Why Comics? AS/A Level Sociology Lesson Plan

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Why Comics? AS/A Level Sociology Lesson Plan

Why Comics? AS/A level (age 16-18) Sociology Lesson Plan: Migration and refugees

IntroductionLooking to engage your students in contemporary human rights and social issues? Based at SOAS University of London, Why Comics? Education Charity brings contemporary humanitarian and social issues into the classroom (such as racism, conflict, migration, trafficking and climate change) through interactive literary comic books based on real-life testimony.

Our free easy-to-use Key Stage 2-5 resources build empathy and enhance learning for 7-18-year-old students and teachers alike, alongside UK national-curriculum relevant lesson plans to support multiple subjects.

Each sample UK National Curriculum based Lesson Plan is provided as a Word.doc – so you can use it as a building block. Please feel free to adjust the content to suit your teaching style and students’ needs, all the content is only suggested.

Our innovative resources help enhance learning to support multiple subjects (such as English, ESOL, Personal, Social, Health and Economic [PSHE] education, Citizenship Studies, Art, Media Studies and Geography). Our support materials are intended to inspire teachers and enhance teaching practices and different ideas.

Why Comics? resources are embedded with a wealth of age-appropriate contextual multimedia (such as news articles, maps, videos, infographics and reports) to educate and inspire pupils across a wide demographic.

Our materials encourage learners to make connections between their own lives and the lives of others throughout the world, promoting critical and reflective thinking on vital global themes. In this way, Why Comics? can help combat racism and intolerance in schools.

Already, over 600 schools in 27 countries have provided detailed feedback on our free interactive educational resources to overwhelmingly positive feedback. From September 2017, our materials will be disseminated to over 25,000 schools worldwide.

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Suggested Why Comics? AS and A Level Sociology Lesson Plan

Please help us by filling out a short anonymous SurveyMonkey questionnaire after you have used our materials for our funders. This helps ensure that our great resources remain free.

Please email info@whycomics.org for more information. Thank you.Why Comics? Charity number - 1172791

Table of ContentsIntroduction............................................................................................................................................2

UK National Curriculum Sociology requirements:..............................................................................................2Suggested Why Comics? A Level Sociology lesson plan......................................................................................4Aims:................................................................................................................................................................5Learning objectives:..........................................................................................................................................5

Lesson Plan:............................................................................................................................................5

Follow-up Lesson Plan.............................................................................................................................7Aims:................................................................................................................................................................7Learning objectives:..........................................................................................................................................7

Lesson Plan:............................................................................................................................................8

Feedback..............................................................................................................................................10

Future Plans..........................................................................................................................................10Who backs Why Comics? - About PositiveNegatives........................................................................................10

UK National Curriculum Sociology requirements:[Source: UK Gov AS A level Sociology subject content and assessment objectives]

Aims and objectives

The study of AS and A Level Sociology must focus on contemporary society. Studying Sociology must foster the development of critical and reflective thinking with a respect for social diversity. It must provide an awareness of the importance of social structure and social action in explaining social issues. Students must be encouraged to develop their own sociological awareness through active engagement with the contemporary social world.

AS and A level specifications in sociology must encourage students to:

acquire knowledge and a critical understanding of contemporary social processes and social changes; appreciate the significance of theoretical and conceptual issues in sociological debate; understand and evaluate sociological methodology and a range of research methods through active involvement in the research process; develop skills that enable individuals to focus on their personal identity, roles and responsibilities within society develop a lifelong interest in social issues.

Subject content

AS and A Level specifications in Sociology must provide students with an awareness of social structure and social action which emphasises different interpretations of social experiences. The specification must build on skills established at GCSE, but it must not exclude students studying Sociology for the first time.

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Suggested Why Comics? AS and A Level Sociology Lesson Plan

Knowledge and understanding

AS and A Level specifications will require students to study the following concepts and theoretical issues: social order, social control; social change; conflict and consensus; social structure and social action; the role of values; the relationship between Sociology and contemporary social policy.

Methods of sociological enquiry

AS and A Level specifications will require students to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a range of methods and sources of data and to understand the relationship between theory and methods, particularly the way sociologists deal with:

the collection of primary and secondary data; the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data using appropriate concepts; factors influencing the design and conduct of sociological research; practical, ethical and theoretical issues arising in sociological research.

Themes

AS and A Level specifications will require students to study two themes:

socialisation, culture and identity; social differentiation, power and stratification.

The themes must be understood and applied to a range of particular substantive areas of Sociology, in a global context where appropriate. However, these themes are to be interpreted broadly as threads running through many areas of social life and should not therefore necessarily be regarded as discrete topics. For example, the theme of ‘socialisation, culture and identity’ might be addressed through aspects of ‘families’ but equally through aspects of the ‘the media’ or ‘youth culture’. Similarly, the theme of ‘social differentiation, power and stratification’ might be addressed through aspects of ‘social class’ but equally through aspects of ‘gender’.

