An Oppression Role Play

SUBJECT Social Studies

NUMBER OF DAYS LONG One hour.

YEAR/GRADE Advanced secondary education students or post secondary.

CURRICULAR TOPIC Chicana/Chicano issues; institutional discrimination.

TOPIC OBJECTIVE To help students understand racism and institutional discrimination through an easy interactive simulation exercise. To help students comprehend how basic resources are connected, i.e. how discrimination within one institution (housing) affects resource allocation in another (education).

SOCIAL JUSTICE OBJECTIVE To develop empathy for disenfranchised people.

View Lesson

Driving While Black/Driving While Brown: A Mathematics Project About Racial Profiling

SUBJECT: Mathematics

NUMBER OF DAYS LONG: 3-5

YEAR/GRADE: 6-9 (originally created for 7-8, can be modified)

CURRICULAR TOPIC: Data analysis (collecting, analyzing data); Probability (simulations, law of large numbers, theoretical/experimental probabilities)

TOPIC OBJECTIVE: Students learn: (a) how to analyze data collected from a probability simulation; (b) how to set up their own simulation; (c) about the law of large numbers; (d) about the relationship of theoretical probabilities and empirical data.

SOCIAL JUSTICE OBJECTIVE: Students use mathematics to analyze racial profiling data and compare actual data to results of a probability simulation about racial profiling. This then becomes an entry point into a discussion about whether racial profiling is a real issue, is racism a factor, why does it occur, and if it’s a problem, what can one do about it.

View Lesson