Pro & Con of the Golden Rule (What if ...?)

Lesson Plan

TEACHING GOALS

Introduce the "What if ..." process of exploring an idea.

The "What if..." process is a critical thinking skill. In it opposite sides of an idea are separately explored in depth. It is used to gain insight into the meanings, ramifications, value, and validity of the idea. If the idea is a good one, it also focuses the mind on the idea, leading to learning it, understanding it, accepting it, and implementing it in one's life.

It can be used in life to detect and resist temptations.

 TEACHER PREP

Decide in advance how you will divide the class up into small discussion groups.

Suggestion: Use 8 groups of about 3 students in each.

Write the phase "What if ...?" on the board.

Write these on the board.

What if you follow the Golden Rule? What will be the benefits to you?

What if every human followed the Golden Rule? What would life be like?

What if you follow the golden rule while others do not? What would life be like?

What if you don’t follow the Golden Rule? What would happen to you if you did the opposite by living your life taking advantage of other people?

Students, we all know the Golden Rule. Would anyone be willing to remind us of it by reciting it?

We are going to learn and use a critical thinking skill called the "What if ...?" process.

1. We are going to explore these four questions in small groups. (On the board.)
2. Each group is to think about your question and write down your answers.
3. Then we will get back together to discuss the process.

Form the groups. They need pencil, paper, and someone to write out the answers. Assign one question to them.

Work Groups

Have each group read off their answers. Write them on the board under the appropriate heading.

Have students try to add to the items on the board.

Add any items the students may have missed. Use your own and refer to the page on this site titled "The Golden Rule."

After going through this "What if ...?" process, we had some good answers.

(If some of the answers were not good, lead a discussion on those, guiding the students to recognize the problem with them.)

Do any of you see answers that you had never thought about before?

Did any of you contribute answers that you had never thought about before?

Do any of you think you understand the Golden Rule better than you did before we started?

Do any of you now have a better idea about why the Golden Rule would be good to follow in your own life?

So we see that the "What if ... ?" process can help our understanding. It helps us see past just the words, and into the real meaning and importance of the Golden Rule.

Do you think you could do the "What if ... ?" process by yourself?

• Would it be OK for you to create all the questions?
• And to answer them all yourself?
• What might be the weakness in doing this?
• When would you do this by yourself?

Do any of you think the "What if ... ?" process could be useful for other ideas?

What ones can you think of? (Write them on the board.)

Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. I hope you found this interesting and useful. We will use "What if ... ? again.