Asia Education Foundation

Activity 4: Major beliefs

Level

Middle and Upper Primary

Lesson overview

This lesson requires students to process and organise the large amount of information in the text. It demands close examination of the text and highlights common elements of different religions, inviting comparative study.

Main learning outcomes

English
Society and Environment

Materials required

The Really Big Beliefs Project book
Large sheets of paper
Textas

Procedure

  1. Ask students about some of the challenges in reading The Really Big Beliefs Project. Remembering all the different names and aspects of different religions is likely to come up.
  2. Ask how all the information might be clearly organised and displayed, so that what students have learnt can be demonstrated. Discuss whether the religions have things in common which emerge as a pattern that could be displayed, for example in a table.
  3. Elicit from them the kinds of information that should be included, such as name of character, religion followed, place of worship, festival/holy day, sacred books, founder, leader/teacher, sacred places and special clothing.
  4. Set students the task of designing a table in small groups to effectively display this information. Use large sheets of paper.
  5. When the table pro formas are completed, ask groups to choose a character for whom to complete the table. Each group should research a different character. Students may need to use the ‘Links’ and ‘Resources’ sections of the website to assist them.
  6. Groups share their information with the class, so that the tables can be completed for each character.
  7. Display the completed tables. Discuss:
    • the merits/challenges of the different table designs. Which were easy to complete? How would students organise their tables differently next time?
    • the way different religions have similar elements. Which things do most of these religions have in common? Why might different religions have things in common?
    • the ways students’ views of religion have been affected by the activity. Which religions did you already know something about? Why? Which religions would you like to find out more about? How could you do this?