Methodology

These activities deliberately employ a variety of different methods, some that have been around for a long time and some that are newer. 

This diversity enables you to engage all pupils and test a variety of skills through carrying out the activity.  

Similar activities can be repeated in different ways without making them repetitive for pupils, and your chosen activities can be triangulated, in order to ensure your results are consistent. For example, asking the same sort of question in three different ways – if you are interested in attitudes towards poverty in Africa, you might want to use the Africa map, Why are people hungry and Photos and jobs activities, all of which explore attitudes on the same issue, but from different perspectives. 

Some activities require consensus, some are anonymous, some are individual choice after discussion. Some have a right and wrong answer, but most don’t. 

All the methods used here encourage pupils to speak for themselves, listen well to others and think critically. They are useful, therefore, for measuring change in these skills as well. 

You can use one activity at a time, or you can use a small collection of activities, if you are not sure what issues or attitudes may come up.  

Some teachers use six or eight activities with pupils from every year group, to get a sense of the progression of the whole school. 

Pupils’ behaviour and actions depend on what motivates them and their attitudes are often revealed through their behaviour. For example, a child’s attitude towards the environment might be shown by their willingness to save and reuse packaging as much as possible. 

While motivation is explored in teacher training, the shaping and tracking of pupils’ attitudes is often overlooked. Pupils may be motivated to act in a certain way, without a teacher understanding or questioning the attitudes underlying their behaviour.  Exploring how pupils think about the world around them enables teachers to develop their understanding of pupils’ attitudes and the impact their teaching has as these attitudes develop.