Middle East AliceProj

This was the result of a 7th grade lesson on critical thinking. Students were asked what they thought was meant by the term "critical thinking." Several said it meant to "think hard about something." It was explained that critical thinking means to try and see things from all points of view. Students were then instructed to create a project using the 3D animation (free) program called Alice (see Alice.org).

These were 7th graders who were studying a unit on the history of Islam in September, 2011. Netanyahu and Abbas had both just spoken to the UN about whether or not the UN should allow the Palestinians to have their own state. Students watched 1 min. clips of the leaders' speeches on Youtube. They were then given directions on how to create an Alice project, and were given sample sentences illustrating the two mens' points of view. Finally, they were asked to insert their personal opinions on the issue, after having looked at the situation from both points of view.

Teacher directions and downloadable files will soon be available (2012) regarding this lesson at www.timetrek.org/AliceWebpage/index2.htm - click on the Grade 7 tab.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Middle East
• AliceProj
• critical thinking