Truth, Falsehood and Citizenship
This lesson asks what truth and lies have to do with being a citizen, and whether a society that runs on lies can last. It puts values in front of pupils rather than facts.
How long
45 minutes.
Who it is for
Primary
How it is taught
Storytelling.
What you need
The text of the folk tale 'Fire, Water, Truth and Falsehood', below.
What it is for
To build understanding of the values sustainability rests on — responsibility and citizenship — and to make pupils think hard.
The words
Truth, falsehood, deceive, citizenship, common good.
The manual states these. What it does not state is not here.
The manual leaves this session untitled. The name is ours, taken from what the session says it is for; everything below is the manual's.
How it runs
The teaching sequence as the manual gives it.
-
01
Explain the words the lesson needs: -
02
working for the common good, alone or together; -
03
citizenship — what a member of a society owes it, and does for it; -
04
transparency — telling people how a decision was taken, and by whom. -
05
Set the scene. In many cultures elders tell stories to hand on what they know, and this is one of those. In it, telling the truth and telling lies become people — and so do fire and water. -
06
Read the tale aloud. -
07
Stop. Let them sit with it. -
08
Ask one pupil to retell it. -
09
Then link it to sustainable development: -
10
How does the story show people working for the common good? How does that break down? Who deceives whom? What does Falsehood actually want? And what is the story saying about truth and lies? -
11
Then bring it into their own lives. -
12
Ask for examples of people working for the common good, and of good citizenship. Then ask for the opposite: someone, or some organisation, that was not truthful or not open because there was something in it for them. Who was hurt by it? And what changes, for a neighbourhood or for a country, if enough people decide to be straight with each other?
Safety
- None.
Talking about it
Discussion points, worked examples and the handouts the manual prints with this session.
More from the manual
Fire, Water, Truth and Falsehood — an African folk tale
Long ago, Fire, Water, Truth, and Falsehood lived together in one large house. Although all were polite toward each other, they kept their distance. Truth and Falsehood sat on opposite sides of the room. Fire constantly leapt out of Water’s path.
One day they went hunting together. They found a large number of cattle and began driving them home to their village. “Let us share these cattle equally,” said Truth as they travelled across the grasslands. “This is the fair way to divide our captives.”
No one disagreed with Truth except Falsehood. Falsehood wanted more than an equal share but kept quiet about it for the moment. As the four hunters travelled back to the village, Falsehood went secretly to Water and whispered, “You are more powerful than Fire. Destroy Fire and then there will be more cattle for each of us!”
Water flowed over Fire, bubbling and steaming until Fire was gone. Water meandered along, cheerfully thinking about more cattle for itself.
Falsehood, meanwhile, whispered to Truth. “Look! See for yourself! Water has killed Fire! Let us leave Water, who has cruelly destroyed our warm-hearted friend. We must take the cattle high in the mountains to graze.”
As Truth and Falsehood travelled up the mountain, Water tried to follow. But the mountain was too steep, and Water could not flow upwards. Water washed down upon itself, splashing and swirling around rocks as it tumbled down the slope. Look and see! Water is still tumbling down the mountainside to this day.
Truth and Falsehood arrived at the mountaintop. Falsehood turned to Truth and said in a loud voice, “I am more powerful than you! You will be my servant. I am your master. All the cattle belong to me!”
Truth rose up and spoke out, “I will not be your servant!”
They battled and battled. Finally they brought the argument to Wind to decide who was the master.
Wind didn’t know. Wind blew all over the world to ask people whether Truth or Falsehood was more powerful. Some people said, “A single word of Falsehood can completely destroy Truth.” Others insisted, “Like a small candle in the dark, Truth can change every situation.”
Wind finally returned to the mountain and said, “I have seen that Falsehood is very powerful. But it can rule only where Truth has stopped struggling to be heard.”
And it has been that way ever since. (Forest, 1996 pp. 91-92)
Ending it
How the manual closes this session, and where it can go next.
How to end it
Ask what they learned about truth and sustainability.
How you know it worked
Listen to what they say in the discussion, and at the close.
If it goes well
Ask pupils to write their own tale about truth, lies and looking after a place, and to read it out.
Where this comes from
Bridge the Gap is a compilation. This is what the manual records for this session.
Green, M.C. Storytelling in teaching. APS Observer. 2004. http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle. cfm?id=1562
Before you start sets out where the compendium as a whole comes from.
Next
Where to go from here.
Next session
What Sustainability Means to YouSustainable Development, 6 of 11The theme
Sustainable Development11 sessions and the background readingAll eight themes
Teach43 sessions across 8 themesUnderstand the data
- How to read environmental dataSeven questions that catch most of the ways a true number becomes a false claim.
- Measured or modelled?The first question to ask of any environmental number, and the one most often skipped.
- What is a reporting floor?When an instrument returns its own lowest value, that is not a measurement of nothing.