Encounter Christianity: To Change the World lesson plan 3

Lesson three - pages 6-7 Change and transformation

Text from the book

How many new things have you learned this week?
How do you change when you learn something new?

Once you learn to ride a bike, you can never unlearn! How can learning change us, our lives and the lives of others? Christians believe that education is a life-long process of change and transformation for the individual and the community.

Learning objectives

Pupils would recognize that:

Learning changes all of us;
All teachers and pupils are also pupils and teachers.

Bible reference

Acts 11.1-12a

Background

A fundamental Christian belief is that God is deeply involved with the changing world: creation is a continuing process. Every human is changing all the time; sometimes the change is obvious (learning new skills, for example), making a big difference to our (and others’) lives. Some skills, once learned, are never lost; others need constant refreshment! Whatever we learn, we use; it transforms us, and we grow and develop.

Ways of using the pictures

Discuss the new skills pupils have learned in the last year and what difference they have made to their lives.
Ask the pupils if they think God learns new skills. Does God learn new things as the world grows older? If we learn, does God?
Talk with pupils about whether they like learning new skills. Is it easy? What is the most difficult skill they have learned?

Key words

Skills
Instruction
Activity
Creativity
Anxiety
Direction
Participation
Liberation
Guidance
Learning

Activity

Brainstorm: What have we learned from each other; what have we taught one another.

Use a time line to show: Can Do, Can’t Do, Want to Do. Can these skills be sequenced in relation to age, size, experience, opportunity, etc?

What skills can the pupils teach others. How did they learn those skills and who taught them?

Learning outcomes

Pupils will have:

developed increasing self-esteem and self confidence;
reflected on how they learned, how they teach and what they want to learn.

Extension work

Pupils write about what we learned/taught, how it has changed us and how it changed the learner/teacher.

Web sites

http://www.kids-online.net/learn/c_n_l.html
The illustration on the Encounter Christianity double page spread shows different ways that people can learn throughout life. This particular site gives a simple introduction to learning to use computers.

There are literally thousands of sites that provide instruction on learning a new skill. Try out these other sites aimed at helping children to learn about:

Musical instruments http://datadragon.com/education/instruments/

Science and space travel http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/

Energy and renewable resources http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/index.html

Making a weather station http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/weatherstation.html

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