Lesson plan 1 – Regular advertisement
The pupils are going to discuss what advertisements are and what purpose they serve in society. In this the students will get familiar with the Swedish laws regarding advertisements targeted at children. Finally, the pupils are going to create an argumentative text about whether or not they think it should be legal to create advertisements that are targeted towards children. The lesson aims to help the pupils get an understanding about what advertisements are as well as letting them reflect over ethical questions and then take a stance and argue why something is or is not ethical.
The following arrangement is based on aspects from the tenth module of the MIK curriculum for teachers (UNESCO, 2021), and the Swedish syllabus for the subject of religion (Skolverket, 2022). More specifically, in relation to the syllabus for religion, the pupils will reflect over ethical questions and argue from their own experiences. (Skolverket, 2022)
What – Learning objectives
By the end of this lesson, the aim is for pupils to be able to:
- Define and explain what advertisements are and how they are used in everyday life.
- Have a rudimentary understanding of the Swedish laws about advertising to children.
- Be able to argue for a chosen perspective on an ethical dilemma.
How – Lesson activities
1. Have the class help create a mind map about what they know about ads, this could be done using a digital tool so they can save the result. Fill up the mind map about everything the pupils have to say about ads, this can be anything from different types of ads to what purpose ads serve. When the mind map is filled up, look over and discuss with the pupils about the things that they brought up, especially those aspects that relate to the key points of this lesson plan, but also potential inaccurate facts. If necessary, add parts to the map that the pupils have missed that are important for them to develop a basic understanding of ads.
2. Show the class the film (Crash Course, 2023)
3. Continue to discuss ads by going over the credibility of advertisements. Divide the pupils into smaller groups and let them discuss both the credibility of what is said in ads, if you are free to say whatever you want in advertisements, and what happens if you buy a product that someone has advertised – where does the money go? When every group has discussed, gather the pupils back in to the whole group and have every group present what they have discussed.
4. Lastly bring up that it is illegal to create ads that target minors in Sweden. Let the pupils discuss if they have ever seen an ad that they think are targeted towards children. Talk about why that is. After you have discussed this let the pupils argue either for or against the creation of ads that target children. Let them write an argumentative text where they bring up three arguments as well as a reply to a possible counterargument that someone who does not agree with them could bring up.