Running Head: BUILDING LAYERS EXHIBIT B

Building Layers Exhibit B

Rochelle Meylink
American College of Education

BUILDING LAYERS EXHIBIT B

Exhibit B

Name: World Religions Debate

Exhibit Title: Conflicts in Society

Audience Level: Grade 5

Resources:

Outcomes:
The students will understand cultural
differences in societies
Students will gain understanding of
social systems and how it influences
individuals

iPads or computers
Apps such as Educreations, or comic strips
Paper and drawing materials

In the first part of this exhibit, students will be directed to a webpage to look at photos of
religious conflicts such as the Crusades, the Nigerian Civil War, and the Sudanese Wars. As a
class, students will talk about what they see depicted in the photos, analyzing their weapons,
clothing, and facial expressions before learning about the conflict. Next, the students will click on
the photo of the conflict to learn more about the root of the problem. This short activity will build
foundational skills needed to build a debate on the topic later and is suitable for all ability levels.
Using their digital and visual literacies, students will learn about both scientific discoveries and
economic reasons why societies go to war.
In the second stage of the exhibit students will be looking critically at the economic and
scientific sides of these particular conflicts. Using the information that they learn, students can
create a comic strip or poster through Educreations, hand-drawn, or on Glogster online that visually
shows scientific discoveries during war, or what happens to the economy during a war. The
instruction can be differentiated for students at this developmental level. Students at the struggling
level can look up the weapons used during war and the costs of war and reconstruction to create

BUILDING LAYERS EXHIBIT B

their comic. The average students in class can go deeper into the topics by looking at land or
resources that were being fought over. For scientific discoveries, the majority of the class will be
looking at weapons that were developed because of the war including nuclear weapons to create
their comic strip. In the more advanced group of students, they will critically analyze the resources
of each side of the conflict, finding the gains and losses that each side incurred. They may also
look deeper into the reasons behind the creation of nuclear weapons and how they are made.
As an extension of student learning we will form groups that include students from each
ability level. Together they will collaborate their research and build a debate given one side of the
conflict. Students will prepare to debate each other through research on their religious side and on
rebuttals from the other side. This activity includes cross-curricular skills with language arts,
speaking and listening, and research skills.
With each of the activities presented teachers will need to model or show examples of
political comic strips and how to debate a topic. The information can be scaffolded to meet the
needs of a diverse population of fifth grade students. They are learning about world religions as
belief systems that dramatically impact societies both economically and scientifically.

BUILDING LAYERS EXHIBIT B

Using visual and digital

literacies, students will
analyze what they see in
the two photographs.
Then click on the image
to find out more.

In the next step,

students will research
the economic and
scientific impacts of a
war on a community.
They will use this
knowledge to create
their own comic strip.

BUILDING LAYERS EXHIBIT B

This is an
example
that

World Religions-Diverse Societies

Literacies Content
Visual
Digital
Economic
Scientific
Critical

S
T
X
X
X
X
X

A
V
X
X
X
X
X

A
D
X
X
X
X
X

DI Delivery
Content
X
X
X
X
X

Process
X
X
X
X
X

Product
X
X
X
X
X

Content Level
Foundational
X
X
X
X
X

Developmental
X
X
X
X
X

Extended

X
X
X

BUILDING LAYERS EXHIBIT B

References
Colding, H. D. (n.d.). Integrating a Layered Curriculum to Facilitate Differentiated
Instruction. Retrieved April 19, 2016, from http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol3/324colding.aspx
Leave it in the past ... the taking of Jerusalem in the 11th century [Photograph] Retrieved on April
27, 2016 from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/02/crusades-tom-asbridge-hayfestival
Navarro, Jaume (photographer). (2014) The conflict between science and religion as an invented
tradition[Photograph] Retrieved on April 27, 2016 from
http://mappingignorance.org/2014/09/15/conflict-science-religion-invented-tradition/
[Photograph of Nigerian War]. Retrieved on April 27, 2016 from
http://www.nairaland.com/582396/biafra-nigerian-civil-war-pictures
[Photograph of war comic]. Retrieved on April 27, 2016 from https://s-media-cacheak0.pinimg.com/736x/50/9b/9f/509b9f0d401731823a981c88cc3b3daf.jpg