Teacher Guide
Lesson plans
Following are some outline lesson plans you can try with the Power League website. They are adaptable — you can, for example, try whole-year or whole–school leagues and use them as a basis for discussion in class or in a school assembly.
Some of these activities can be related to more than one area of the curriculum. The 'Most Evil' lesson could be part of the history, English literature and religious studies curricula, for example, while the World Power League lesson relates to history and citizenship. Several of the lessons have a speaking and listening element that feeds into the English and drama curricula.
The idea of the lessons is to get students thinking about their choices and talking about them: the aim of the Power League is to help students think critically and listen to the opinions of others. If no one changes their mind, it's not working!
World Power League
Objectives:
To explore different kinds of power — political, religious, cultural — and how it can be used.
National curriculum link:
History, Science, Citizenship, RE
Preparation and resources:
Choose seven people included in the league to research. Try and get a good spread of politicians, sportspeople, entertainers and historical figures: perhaps Tony Blair, Martin Luther King, Kelly Holmes, Queen Elizabeth II, the Pope, Noam Chomsky, Emmeline Pankhurst.
Prepare a sheet or PowerPoint slide about each person, listing basic facts of their biographies (some of this information is on the World Power League website) and some information about how the kind of power they have and how they used it.
Useful sites are www.famouspeople.co.uk and www.profiles.incredible-people.com, which both have biographies of some well–known modern and historical figures, though there are gaps.
Introduction:
Explain that the aim of the lesson is to explore the nature of power: what it is, how it's acquired and what its limitations are. The lesson will look at the different kinds of power and how they are used.
Starter activity:
- Begin with the World Power League itself. On each randomly generated pair, ask the class to vote on who should be more powerful.
- Ask a student in each camp to explain their choice to the class.
- Take the vote again, and see if it's changed. Cast the vote by clicking on the winner, and move to the next randomly generated pair.
- Repeat with six pairs.
Main activity:
Ask students to work in groups of four. Each group should be asked to consider two of the six people on the list and discuss:
- Which of the two people is the more powerful? What power or influence has that person had? (For example, do they act as a role model? Can they change the law? Can they use the media to spread ideas?)
- What are the limits to their power? (For example, can they be voted out? Are they powerful only for as long as people are prepared to take note of them?)
- What are the good and bad ways in which they could exercise their power?
Plenary:
- Choose a student from each group to talk about the answers they gave to 1, 2 and 3.
- Invite questions from the rest of the class to the group.
Points to observe/note during lesson:
- Do students understand the differences between types of power?
- Are students listening to what is being said and changing their mind?
- Is everyone taking part in the discussion?
- Are students able to move beyond the idea that power is just something possessed by politicians?
Expected outcomes:
Students should be able to:
- Define 'power'
- Explain the difference between different kinds of power, such as intellectual, religious, sporting.
- Name a person they think is powerful and give reasons for their choice.
Homework:
- Research one person you particularly admire and write an essay on why you think they should have more power.
- Name the three most powerful people alive today, and write a paragraph on each, explaining why you think they're powerful.
- Take two kinds of power — for example, religious and political — and explain how that power can be used for good or bad.
Alternative way of using the league:
Instead of using the people listed in the ready–made league, you can populate the database with students from the class, and ask students to vote on who should be more powerful. You could also try this as a whole–year or whole–school activity. Students would have to justify their choices in the same way.
Important inventions
Objectives:
To get students thinking about the differences inventions have made to our lives, to think about why some inventions get overlooked, and to think about the negative consequences of some inventions as well as the positive.
National curriculum link:
Science
Preparation and resources:
You will need to research some of the inventions on the list and find some historical context. For example, when were antibiotics invented? When were they first used, and how widely were they used? What was the impact on bacterial diseases such as TB? How many deaths did they prevent? Think about the unintended consequences of antibiotics — superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics, for example.
Prepare your own reasons for why you think some inventions were important, so you can prompt students. In what ways have mobile phones made lives easier, for example? Have they saved lives?
