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Art And The Afterlife
High schoolers discuss various cultures and their beliefs of the afterlife in this study of Japanese art. The final evaluation is done through the creation of student collages illustrating their beliefs of the afterlife.
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Religious Intolerance in Afchanistan
Students, as a group, examine and discuss the destruction and planned demolition of Buddhist artifacts in Afghanistan by the Islamic Taliban government. They further research the issue and then hold a simulated summit with Buddhists,...
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What Would You Do?
Learners study major religions and determine how and why an individual who held each of these beliefs would respond to a similar crisis.
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Writing Ghost Stories Using Encounter With a Skull As a Model
Young scholars explore the elements of a ghost story and cautionary tales. The story, "Encounter With a Skull" is read and used as a model for their own story creations. The values and belief systems of various cultures are examined.
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Chinese Philosophies
Learners compare Confucianism and Daoism. In this Chinese culture lesson, students listen to a lecture comparing the religious philosophies and take a quiz at the end of the lesson.
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World Religions
Students identify the major beliefs, the founders, and the origin for the five major world religions-Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. They identify, on a world map, the regions and countries these religions are...
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Great Religions of China
Students describe the belief and practices of the three major religions of China. Using primary source documents, they compare and contrast the three religions and present their findings to the class in the form on a PowerPoint...
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The Life of Buddha, relating his life to our own in modern times
Students do a variety of activities to become familiar with Buddha's life and relate it to their own.
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Buddha Puzzle
In this social studies activity, student find the words related to the person of Buddha and the answers are found at the bottom of the page.
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Religion in Southeast Asia: Becoming Familiar with Buddhism Through Jataka Tales
Students study basic Buddhist concepts by reading Jataka tales in this unit. They write personal response and identify connections to Buddhist literature and culture.
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The Clothing of the Buddha
Young scholars discuss the idea of cultural diffusion by examining how the sculptural portrayal of the Buddha's clothing evolved in Japanese and Chinese art. This activity concludes with a group project and presentation.
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The Perils of Translation
Students discover the challenges of translating poetry written in a character-based language through the study of Lao-tzu's work, Daodejing. This lesson includes possible extensions and evaluations.
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Destruction in Bamiyan
Pupils examine the destruction of the colossal statues of Buddha, carved into sandstone cliffs of Bamiyan, Afghanistan, that were recently demolished by the Taleban. They look for photos of local artifacts that represent the culture they...
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Find-A-Word Ancient China
In this social studies instructional activity, students locate words relating to Ancient China in a word search. They may self correct their work by selecting the link at the bottom of the page.
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World Religions
In this world religions worksheet, students identify and locate vocabulary terms related to all religions. There are 26 words located in the puzzle.
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Korean Holiday Calendar
Students engage in research in order to find the origin of a Korean holiday. They compare American holidays to the ones of Korea in order to find the true meanings of holidays in both cultures.
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The Buddha Chronicles
Students use the internet to take virtual tours of Japan. During the tour, they discover the history of Buddha and how it is still practiced in Japan today. To end the instructional activity, they create their own webpages to represent...
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The Four Religions of East Asia
Students compare and contrast the four main religions of Asia (Buddhism
Confucianism, Daoism, and Shinto). This lesson plan is intended for use in the middle school Social Studies classroom.
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The Mauryan Empire
Create a chart about the Maurayan Empire. Read the provided passage, make a chart, then analyze 3 excerpts. Questions need to be answered for each of the primary source excerpts. Making a reading chart is a good way to take notes!
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World Religion Day: Reading Activities
If your class is observing World Religion Day in January, use this resource to provide a research and response opportunity. A short informational reading (available as an MP3 download for auditory learners and listening exercises) is the...
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The School Holiday Calendar
Various Muslim holidays and their meanings are researched and your students will predict whether or not they should be recognized on the New York City school calendar. An extension could be to write a letter to the Mayor about their...
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The Golden Rule of Reciprocity: A Silk Road Encounters Project
Learners are introduced to the Golden Rule of Reciprocity. Using the four major world religions, they compare and contrast quotes about the Golden Rule. In groups, they create their own version of the Rule and share it with the class.
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Guidelines for Governing: Utopia and The Prince
Learners explore the power of the Church in government. In this literature lesson, students read Sir Thomas More's Utopia and Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. Learners respond to questions regarding the works and discuss them.
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Exploring the Daoist worldview
Students study the accompanying quotes from the Dao dejing, the Zhuangzi and other Daoist writings. They determine particular implications for knowledge issues and ways of knowing.