Please note teaching notes are in purple.

Suggested Why Comics? A Level Sociology lesson planMigration, and specifically the migration of refugees, has been a constant item in the news during 2015, 2016 and 2017. This lesson addresses understanding the migration of refugees using Sociology theory. The topic allows students to develop their critical and reflective thinking with a respect for social diversity. It allows students to develop their own sociological awareness through active engagement with the contemporary social world.

Here is a suggested Sociology lesson plan for two lessons about the migration of refugees told through Abike, Almaz, Antoni, Daria, Hasko, Khalid, Mohammad, or Nadia ’s eyes. The stories are all based on real-life testimony. Both lessons are 50 mins long, consisting of a reading in class, followed by group discussion and an assigned homework. The class can either read a comic collectively via projector, or at home via the web (www.whycomics.org).

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Suggested Why Comics? AS and A Level Sociology Lesson Plan

Social Change and Migration

Aims: This session will explore the refugee crisis using various social change theories.

• Students will learn about social change• Students will learn about the migration of refugees, understanding sociological, political, economic

and environmental reasons for migration and the impact of migration on refugees, through the chosen story

• Students will apply various explanations of social change to the issue of the migration of refugees

Learning objectives: By the end of the session, students will be able to:

• Define what social change is• Understand the migration of refugees including some of the sociological, political, economic and

environmental reasons for migration and the impact of migration on refugees• Describe some of the different ways in which migration interacts with explanations of social

change

Lesson Plan:1. Read through your chosen comic as a group - Project the story in class and go through the comic

panel by panel. Explore several of the additional resources in the interactive boxes dispersed throughout the comic. (15-20 mins)

2. Classroom Discussion. Go through the various explanations for social change. Discuss how the various explanations for social change interact with the migration of refugees. (25-30 mins)

Teacher’s note [Source: www.britannica.com]

Social change: in Sociology, the alteration of mechanisms within the social structure, characterized by changes in cultural symbols, rules of behaviour, social organizations, or value systems.

Explanations of social change

One way of explaining social change is to show causal connections between two or more processes. This may take the form of determinism or reductionism, both of which tend to explain social change by reducing it to one supposed autonomous and all-determining causal process. A more cautious assumption is that one process has relative causal priority, without implying that this process is completely autonomous and all-determining. What follows are some of the processes thought to contribute to social change.

Natural environment

Changes in the natural environment may result from climatic variations, natural disasters, or the spread of disease. For example, both worsening of climatic conditions and the Black Death epidemics are thought to have contributed to the crisis of feudalism in 14th-century Europe. Changes in the natural environment may be either independent of human social activities or caused by them. Deforestation, erosion, and air pollution belong to the latter category, and they in turn may have far-reaching social consequences.

Demographic processes

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Suggested Why Comics? AS and A Level Sociology Lesson Plan

Population growth and increasing population density represent demographic forms of social change. Population growth may lead to geographic expansion of a society, military conflicts, and the intermingling of cultures. Increasing population density may stimulate technological innovations, which in turn may increase the division of labour, social differentiation, commercialization, and urbanization. This sort of process occurred in Western Europe from the 11th to the 13th century and in England in the 18th century, where population growth spurred the Industrial Revolution. On the other hand, population growth may contribute to economic stagnation and increasing poverty, as may be witnessed in several Third World countries today.

Technological innovations

Several theories of social evolution identify technological innovations as the most important determinants of societal change. Such technological breakthroughs as the smelting of iron, the introduction of the plow in agriculture, the invention of the steam engine, and the development of the computer have had lasting social consequences.Economic processes

Technological changes are often considered in conjunction with economic processes. These include the formation and extension of markets, modifications of property relations (such as the change from feudal lord-peasant relations to contractual proprietor-tenant relations), and changes in the organization of labour (such as the change from independent craftsmen to factories). Historical materialism, as developed by Marx and Engels, is one of the more prominent theories that gives priority to economic processes, but it is not the only one. Indeed, materialist theories have even been developed in opposition to Marxism. One of these theories, the “logic of industrialization” thesis by American scholar Clark Kerr and his colleagues, states that industrialization everywhere has similar consequences, whether the property relations are called capitalist or communist.Ideas

Other theories have stressed the significance of ideas as causes of social change. Comte’s law of three stages is such a theory. Weber regarded religious ideas as important contributors to economic development or stagnation; according to his controversial thesis, the individualistic ethic of Christianity, and in particular Calvinism, partially explains the rise of the capitalist spirit, which led to economic dynamism in the West.Social movements

