This lesson plan can work for a full class or small groups of 8-10 students. Read the “Land of Happy” poem by Shel Silverstein (text of the poem is available on the Resources tab). Depending on the students’ ages/literacy, you can read it aloud as a group popcorn style with one person reading a line … “Land of Happy,” Shel Silverstein
Plot Summary: In the animated short film “Partly Cloudy,” storks deliver adorable infants of all kinds to homes. We discover that these infants are made by delightful, puffy, and cheerful clouds who work in partnership with their designated delivery stork. One cloud who is less cheerful and “partly cloudy” makes the pricklier infants (alligators, sharks, porcupines, … Partly Cloudy
“Joy and Heron,” Animated Short Film by Passion Pictures This lesson plan can be used either in a classroom or online. Plot Summary: In this short, animated film a fisherman sails out with his enthusiastic dog. They are quickly joined by a heron, who lands on the boat. At first, the dog and the heron … Joy and Heron
Plot Summary: In this short Pixar film, several small birds land on a telephone wire and commence chattering and annoying one another. When a large bird lands nearby and seeks out their company, the smaller birds stop their bickering and turn as one against the large bird. Their attempts to make him leave their wire … For the Birds
What is Environmental Ethics? Environmental Ethics is the discipline in philosophy that studies the value of the environment and its non-human contents as well as their moral relationship to human beings. Materials Needed: Hey, Little Ant by Hannah Hoose and Phillip Hoose Opening Activity: Warm-up discussion: Respect Who or what do we respect? Do we respect … Environmental Ethics Using Hey, Little Ant
Materials Needed: Preparation: Description: (Optional) Warm up to help students gain a sense of their intuitions about the topic, either by presenting anecdotes, questions, or connecting to previous discussions.You can begin by asking everyone to write down a list of “the most important rules to live by.” “Treat others how you want to be treated” … Silent Discussion on Ethical Dilemmas
Friendship & Betrayal – Split or Steal Game Materials Needed: Equipment to display a YouTube video clip for the class (with sound). A pair of red and green cards for each participant or group. Prizes for each student For younger students: Treats like donuts or strawberries which can be split in half. For older students: … Friendship & Betrayal – Split or Steal Game
Materials needed: Prior to Activity: A useful general description of ethics designed for High School Ethics Bowls – to use as supplement to in-class teaching (see Supplemental Materials below) Copies of cases (given to students to prepare) from the National High School Ethics Bowl archives (sample case provided below) For the Ethics Bowl: Scoring criteria … In-Class Ethics Bowl
Students engage with the ‘Ring of Gyges’ story from Plato’s Republic and John Rawls’ concept of the ‘veil of ignorance’ to examine how a just society might be organized.
Materials needed Index cards Whiteboard and several different colored dry erase markers Description Pass out one index card to each student. Instruct the students to draw, without using representations of people (including stick figures, faces, and the like), a creative representation of a good friendship. Have the students then discuss their drawings in small … On Friendship
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