Wikipedia has a very useful timeline of important inventions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_invention.
A few years ago, a number of distinguished academics were invited to name the most important invention of the last 2000 years. There's a discussion of the results at www.edge.org/documents/Invention.html, which may inspire some ideas.
Introduction:
Explain that the class will be looking at the inventions that have made the biggest difference to our lives.
Starter activity:
- Play the Power League game with the whole class, asking them to vote on each pair.
- After 15 votes, which invention comes out on top?
Main activity:
- In groups of four, each group chooses the invention they think is most important.
- Then each group creates a role–play that demonstrates why the invention is important, showing a situation before the invention and then a parallel situation after the invention.
- Ask students to present their role–plays.
Plenary:
- Discuss each of the inventions that were presented in the role–play.
- Has anything been left out of the role–play that is important?
- Do any of these inventions have negative consequences — what are they?
- How many lives have the inventions affected?
- Do any of the inventions have unexpected consequences?
- What would life be like if we didn't have those inventions?
Points to observe/note during lesson:
- Do students understand what makes an invention useful?
- Have they understood what life may have been like before the invention?
Expected outcomes:
Students should be able to:
- Name significant inventions, and explain why they're important.
- Argue a case for the most important invention.
Homework:
- Ask students to nominate inventions they'd like to see, but which haven't been invented yet, and explain what difference they would make. They can accompany them with a drawing or design.
New school
Objectives:
To get students thinking about what makes school a pleasant or unpleasant place to be. To understand the importance of good design.
National curriculum link:
Design & Technology
Preparation and resources:
Do some research on the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme: www.bsf.gov.uk. What ideas are the BSF architects using? What has their research found about what children and teachers like in school?
Find examples of different school design — there are some at www.bsf.gov.uk/bsf/exemplars_secondary.htm.
There are also good ideas for getting students to talk about school design at www.school-works.org
Introduction:
Explain that in this lesson students will be thinking about what makes an ideal school environment.
Starter activity:
- Ask students to imagine they're designing a school from scratch. What would they like to see? Make a list of the most popular choices.
- Play the Power League. Are there things in the league that students haven't thought of? Discuss why particular features are more important than others. What makes school pleasant? Is it the cleanliness of the environment or is it the way you're treated by other people? Are extra resources (like a bigger library or a swimming pool) more or less important than having well–lit rooms at appropriate temperatures? How important is the outside environment, with things like playing fields and gardens? Should schools be ecofriendly? What might be the most important features if you're a teacher rather than a student? What about if you're a disabled student? Ask students to think about who else uses a school.
- Show the class pictures of schools that have been designed under the BSF programme. What additional features do they have? Notice that some schools are being designed without corridors to avoid bumping and jostling as students enter classrooms. Are there other ways in which the physical environment might influence behaviour?
Main activity:
- Ask students to design a school, or aspect of a school, that they'd like to see. This can be done in a double lesson, or as homework, or even as part of a whole–school competition. The designs don't have to be architectural drawings — just rough ideas.
- Collect the results.
Plenary:
- Either by photocopying the designs or scanning them in, show some of the designs to the whole class. Which ones do they like? Which are most successful? What are the flaws in the designs?
Points to observe/note during lesson:
- Are students able to distinguish between different kinds of features that contribute to a school environment?
- Do students understand that different school users may have different needs?
Expected outcomes:
Students should be able to:
- Talk about their likes and dislikes in a school environment, and to explain the reasons for their choices.
Homework:
- Designing a school from scratch (as above).
- Creating a PowerPoint presentation on their ideal school.
Alternative way of using the league:
Have the whole school play Power League for a week. Which items come out top? Ask each class in the school to choose the features they'd like to see and take them to the school council. Compare the results — are there any surprises? Do the older students have different priorities from the younger ones?
Climate change
Objectives:
To understand the key factors that contribute to global warming.