A change in collective ideas is not merely an intellectual process; it is often connected to the formation of new social movements. This in itself might be regarded as a potential cause of social change. Weber called attention to this factor in conjunction with his concept of “charismatic leadership.” The charismatic leader, by virtue of the extraordinary personal qualities attributed to him, is able to create a group of followers who are willing to break established rules. Examples include Jesus, Napoleon, and Hitler. Recently, however, the concept of charisma has been trivialized to refer to almost any popular figure.Political Processes

Changes in the regulation of violence, in the organization of the state, and in international relations may also contribute to social change. For example, German sociologist Norbert Elias interpreted the formation of states in western Europe as a relatively autonomous process that led to increasing control of violence and, ultimately, to rising standards of self-control. According to other theories of political revolution, such as those proposed by American historical sociologist Charles Tilly, the functioning of the state apparatus itself and the nature of interstate relations are of decisive importance in the outbreak of a revolution: it is only when the state is not able to fulfill its basic functions of maintaining law and order and defending territorial integrity that revolutionary groups have any chance of success.

Each of these processes may contribute to others; none is the sole determinant of social change. One reason why deterministic or reductionist theories are often disproved is that the method for explaining the processes is not autonomous but must itself be explained. Moreover, social processes are often so intertwined that it would be misleading to consider them separately. For example, there are no fixed borders between economic and political processes, nor are there fixed boundaries between economic and technological processes. Technological change

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Suggested Why Comics? AS and A Level Sociology Lesson Plan

may in itself be regarded as a specific type of organizational or conceptual change. The causal connections between distinguishable social processes are a matter of degree and vary over time.Mechanisms of social change

Causal explanations of social change are limited in scope, especially when the subject of study involves initial conditions or basic processes. A more general and theoretical way of explaining social change is to construct a model of recurring mechanisms of social change. Such mechanisms, incorporated in different theoretical models, include the following.

3. Assign the class homework: Ask the students to write a short descriptive and critical piece exploring how the migration of refugees interacts with the various explanations of social change above. Ask the class to make their piece relevant to the comic and encourage the class to use the additional resources supplied. (5 mins)

Please help us by filling out a short anonymous SurveyMonkey questionnaire after you have used our materials for our funders. This helps ensure that our great resources remain free.

Please email info@whycomics.org for more information. Thank you.

Follow-up Lesson PlanSocial differentiation, social stratification and power/inequality

Aims: This session will explore the role of refugees in UK society today using the theory of social differentiation, social stratification and power/inequality.

• Students will learn about social differentiation, social stratification and power/inequality• Students will learn about the migration of refugees, understanding sociological, political, economic

and environmental reasons for migration and the impact of migration on refugees through Abike, Almaz, Antoni, Daria, Hasko, Khalid, Mohammad, or Nadia ’s stories (these literary comics are all based on real-life testimony)

• Students will apply the theory of social differentiation, social stratification and power/inequality to the issue of the migration of refugees

Learning objectives:By the end of the session, students will be able to:

• Define social differentiation, social stratification and power/inequality• Understand the migration of refugees including some of the sociological, political, economic and

environmental reasons for migration and the impact of migration on refugees• Contextualise their understanding of the theories learned using the example of refugees in UK

society today

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Suggested Why Comics? AS and A Level Sociology Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan:1. Summarise the previous lesson: recap on the comic and what the class discussed. (10 mins)2. Classroom Discussion: Discuss social differentiation, stratification and power/inequality with the

class. Explain the terms and how they interact. Split the class into groups and ask the groups to apply the terms to refugees living in the UK in as many ways as possible and then discuss their answers as a class. (35 mins)

Teacher’s Note[Source: www.sociology.org.uk]

On Social Differentiation, Inequality and Social Stratification

We are all aware of individual human differences that, in simple terms, we can think about in two basic ways:

Firstly, natural or biological differences, such as differences in physique, strength, hair colour and skin colour.

Secondly, social or cultural differences, such as differences in the work people do or their level of income, status and power.

In this respect there are, potentially, any number of possible dimensions to human differences and the ultimate expression of this idea is to see every human individual as being uniquely different in some way. However, the fact of human difference (whether considered in terms of individuals or cultural groups) is not, in itself, particularly significant to sociologists. What is significant, however, is the meaning of these differences (whether they be real or imagined), to both our self and others. A teacher, for example, is different to the students they teach. This fact, however, is not particularly important since it simply signifies itself (that is, there is a difference between the two). However, if a teacher can direct and control the behaviour of their students because of this difference, this becomes something very important because the meaning of the relationship between two different groups (teachers and students) involves a number of significant ideas. We can, for the moment, note these in the following terms:

Firstly, it involves the concept of inequality.

