look in particular at the stereotypes
about Native Americans. Give students
another 5-10 minutes to add to that
list of stereotypes. Then, ask them:
1. How might these stereotypes get in
the way of your study of Wabanaki history
and culture?
2. What can your class do to make sure
this doesn’t happen?
Used with
permission from Peace Corps World Wise
Schools
<http://www.PeaceCorps.gov/wws>
*This final activity is not part of
the original World Wise Schools lesson.
It was added by the
Abbe Museum.
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