Making Sense of the World
Guided learning hours: 15
How our opinions change, and how what we see/hear change us, and the way we see our world. We make sense of the world through our own culture so it makes sense to explore what culture is and our place within it, shaping it and living it.
This unit is all about:
- How we come to understand the world
- How our culture shapes who we are
- Misinformation, conspiracy theories, fake news, politics and the reinforcement of our beliefs on tech platforms
It shows how we are exposed to political manipulation and its effects. One major effect is the inward focus on oneself and the constant repetition of my views across social media. This means that one might never really understand any views, opinions or lives connected to those opinions that differ – or more importantly, that we believe differs from our own. Can we make sense of this very small world where we are always right.
Essential information
| Unit Information: This Thrive unit and the lessons are designed for students to work through at their own pace. This is because students may want to spend more time on one particular topic than another. The units are composed of 5/6 lessons in each unit and each lesson can take between 2-4 hours depending on how one paces themselves. There are activities and tasks in each lesson and resources to support learning. Many of the lessons have summative tasks that draw together the learning in each of the individual lessons. Important Note In this Thrive unit, there are many aspects that may directly connect with you. Although very stimulating and thought-provoking, because we are all human, some topics may affect us more than others and may have a deeper meaning for us. For example, exploring our relationship with technology may connect with aspects of our lives that may be more meaningful or have more impact than others. If you are affected by any of the issues or topics covered in the unit, please contact your counsellor in school or reach out to your pastoral leader. |
Lesson titles:
- Conditionality, How we make sense of our world, our assumptions/privileges (to bridge from “Shaping Me” into how that affects our sense of the world)
- Misinformation, conspiracy theories, fake news, politics, moving from “me” to “we” – from individual to the political manipulation in its effects.
- (Technical – how it happens – algorithms, microtargeting, growth hacking, data scraping, US politics, etc.)
- Futures Thinking – framing how we’re living through implications now…what happens if this “runaway system” continues? – practice in implications and downstream consequences (conceptual framework + application)
- “Breakdown of shared reality” – perceptiongap.us (hands-on, apply this research locally, actually find out what people think) – could maybe even connect them to MoreInCommon
- forming research questions, doing the research, writing up the results/findings
- Walking through a “resolution” of finding shared understanding of the world. “The Overton Window”
- examples, case studies, etc.
- If you were in control of this situation, what would you do next? How would you resolve these gaps?
Questions asked in the course
| How our own assumptions affects our sense of the world? |
| How are we being manipulated by SM? |
| How do the tech companied manipulate us? |
| Has Tech and social media started to negatively breakdown our society? |
| How have they polarized social groups and what is the effect? |
| What can we do to resolve the situation? |
| What is happening in my world? research project |
Please find below the introduction to unit 3: Making Sense of the World
Teachers and Students: You may wish to press the ‘launch’ button below to view in a new window.