Year 2

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3.2: Making over-generalisations


In this activity students explore how over-generalising can be harmful.

Tasks

  1. Explain to the class that facts and opinions often form the basis of generalisations that people make.
  2. Write the following opinion and fact on the board or on butcher's paper:
    • Pumpkins taste terrible (opinion)
    • Pumpkins are orange in colour (fact)
    Then, write on the board or on butcher's paper the following over-generalisation:

    Therefore, all orange foods taste terrible.

    Ask students to what they think of the last statement. Ask them to think of orange foods which taste good. Try to draw out from the students why the statement is based on faulty logic. Then introduce the term over-generalisation to describe this faulty logic and the inaccurate generalisations that people sometimes make.
  3. In pairs, ask students to form their own faulty logic sentences based on the pumpkin model. Ask students to present sentences to the class.
  4. On the board or on butcher's paper, make two lists of the over-generalisations presented by students called - Over-generalisations about people and Other over-generalisations. Review the over-generalisations which relate to people and lead a class discussion on how over-generalisations about people may be harmful.
Teacher Notes
  1. Where this activity is used in isolation, teachers should first devote some time to explaining the terms fact and opinion.
  2. For some classes it may be necessary to devote some time to explaining the meaning of generalisation and generalising.
Activity adapted from Generalising and Stereotyping in SHIMAN, David A. The Prejudice Book: Activities for the Classroom, Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1988
Resources:
  • Butcher's paper
  • Butcher's paper