Five Faiths Project
INTRODUCTION
Further Research and Points for Discussion
- Using the library and/or Internet, ask students to find pertinent passages of the United States Constitution and rulings of the Supreme Court with regard to teaching Religion in Public Schools. Ask students to consider the implications of the rulings.
- Check local resources for additional information on each of the faiths presented in the material. Local museums and faith communities may be able to provide additional images and stories.
- Establish classroom norms for respectful discourse. What norms can students agree will be necessary in this course of study? List norms and expectations.
- Provide students with objects which are difficult to understand when removed from their original context and use. Certain tools, special silverware, even something like a shower curtain might be misunderstood when taken away from the shower. The object may also be a piece of something larger, such as a broken piece of pottery, or a page out of a book. Each object should offer clues as to its use and meaning. Include objects which are familiar and unfamiliar, as well as at least one object which may not be recognizable to the students. Ask students to examine each object, either as a class, or in small groups. Documenting observations, they will attempt to determine original use and context. Compare their findings with the actual context and use of the object.
Discuss how information is gathered, what assumptions observations are based on, and how conclusions are drawn. Consider what resources students might use to verify their observations and conclusions.
- WRITING EXERCISE Ask students to write a one page story about a real event in their lives. Upon completion of the story, students may make a single illustration which holds all the important elements of the story, or find an existing object which when carefully viewed provides key information held in the story. Working as a class, or in small groups, have students examine the object or illustration and reconstruct a story. Compare the reconstructed story with the original version. Consider how the illustration or object might be improved or altered in order to more clearly express the story. Consider what elements in the object or illustration help to establish the story as a real event rather than fiction.
- VIEWING EXERCISE Select an image in student text books. Choose an image which has many different objects, people and other elements as possible. Ask students to open to that page. Give them one minute to view the image. Ask students to close their books and list as many individual elements as possible within the next three minutes. Working as a group, list all the elements identified. Compare the list with the image. Ask students to look for any other elements which are not listed.
Contemporary Research Questions
- Over the course of this study, ask students to gather ten newspaper and periodical clippings which pertain to the five faiths, the constitution as it speaks to religious freedom and other relevant events.
- Assign teams to research the questions surrounding the Constitutional protection of religious freedom. Using textbooks, newspapers and other print media, as well as the Internet, students must find the Supreme Court rulings which relate to this issue as a foundation for the assignment. Role play a debate in which one side argues for religious freedom within this country and the other for removal of that right from the constitution. Option: Using primary source materials, students may be able to assume the roles of the signers of the Constitution as a part of the assignment.