The teacher, for example, is able to use the fact of their difference to control the behaviour of students (even if the students do not really want to conform to the teacher’s wishes).

Secondly, therefore, it involves the related concepts of ideology and power.

Ideology, in this respect, involves beliefs about the significance of the teacher - student difference. For example, it might involve certain values (students should obey their teacher, a teacher has the right to demand conformity from their students and the like), norms (when a teacher is talking a student keeps quiet, for example) and beliefs (it is right, for example, that a teacher should seek to control the behaviour of their students). Power, on the other hand, involves the ability to put ideas into practice. A student, for example, may believe it wrong that a teacher can punish them (verbally or physically), but if they lack the power to do anything about such punishment their beliefs are of little social consequence.

Finally, it involves the concept of stratification. That is, the idea that people can be ranked differently in terms of their social importance or status. In this instance, the teacher is of higher social rank than the student. This fact is based on the inequality between them and, in turn, such inequality reinforces the

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Suggested Why Comics? AS and A Level Sociology Lesson Plan

concept of stratification (or social hierarchy - the placing of individuals / groups at different levels in society).

Aside from introducing the concepts of inequality, ideology, power and social stratification, what this example tells us is that social differentiation always involves a process of “making people different”, in the sense that social characteristics are used to enhance the power of one group over another, either by emphasising the superior differences characteristic of the dominant group or by emphasising the inferior characteristics of the subject group. Social differentiation, therefore, always involves a sense of social inequality and social ranking (stratification).

1.“Human Differences”

become

2. Social Differentiation

when:

3. Ideological beliefs about human differences(explanations of the meaning and significance of these differences),

combined with:

4. The power to put such beliefs into practice

are used to create

5. Social Inequalities.

This, in turn, always involves:

6. Social Stratification(The process whereby different social groups are ranked higher or lower on some form of equality

scale).

3. Assign the class homework: ask the class to write a short critical and descriptive piece outlining how the terms above can be applied when understanding the position of refugees in UK society today. (5 mins)

FeedbackPlease help us by filling out a short anonymous SurveyMonkey questionnaire for our funders. This will help keep our great resources free. We will be happy to hear about how it works in the classroom, and are keen to receive any comments or feedback.

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Suggested Why Comics? AS and A Level Sociology Lesson Plan

We are particularly interested if you would like to receive more resources like this. If so please include on the SurveyMonkey questionnaire which topics you would like us to cover (e.g. Divorce, Migration, Racism/Prejudice, Cyber/Bullying, Identity, Memory, Racism, Conflict, Natural Disasters, Human Trafficking/Slavery, Asylum/Refugees, Homelessness, Climate Change, Remittances & Migrant Workers, and Drug Trafficking & Addiction).

We are also interested to have feedback from pupils so if it is possible, please pass on the SurveyMonkey questionnaire link to them as well. Many thanks again, your help is most appreciated.

Future Plans

Over the coming year, we’re intending to expand our bank of database for KS2 (age 7-11) and KS3 (age 11-14) and KS4-5 (age 14-18) and their teachers, and produce national curriculum based accompanying lesson plans for multiple subjects. You can view all our resources on our Teachers Resources page.

We will continue to design and test our resources to ensure that they are made by teachers for teachers.

If you would like any more information or would like to be involved further, please contact info@whycomics.org. Thank you.

With very best wishes,

Dr Benjamin Dix

Director: Why Comics? Education CharitySenior Fellow: SOAS University of London

Web: http://www.whycomics.org/Email: info@whycomics.org Twitter and Instagram: @WhyComicsOrg Facebook: Why Comics? Education Charity

Why Comics? Education Charity is based at the Faber Building, SOAS University of London.Why Comics? Charity number - 1172791

Who backs Why Comics? - About PositiveNegatives

The award-winning non-profit PositiveNegatives produce literary comics, animations and podcasts about contemporary social and human rights issues. We combine ethnographic research with illustration and photography, adapting personal testimonies into art, education and advocacy materials. Since 2012, PositiveNegatives has worked extensively for over four years for an array of international organisations such as United Nations (UN), Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Open Society Foundations (OSF), The Nobel Peace Centre, The Guardian, BBC, and with leading academic institutions such as; Harvard South Asia Centre, SOAS University of London and University of Sussex.

Our work endeavours to combine literature, journalism and education. Visual story-telling engages audiences of all ages, backgrounds and levels of literacy. Approaching subjects like conflict and forced migration through the prism of personal narratives emotionally engages general readers and students alike. We have developed comics from research, policy papers and first hand testimonies for organisations such as these and many more. Each comic has reached millions of viewers, and many have been translated into multiple languages reaching diverse international stakeholders.

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Suggested Why Comics? AS and A Level Sociology Lesson Plan

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