Learning Activities |
Activity A. Observe and Identify the Human Rights Issue
What is happening on a local, national, and global level with this issue? |
Key Question |
What is happening at the neighborhood level with human rights issue? |
Activity Goal(s) |
Students are able to identify human rights associated with major institutions in their neighborhoods. |
Time |
60 minutes |
Steps |
1. Students will divide into small groups and draw a map of their neighborhoods. The map will include homes, pubic buildings, and public services.
2. When the map is complete, students will identify what human rights they associate with different places. E.g. a place of worship with freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; the school with the right to education; the post office with the right to information, to privacy, and to self-expression. As they identify these rights, they will look up the relevant article(s) in the UDHR and write the article number(s) next to that place on the map.
3. Students will present their maps and summarize their analysis of human rights in the community.
4. Students will discuss the following:
·Are there any places in this community where people’s rights are violated?
·Are there any people in this community whose rights are violated?
·What happens in this community when someone’s human rights are violated?
·Are there any places in this community where people take action to protect human rights or prevent violations from occurring?
(Adapted from: Human Rights Here and Now: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/hreduseries/hereandnow/Part-3/Activity7.htm |
Assessment |
Group discussion to assess the general knowledge of human rights situation at the local level |
Activity B. Observe and Share Stories
How have our ancestors worked to promote and protect this human rights issue?
Who within our schools, families and communities promotes and protects this human rights issue? |
Key Question |
How have we played a part in the promotion or violation of human rights? |
Activity Goal(s) |
Students are able to identify their actions in everyday lives that violate human rights and actions that promote human rights. |
Time |
45 minutes |
Steps |
1. The students will be divided into small groups. Each student will be given a paper divided into four quadrants with the headings "Perpetrator," "Victim," "Bystander," and "Healer."
2. Students will be asked to give an example of a time when they played one of these roles (e.g., a time when they stood by and did nothing, when they violated someone's rights, when their own rights were violated, and when they witnessed someone whose rights were being violated and took action).
3. Students will be asked to share their stories. This will be on a volunteer basis. Emphasize in conclusion that everyone plays all these roles at one time or another.
2. Students will be asked what qualities and understanding a person needs to take action.
(Adapted from Human Rights Education Handbook: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/hreduseries/hrhandbook/activities/17.htm ) |
Assessment |
Students will use the four quadrants to analyze the articles of UDHR that they have violated or promoted in the past. |
Activity C. Generate Responses or Formulate Positions and Make Predictions
What could we do? What will happen if we do that? |
Key Question |
Child labor is viewed as a critical income for children's households. Not employing children may push children and their families into deeper poverty. Is it ok to employ children? Should children work? Should they be able to choose whether to work or not? |
Activity Goal(s) |
Students will generate awareness of child labor issues and be motivated to take responsibilities for ending child labor. |
Time |
60 minutes |
Steps |
1. Inform the students that the activity is based on a case study of Ashique, a child worker in Pakistan The aim is to try to find possible ways of changing Ashique's situation.
2.Make up an imaginative story about a day in Ashique's life. Go round the circle asking each student in turn to add a sentence.
3.Divide the participants into small groups with a maximum of 5 people per group. Give everyone a copy of Ashique's life facts. Allow 5 minutes to read and share comments.
4.Give each group a copy of the "ideas for solutions" sheet. Explain that their task is to brainstorm solutions to the problems faced by Ashique and other child laborers. They must write down in the appropriate columns the possible steps that they can take to solve the problem.
5.The ideas will be shared with the large group.
(Adapted from COMPASS: http://www.eycb.coe.int/Compass/en/contents.html ) |
Assessment |
Students will prepare a list of 10 things can do in their everyday lives to eliminate child labor. Students will identify the list they prepared in the UDHR. |
Activity D. Select a Response or Position and Take Action
What is the best response or position? |
Key Question |
How can we promote human rights in our everyday lives? |
Activity Goal(s) |
Students will prepare a list of human rights statements that they will follow in their everyday lives. |
Time |
90 minutes (2 class periods) |
Steps |
1. Students will be divided into groups of 4 or 5. Each group will draw up a list of around 10 rules for their neighborhoods that they think are needed for everyone to enjoy their human rights and live together with peace and respect.
