KNOWLEDGE KILLS FEAR –A post to work on racism, segregation and multiculturalism through the integration of ICT and the promotion of Bloom’s Taxonomy Thinking Skills

INTRODUCTION

During the first part of this Master’s Degree ICT subject, we explored a variety of tools to work on the different Bloom’s Taxonomy Thinking Skills through the use of new technologies in the class. These tools were presented to us by Yolanda Scott Tennent,  ICT expert and director of the Tarragona (Spain) EOI (Escola Oficial d’Idiomes).

In order to put into practice some of the ideas and tools introduced by Yolanda, I have created a mini-project on multiculturalism, racism and segregation. The name of this mini-project is “Knowledge kills fear”. And it is designed to be implemented with sixth graders. The project starts by prompting some thinking about the topic. Goes over different activities that help understand racism and appreciate multiculturalism. And ends with the creation of a final product that intends to reflect on what students had learned. 

In this post, I first briefly present some of the things that can be done with ICT around this theme, and then I develop in greater depth one of the activities that can be done to create the final product of this project or unit. The following activities don’t necessarily need to be implemented in the order in which they are presented in this blog entry.  And as not to overuse new technologies, I strongly recommend to  select some of the following ideas and include them in your own unit, or alternate them with other activities no ICT-related. Remember, the good use of ICT in the class remains within the ability to introduce them in the right moment and weighing the added value when doing it.

 QUICK OVERVIEW ABOUT WHAT 
CAN ICT DO FOR THE TOPIC  

1.  “Let’s prompt some thinking!!”: 

Nowadays, we have access to a rich variety of media resources, and these are powerful enough to engage students and open a debate. Using photos, videos and ideas from different blogs I intend to make students think about the concept of racism and segregation. Moreover, with this activity we can find out about their previous knowledge on the topic. 

1.1. An example of photos which could be used. 

1.2. An example of videos which could be used.

Father of White Girl Rejects Black Boyfriend | "What Would You Do?"

This Will Change The Way You Think (Racism Experiment)

*After the presentation of these resources (both photos and videos) we can debate or brainstorm. We can also show a short video and stop it at some point and make students write predictions about what is going to happen next. What do you think is going to happen? What do you think is happening?Who do you think these people are? Why?

1.3. Ideas from blogs.

If we were working with younger children I would recommend doing this experiment/ demonstration extract from this blog. You take two eggs, one white, and one brown. Ask them how they think they are going to be inside, the same or different and why. You gave them the structure to make predictions “I think they are going to be the same/different because…” I have done this experiment/ demonstration in P5 and it was a success. They love it, and it really makes them think. 

By presenting this idea in an ICT blog, I mean to show how blogs from fellow educators, and platforms like Pinterest and Krokotac can inspire and help teachers do creative and simple things in their classes.

2. “Brainstorming 

What do you think racism is?”: To make a brainstorming, we could use a platform like Tagxedo. Here you can find other tools to online brainstorm with your class “15 tools for solo brainstorming”.

3. “Movies”

Movies and videos are a powerful resource. They take us back to other times and make us walk in other people’s shoes. They are the perfect resource to create empathy among the students and the topic. In this case, by presenting shortcuts from different movies we can prompt reflection, approach this reality to the student, ignite intrigue and work upon the history of slavery and racism.

Kieran Donaghy, one of the speakers of the 2015 APAC (Associació de Professors i Professores d'Anglès de Catalunya) ELT Convention, has on his website, some great ideas about how to exploit short video segments in the ESL class.

To create these shortcuts from a longer existing movie, the teacher needs to use programs like Movie Maker or Pinacle. These tools do also allowed the addition of subtitles. Highly recommended if the level of the students is not too high. Click here to download to shortcuts from the movie The Help (2011).

4. “Real Experts. Research”.

After introducing the topic, checking previous knowledge and reflecting upon the phenomenon, children are now ready to make some research. This research can be done to answer their existing questions around the topic. Questions that may have been evoked by the presentation of the previous videos, photos, and activities. 

Since the network is too big, to help them research, we could narrow the search to a few websites. Some ideal websites to research on the topic of racism throughout history are the BBC history for kids website (interesting sites in this web Schools Primary History, Genocide, Martin Luther King  and The Nazi Germany ). This web page includes plenty of information, videos, and games. Moreover, they could also find some information in the website History for Kids and the YouTube channel Crash Course.

One the other hand, nowadays, children are exposed to a constant bombardment of information. That is why it is so important for them to learn how to discriminate reliable sources from no reliable ones. We could encourage them to do free searching. Nevertheless, to guide them in this apprenticeship the teacher could create and give them a Chart or Checklist to verify the reliability of the source.  Angela Bunyi,  and her post “Identifying Reliable Sources and Citing Them”, can give us some ideas on how to create this Chart or Checklist and how to address this topic with children.

5. “Timeline. Synthesize & gather all the info”.

Children could do a timeline as to synthesize, gather and display all the found information around the topic of racism throughout history in a clear and appealing way. To do so I have chosen the web page Read Write Think, because it is easy to use and allows the introduction of pictures. However, many great different tools can be found to create timelines with your class. For more ideas, check the post “8 excellent free timeline creation tools for teachers”. 

6. “Knowledge kills fear”. 

Ones the students know about racism and segregation throughout history, it is time to learn about multiculturalism and the richness of cultural diversity.

