Lesson Japanese worldview: Religion, confucianism, and

Date Thursday March 14

Title/Focus comparing to other worldviews
Subject/Grade Time
Social 8 40 mins
Level Duration

OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES

General
● GLO 8.1: Students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the ways in which beliefs,
Learning values and knowledge shape worldviews and contribute to a society’s isolation or adaptation.
Outcomes:
Specific 8.1.2 appreciate how a society’s worldview can foster the choice to remain an isolated society
Learning 8.1.1 appreciate the roles of time and geographic location in shaping a society’s worldview
8.S.2 develop skills of historical thinking
Outcomes:
• analyze the historical contexts of key events of a given time period

identify patterns in organized information

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1. Appreciate the characteristics of Japanese religion and philosophy
2. Understand how religion and philosophical ideas contribute to worldview
3. Compare Japanese understandings and beliefs to Aztec/Spanish, and Renaissance beliefs
ASSESSMENTS (How I will know students have achieved the objective(s))
● Class discussion/check in throughout the lesson
● Venn diagram activity- thinking about different worldviews

Prior to the Lesson MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

● Students have learned about the Physical Geography and ● Google slides
the idea of isolationism ● paper for Venn Diagrams

PROCEDURE
Introduction Time
Get students to briefly write down their beliefs and values. What is important to you in life? What do you
believe about the world? It can be a list or a mind map format. We will revisit these at the end of today.

Recap: Historical context for Japan- Japan was a very disunified country until about 1600 when the
5
shoguns unified it. There was an emperor but the real power rested in the shogun and the bafuku.
Why did Japan want to isolate?
What was the national seclusion policy and how did it affect Japan?
- It was an edict passed by the bafuku that forbid outside contact and emigration from the country
Body Time
#1: Google slides ( 10 minutes)
We are going to dive into what some of the popular beliefs and religion was at the time in Edo Japan
Go over Buddhism and its practices
Go over Shinto and its practices
In Edo Japan, Both of those religions were prominent 30
Confucianism: Watch video on confucianism, and have students listen for the main principles of
confucianism.
Ask students what the main points are and then discuss
Then, have students individually read page 136 to see the influence of Confucianism
 #2: Comparing worldviews- Venn diagram activity (10-15 minutes)
Think back to what you learned in the previous units, now do a compare/contrast activity. You may need to
look back into Google classroom and your own notes for what you know about religion in the different
worldviews.
First start with a brainstorm of what you know about them, then put them into a venn diagram. Give
students about 10- 15 minutes to work on this, and then you will briefly share your work with the class
Circulate and observe, help students with brainstorming. Give time warnings when there is 5 minutes, and
then 2 minutes left.

#3: Presentation of worldviews/ Gallery walk ( 10 minutes)

Have students stand up and present their Venn Diagrams. What did you find about each religion, how were
they similar?
Closure Time
Exit slip: Think back to what you wrote at the beginning about your own values and beliefs. Do you share
any of the same values of beliefs that people did in Edo Japan?
At 3:37-3:38, start cleaning up the classroom
2

Reflections:
This lesson was alright. As we talked about in the post-conference I had too much planned and
that made me feel like I had to rush through the content. The students were also not super on
task, but I know that focus is an issue at the very end of the day. I circulated a lot during the
Venn Diagram activity to get students back on topic. Even though we didn’t get through all the
body of my lesson, I made sure to do the closure.