Lesson Overview: Students will read this Scientific American article, to consider the following questions:
Student Reflection, in response to prompt #3 (above):
Eric Anderson writes, “[In humans] the categories of gay and straight are socially constructed.” “I found this quote interesting because it ties in with the idea that humans like to put a label on everything. “Gay” and “straight” are absolutes, but some people might not fit entirely with these labels. People like to categorize things and other people in order to make it easier to think about, but these categories can be restricting and might not match that person’s identity completely, because humans are very complex.” Lesson Overview: Using this activity, students first investigate the complexity of one's biological sex, and then learn more about how athletic categories of male and female have been determined over the recent decades. Then, on day 2, students use these questions to take a broader look at the definitions of sex, gender, and sexuality.
This 2-3 day lesson includes activities and written reflection, some of which use data for interpretation. It begins with exercises about exclusion and leads to a lesson about the impact of students using the phrase “that’s so gay.” Specifically, students examine data about suicide and depression rates among LGBTQ youth. As a social studies lesson, it would fit well in a unit on Japanese Exclusion and the Holocaust. Click here for slides.
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