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Lesson on Human Rights

Civic education
07.12.2017 19:12 | 481 | 0 | 1 | Text view
Grade: 10 | Duration: 120
small profile!
This learning scenario is meant for social science lesson for 9th grade students. The learning scenario is meant to be used in a classroom which includes also gifted children. The structure of the lesson gives the gifted students an opportunity to strive and live up to their potential by solving a complex problem, presenting their solution to others with arguments and debating on the topic. The lesson includes a simulation. At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher introduces the process of applying for asylum in Estonia and also gives a short overview of human rights history and the basic documents on that field. The students are then presented with a situation and given roles. They have to form groups based on those roles. The situation: A Muslim family from Syria applies for an asylum in Estonia but all the documents of the family members where lost during their flee from Syria. There is no possibility for the family to prove their identity at the moment. There are three members in this family: the family head is called Elias, his wife is Maya and their daughter is Amira. Elias has worked as an orthopedist for 18 years. He took as many books as possible while fleeing from Syria and he also has hand-written notes for the last two years. Maya was a primary school teacher in Syria. She took drawings made by her students with her to Estonia. The daughter of Elias and Maya, Amira was studying in the 11th grade when she had to leave the country. She has photos of her friends, hand-made jewellery and her cat Bossu with her. The family had to leave from Syria because their town was affected by the war with ISIS and they feared for their lives. Their home in Syria is totally destructed and their previous employers are also situated in parts of Syria that have fallen in the hands of ISIS. There is no way of getting any information from there. The family has already lost two grandparents and one grandparent is also missing. The family has distant relatives still living in Syria, who vouch for the family but they haven't seen each other in 3 years. The students have to debate on whether or not the family should be given asylum in Estonia. All the students are given a tablet with the same information: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; 4 articles which include true information and 4 articles which do not; LiquidText (for making notes on the text); Photo Detective Pro (for detecting altered photos); Plag (spreading information in group); Quip (for working together on same materials); the background story of the family, photos of personal belongings the family brought with them and internet access. The students are tasked with finding all the relevant information regarding legislation. The groups have to decide whether or not they would support the family in receiving the asylum. The groups have to work through the articles and the photos, decide which information is correct and which is not and then make decision for "yes" or "no". Once the group is decided, they have to present their argumented opinion to others providing different supporting materials found. All of the groups have 5 minutes to present their opinion and to persuade the other groups. The best group will be chosen by voting on MyVote. The groups cannot vote for their own groups and each student has one vote. The lesson concludes with discussion and reflection. The purpose of this lesson is to learn about the life of refugees and the process of applying for asylum. Also, to find and analyse information, to learn to present argumented opinions and to build empathy towards others. The students have to take on the role of different members of the society and at the same time have to think about the family and their situation. Group 1: Human rights organisation (leader, communications specialist and lawyer). Group 2: School (principal, history teacher, psychologist) Group 3: Members of local government (mayor, communications specialist, social worker) Group 4: Refugee family (Belarusian family of three: mother, father and daughter) Group 5: Neighbours (Estonian family of three: mother, father and son) Group 6: Members of local church (priest, religion teacher, volunteer) Group 7: Community members (bus driver, shopkeeper, bank teller) Group 8: Members of village council (head of council, secretary, accountant)

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Tallinn University
Joined 09.2016