2. The group will present their ideas and then consolidate the ideas into a master list.
3. These rules will be rephrased into rights statements (e.g., "People should not steal from others" might be restated as "Everyone has the right to keep and enjoy his or her own property."
4. Students will identify and write down the articles in the UDHR that reflects their rights statements.
5. Introduce the idea that every right involves certain responsibilities. Students will work in small groups to write responsibility statements for every rights statements on the draft list.
6. After the list is finalized, a student will write it on a poster board and place it where everyone can see it. This list will be the values and principle students will in their everyday lives.
(Adapted from Human Rights Here and Now: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/hreduseries/hereandnow/Part-4/5_action-activity1.htm ) |
Assessment |
Group discussion on how students will change practices in their everyday lives to adhere to the list of value and principles that they have developed. |
Activity E. Observe and Collect Information
What happened when we took action? Whose lives did we impact? |
Key Question |
What happened when we took action? Whose lives did we impact? |
Activity Goal(s) |
Students will be able to identify how they were able to make a positive difference and be able to address challenges to promoting human rights. |
Time |
45 minutes |
Steps |
1. Students will be divided into groups of 4 or 5. In the small groups, students tell their stories of what they did differently to following the list of rules they developed. Students will discuss outcomes, barriers, and challenges.
2. Small groups will share their stories to the class.The class will prepare a list of positive outcomes, barriers, and challenges.
3. The class will discuss ways to address the barriers and challenges, and prepare a list of suggestions that they will use in their everyday lives. |
Assessment |
Students' stories of how they promoted human rights in their lives will suggest their engagement in their learning. |
Activity F. Reflect and Draw Conclusions
What did we learn?
Was the intent of the action? the actual impact? |
Key Question |
How has human rights education changed our everyday lives? Has it changed the way we communicate or interact with others? |
Activity Goal(s) |
Students will make connections between their learning and the changes in their perception and practice. Students will develop the skill of becoming reflexive. |
Time |
90 minutes (2 sessions) |
Steps |
Activity I:
1. Students will be divided into groups of 4 or 5. Students will be evaluated by their peers informally.
2.Drawing from everyday interactions with their peers, students will discuss how their peers who are taking this class interact with them and with others.
3. Students will examine the actions of their peers to see if they reflect human rights values and principles.
4. Small groups will present to the large group the values and principles practiced by their group in their everyday lives and discuss what they have learned in this class.
Activity II:
1. Students will be divided into groups of 4 or 5. The small groups will revisit the Perpetrator-Victim-Bystander-Healer activity that the students completed at the beginning of the course.
2. The small groups will discuss situations that they described in each of the quadrants and talk about how they will act if they are in similar situations now. In their descriptions, students will identify specific articles of the UDHR that they will promote.
3.Small groups will present to the large group how they would react to situations differently now. The group will discuss the knowledge and values promoted by UDHR that they learned in this class. |
Assessment |
Group discussions about how these reflective exercises help the students see the changes in themselves. |
Activity G. Communicate and Demonstrate Learning
How will we share what we learned within our schools, families, and communities? |
Key Question |
How will we teach human rights to our friends, family members, and neighborhoods? |
Activity Goal(s) |
Students will share their learning with their peers, family members, and community. |
Time |
45 minutes |
Steps |
1. Students will be divided into groups of 4 or 5. The small groups will discuss the ways they can share their learning from this class with their friends, families, and neighborhoods. Each group will identify at least five different ways to share and encourage their friends, families, and neighborhoods to respect and practice human rights values and principles.
2. The small group will present their ideas to the large group and then consolidate the ideas into five action agenda.
3.The class will divide into small groups. Each group will work on one action agenda and prepare a strategy to implement the action agenda. This will include target audience, how to implement the action agenda, how often to implement the action agenda, ways to overcome challenges and barriers, etc.
4. Small groups will share their work with the large group. The large group will provide input to the small groups strategies. The final version of the action agenda and strategies will be typed and students will receive a copy this document. |
Assessment |
Observe students' skills to communicate their learning. |
