Lesson plan: social change
Topic: Social change
Paper 1: Introductory topics in psychology: Social influence AS 3.1.1, A-level 4.1.1
The following is a sample lesson plan to help teachers to structure a one hour lesson on Social change for Paper 1 for AS and A-level (Scheme of work Year 1, Week 6). It is designed to be co-teachable in content for AS and A-level students. It is suggested as a guide only and can be amended to suit teachers and their students’ needs.
Learning objectives
To develop knowledge and understanding of the role of social influence processes in social change.
Learning outcomes
- All students will be able to describe the role of social influence processes in social change eg snowball effect and social cryptoamnesia.
- All students will be able to describe the sequence of social change.
- All students will be able to apply knowledge and an understanding of social change to novel situations.
- Some students will be able to use a wider range of factors to explain social change in novel situations.
- The more able A-level students will be able to evaluate the role of social influence processes in social change.
Prior knowledge needed
From previous sessions, students will:
- Know from their research what minority influence is.
- Be able to describe the ‘Blue Slide/Green Slide’ study.
- Be able to evaluate the role of minority influence in social change.
- Be able to identify some of the behavioural style of a minority which leads to social change and distinguish between consistency, commitment, flexibility in the context of minority influence.
Lesson preparation (resources)
- Prezi Presentation: Social change
- YouTube clip: Social Change and Minority Influence: Minority Influence
- Psychology4A.com – Social Influence
- ACTIVITY 1 – Cut and paste Activity 1 – see resource bank below
- BBC One Hundred Years of the Women’s Movement
- Suffragette movement a brief overview: Womens suffrage
- ACTIVITY 2 – Suffragette hand-out – see resource bank below
- Review of learning – PowerPoint quiz.
Activity
| Duration | Activity | Group size | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
2 minutes | Sharing of aims and objectives of lesson. Overview of the learning methodologies to be employed in the lesson. | Whole group | Sharing of the above stated aims and objective. |
5 minutes | Review of previous related learning: mind-map of minority influence to be created on the whiteboard, with each student adding a new point that they learned from their independent research. Use mobile phones to take photograph of mind-map/ copy to be uploaded to VLE. | Whole group | All students will be able to describe key features of minority influence and evaluate research into minority influence. Some will be able to explain the role of minority influence in social change. The more able A-level students will be able to evaluate the role – ie say how important minority influence is may be by comparison with other explanations for eg social change. |
10 minutes | Tutor led (resource 1) – Prezi presentation of the main points relating to social change. Students to be provided with copy of slides and to take additional notes: Minority influence and social change Consolidation activity (resource 2) – watch the you tube: Minority Influence. Students to take additional notes. | Whole group | All students will be able to describe the role of social influence processes in social change eg snowball effect and social cryptoamnesia. Some students will be able to explain the role of social influence processes in social change. The more able A-level students will be able to contextualise each of the social influence processes within a theoretical and research framework. Consolidation of the above learning outcomes. |
| 6 minutes | Watch the following video and create a mindmap to summarise the main points: | Individual learning activity | All students will be able to describe the sequence of social change. Some students will be able to explain the sequence of social change. The more able A- level students will be able to critically comment on evaluate the sequence of social change. |
5 minutes | Sorting activity (resource 4) – students to work in pairs to complete a cut and paste activity relating to the process of social change (see handout). | Pairs | Consolidation of the above learning outcomes. |
10 minutes | Illustrative example: the Suffragette Movement (resource 5 or 6). Teacher to show one of the following video clips below which provides a brief overview of the suffragette movement: Brief overview of the suffragette movement: Womens suffrage or Suffragette cartoon: The Suffragette Movement This is to be followed by a class discussion of how what they have learned about minority influence and social change can be applied to the suffragette movement. Student contributions to be noted on whiteboard. Summary hand-out to be distributed (resource 7). Extension task : Students to add detail to hand-out, linking and evaluating a wider range of factors which contributed to the suffragettes bringing about social change. Extension task : Some students will provide more detail, referring to a wider range of factors which contributed to the suffragettes bringing about social change. | Whole group Individual learning activity | All students will be able to describe the sequence of social change. Some students will be able to explain the sequence of social change. The more able A- level students will be able to critically comment on evaluate the sequence of social change. Assessment of the above learning outcome. |
10 minutes | Small group work: in small groups students are to research and prepare a 5 minute presentation which explains the process of social change using psychological knowledge applied to a real life example and economic implications of social change in each area.
The students are to meet in their assignment workshop session to complete the preparation of material for the feedback in the next lesson. | Small group work | All students will be able to apply knowledge and an understanding of social change to novel situations. Some students will be able to use a wider range of factors to explain social change in novel situations. The more able A-level students will be able to critically evaluate the relative importance of the factors involved in social change when applied to novel situations. |
| 5 minutes | Review and consolidation of learning (quiz). | Whole group | Review and checking of stated learning aims and objectives. |
Further work and reading
Plenary
Plenary quiz recapping the key features of the explanations of social change covered in the lesson.
Extension
- Wider reading – students to be directed to the resource below which in on the VLE.
- ‘A time of social change in India’, Jenna Meaden, Psychology Review April 2014. Vol 19 No.4 pp.14–15.
Preparation for next lesson
Small group activity preparation (see below).
Homework
Small group work:
Preparation of a presentation (5 minutes) on the application of the principles of social change to one of the following:
- DEFRA Recycling
- Arab Spring
- Gay Rights Movement
- Civil rights movement
- Women Clergy
- Anti-smoking campaign.
Students should be prepared to present at next lesson.
Resource bank
Activity 1
How do minorities become majorities?
Cut and paste into the correct order
The message is then passed on to many other majority members through the snowball effect until the minority becomes the majority.
The majority are forced to examine the minority message, and may internalise it.
In time, the source of the message is forgotten and all that remains is the new social norm. This is called social cryptoamnesia (Perez et al, 1995).
When a minority has an effective message, it creates conflict in the minds of the majority. Conflict is more likely if the minority are consistent, flexible, committed and have made sacrifices (augmentation principle).
Activity 2
Social change: Sisters doing it for themselves
- Read about The Suffragette Movement on the BBC Bitesize website.
- In small groups, using your knowledge of social change discuss how the suffragettes brought about social change.
- Complete the table below using the words below:
| Consistency | Augmentation principle | Informational social influence |
| Draw attention to cause | Snowball effect | The role of conflict |
| The behavioural style of the suffragettes | Activity: complete table |
|---|---|
| The suffragettes used a variety of educational, political and militant tactics to highlight the fact that women were denied the same political right as men. | |
| The suffragettes advocated a different political voting arrangement to that already in place. This created a ………… in the minds of the majority. Some of which dismissed the suffragettes as trouble makers, but others moved towards the suffragette position. | |
| Those that moved to the suffragette position would have experienced a particular type of social influence where they genuinely believe that the suffragettes were right in what they were saying. | |
| The suffragettes did not change their position, regardless of the attitudes around them. Moscovici argued that this is a key factor in the success of a minority influence. | |
| The suffragettes were willing to suffer to make their point heard e.g. risking imprisonment or even death from hunger strikes. This meant that they were taken more seriously by the majority. | |
| Initially only small numbers moved to adopting the suffragette’s point of view but increasingly more and more people accepted their point of view. Eventually it became the point of view held by the majority and could no longer be ignored. Women were eventually given the vote in 1918. |