National curriculum link:
Geography, science, citizenship.
Preparation and resources:
Research the main causes of global warming and what governments and environmental organisations are doing to address them. Have some basic facts and figures ready for the class discussion.
These are good starting points:
Introduction:
Explain that the lesson is going to be about the most important causes of global warming, and what we can do to tackle them.
Starter activity:
- Ask students if they can explain what global warming is and how it's caused.
- Stimulate the discussion using pictures of the after–effects of global warming e.g. melting ice caps, floods etc.
- Then play the Power League with the whole class — which of these factors make the biggest contribution to global warming?
Main activity:
- Ask each pair of students to research a cause of global warming on the internet. How much impact does this cause have? Provide students with a list of questions to guide their research, for example, name of cause, description of cause, evidence of cause, impact of cause, possible solution to combating cause?
- Each pair of students prepares a short presentation on the particular cause: why it's a problem, what impact it's having, and how it can be addressed. Let them choose the medium they wish to feedback through, for example, PowerPoint, video, audio or even a poster.
Plenary:
- Discuss the presentations. Get students to use one another's presentations to answer key questions about the different causes of global warming — this will check how clear the presentation is and also how detailed the information gathered is.
Points to observe/note during lesson:
- Are students able to research effectively on the Internet?
- Are they able to distinguish between impartial sources and sources that come from vested interests?
- Do they understand statistics and percentages?
Expected outcomes:
Students should be able to:
- Talk about the causes of global warming and suggest ways of tackling them.
Homework:
- Ask students to keep a diary of activities that they or their families undertake that contribute to global warming and suggest ways you could reduce your carbon footprint. (If they want, they can also take pictures using their mobile phones.) Contributions to global warming might include taking the car to school, throwing out paper instead of recycling it, throwing away food, or leaving the television on standby. Alternative suggestions could be cycling to school, buying fewer ready–meals, and always turning off electrical equipment when it's not in use.
- Ask students to make a list of suggestions for how the school could become more energy–efficient. Encourage them to make some calculations (even if only rough ones) about the amount of energy saved by the proposed change. You could run this as a whole–school competition, with a prize for the best suggestion.
Most evil
Objectives:
To understand the idea that 'evil' can be a relative concept that changes over time and to think about the different meanings of 'evil'.
National curriculum link:
Religious studies
Preparation and resources:
Research the views of the major religions on evil: find out the acts that are prohibited in certain religions, and look for commonality and difference. (All major religions have a prohibition against killing people, for example.)
The BBC site on religion, www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions, deals with all the major religions and for each religion discussed, there is a subsection on ethics. Another part of the site, www.bbc.co.uk/ethics, looks specifically at some of the ethical issues that religion is concerned with, such as capital punishment and lying.
Introduction:
Explain to students that they will be asked to think about what constitutes an evil person and about why people commit evil acts.
Starter activity:
- Play the Power League. Ask students to justify their choices each time. What makes this person more (or less) evil than the other person? Do certain people have redeeming or exonerating features? (For example, a child might be assumed to be less responsible for their actions than an adult.)
- Discuss what constitutes an evil act. Are there any acts that everyone can agree are evil? Is someone who commits an evil act necessarily an evil person? Ask students what the particular religions say about evil.
Main activity:
- Put students in pairs and ask them to devise a role–play in which someone commits an evil act, and an alternative scenario in which the same act might be seen as less evil or have exonerating circumstances. (For example, are there some circumstances in which killing someone is the kindest thing to do?)
Plenary:
- Ask some of the students to perform their role–plays and discuss each one.
- Do the rest of the class agree with the examples?
- Are there any evil acts that can never be excused?
Points to observe/note during lesson:
- Is everyone taking part?
- Are students being imaginative in their choice of role–plays?
Expected outcomes:
Students should be able to:
- Reflect on what we mean by 'evil' and understand the importance of context.
Homework:
- Ask students to research and write about an historical example of evil.
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