Week 6: Religious artefacts and the construction of religious meaning

Prayer  Do you pray?  What do people do when they pray?  Why do you think people pray?  Is it important to pray?

Activity 1  Examine the display. Spend some time looking at each object, so that you could describe what you have seen to somebody later in the day.  Each object is used in worship or prayer by either Buddhists or Muslims.  For each item, try to imagine what its purpose might be. Is it a symbol? Does it have a practical use? What does it tell you about how believers worship or pray?

Swap over  Now you are going to take it in turns to describe what you saw to another group.  Try to describe the objects you saw and explain what you think they were, but also explain what you thought they showed you about how Muslims or Buddhists worship or pray.  Listen carefully. Try to note down any important differences or similarities you think there are between Buddhists and Muslims.  What questions would you like to ask a Muslim or a Buddhist about anything you have seen?

Grimmitt’s Social Constructivist Model  Preparatory Pedagogical Constructivism Enquiry into and reflection on students’ own experience to prepare them linguistically and conceptually for an encounter with the item of religious content. The teacher contributes to the pupils’ enquiries and reflections through questions and interventions which may include practical, group focused activities.  Direct pedagogical Constructivism Pupils are confronted with the item of religious content directly, but without explanation and instruction, so that it becomes the stimulus for them to begin to construct their own meaning and understanding of it through observation, formulating hypotheses, and drawing on their own experience. (Possible teacher interventions, i.e. questioning)

Grimmitt’s Social Constructivist Model  Supplementary Pedagogical Constructivism Pupils provided with initial or supplementary information about the item of religious content which enables their constructions to become more complex and embrace alternative perspectives. They do not abandon their interpretations in the face of some ‘objective’ knowledge which the teacher provides but continue to engage in an interpretive process in which new knowledge is considered critically and may or may not be accommodated within their own understanding. Religious content always in a dynamic relationship with pupils’ critical and reflective thought. Any communication of information on the part of the teacher is always related to the constructions that pupils are using, applying and articulating. Always move from egocentric interpretations of experience through alternative contextualised interpretations to evaluative judgements

Exploring Prayer  and-meditation/2872.html and-meditation/2872.html   prayer/5965.html prayer/5965.html  What are the critical differences between the two displays?

Preparing to visit a place of worship  On your own, write down three questions which you would like to ask the Imam or the Order Member to help you understand how Buddhist and Muslim prayer and worship are similar or different.  Read each of your questions to the rest of your group and explain why you think they are important.  As a group, choose the three most important questions.

Reporting on our visit  In a group of three, you will be making a documentary about prayer.  In your documentary, the Buddhist and the Muslim will explain to the interviewer how they pray and why they think it is important. They can question each other about the different things that they do.  Your interviewer must then offer his or her own opinion on what he or she has learned and whether it is important to pray.