To do so they can learn about different cultures and countries in the outstanding National Geographic Kids website, they can use Google maps to travel around the world (6 Sites To Get Kids Excited About Google Maps) or they can learn about the gastronomy of different countries (International Gourmet Recipes for Kids).

 OPTIONS FOR THE FINAL PRODUCT  

7. “Create. What have we learned?” 

To create a final product in this project or unit, I have chosen 3 different tools. They could all be offered as an option. Letting children be the ones choosing the one best fitting their abilities and interest. Or we could choose the one that better fits our project or class. In this blog entry, I am going to develop in depth the activity 7.3. Create a Podcast.

7.1. Create a Digital Storytelling.
7.2. Create a Comic.
7.3. Create a Podcast.

The activity:

Create a Podcast on racism, multiculturalism and segregation.

Bloom’s Taxonomy:

Level VI: Creating (create new products or points of view): This activity gives the students an opportunity to plan, design, invent and produce a podcast which integrates the knowledge they have acquired during the Project/ Unit.

Grade/ target users/ level:

6th grade/ Senior level (5th and 6th grade).

English level, between A2 and B1.

Context:

Semiprivate school, Barcelona. Upper middle class families.

Four hours of English a week + 3 hours of Science in English (CLIL)

Context topic:

Racism, segregation and multiculturalism.

Unit/ Project:

This activity is conceived as the final product of a PBL (Project Based Learning) or unit on racism, segregation, and multiculturalism. The name of the unit/ project is “Knowledge Kills Fear”. The Project arises from the idea of educating the student in the idea of seeing cultural diversity as something rich and beautiful. 

* Why this topic? This is a school with a great cultural and race variety because of the neighborhood and the services the school provides. However, the school doesn’t work on this topic. Due to some conflicts and comments the English teacher decides to create this Project as an opportunity to reflect upon this topic, give the students a space to share their family culture and address multiculturalism in a positive way.

Possible link with other subjects:

History, Geography, Ethics/Religion.

Skills:

Listening, speaking, writing and reading

Audio podcasts are a piece of recorded audio about a specific topic. To create these pieces of audio, our students will have first to listen and read some examples (to have a model to imitate). It is important to choose examples adequate to their English level. If the podcast language is above their level we can give them the script, go over it beforehand and them listen and read the podcast at the same time. Doing this, we can also go over the characteristics, format and structure of the podcast.  It would be ideal if the podcasts use as models are related to the topic, if not we should look for podcasts of the students’ interest.

Then, they will have to write the script of their podcast and recorded. To write the podcasts, they will need the teacher guidance, language scaffolding (maybe a series of preset sentences). To encourage autonomy we could use some dictionaries like Merriam Webster Visual Dictionary Online, Shahi Visual Dictionary or the BBC Pronunciation Dictionary.

Resource used:

Laptops with an Internet connection

Tool:

To create a podcast, there are many WebPages offering a large variety of tools to create Podcast with your class. Most of them are free and easy to use. In this case, I chose School Podcast because it is specifically designed for schools. Therefore, the tool is intuitive and easy to use. The web page guarantees a secure exchange and sharing format within the educational community. Podcasts can be shared with other schools from all over the world. Moreover, the webpage allows you to categorize the podcast by school subjects and topics.

However, Be careful !! This is not your tool if what you want is to embed your podcast in the school website or any other already existing website. This tool only enables the dissemination of the podcast within the same website.

They are plenty of options and ideas on the topic. Here I attach some useful links, How to Create a Class Podcast in 5 Easy Steps, Educational Podcasting, Teacher’s Guide on the use of Podcasting in Education, How to Record Streaming Audio and Create a Podcast from Your PC.

Added value:

To implement this activity without the use of ICT, we could create a “radio studio” in the class and pretend to be radio presenters, collaborators, guest or journalist. However, the creation of a real podcast gives the activity added value for many reasons.

The use of technological tools for the creation of real products is engaging and motivational. Recording speech gives reason and opportunities to focus on language and pay attention to pronunciation. The creation of a podcast offers the possibility to share their work with the world. This will make them want to do their best and will make them feel their opinion is worthwhile. By sharing their work in certain platforms, they may get some feedback. This can be very motivational and give the whole activity real meaning.

Basically, in this case, the use of ICT gives them the opportunity to be real experts in the field broadcasting to the world!!

Students’ roles:

Students will be working in groups of four. They all will provide ideas and participate in the correction of the final script. Nevertheless, while drafting the script, two students will be writing and two others will be looking for words and expressions on the dictionary. Every half an hour, they will switch roles. In this way, all the students will have experienced both roles.

Management:

If we want to use ICT for the management of our class, we can always use ClassDojo. ClassDojo is a free app that allows you to give feedback points to your students and message the parents. Students can customize their avatars and parents can easily track the progress of their children.

Feedback points will be given for participation, fellowship and use of the English language. Students will be able to win and lose feedback point for themselves or for their groups.

Evaluation: 

The process and the final product will be taken into account to evaluate this activity. To evaluate the process, the teacher will use an observation grid. This observation grid will contemplate vocabulary, structures, use of the language and participation. To evaluate the final product, the teacher will use a checklist of requisites. This checklist will be given to the students beforehand to help them create their podcasts.

Moreover, the teacher will use the self-assessment to make them reflect upon their work and role in the group.  

Example of an observation grid, by María Sánchez Lerena and Andrea Malagarriga Perea