Curriculum Correlation Lesson Plans:
High School Social Studies

Grade Level: 10

Curriculum Area: Social Studies

Disciplines: Geography, History, Political Science

Strands: Global Connections, Individual identity & development.

Competency Goal 10: The learner will compare the rights and civic responsibilities of individuals in political structures in Africa, Asia, and Australia.

Objective 10.01: Trace the development of relationships between individuals and their governments in selected cultures of Africa, Asia and Australia, and evaluate the changes that have evolved over time.

Summary of Lesson: Conflicts in Modern China with individual human rights.

Focus Question: To what extent does the present Chinese Government support or fail to support individual human rights? Give examples and your reasoning.

Resource(s) & Materials:
Gale Group's on line databases:

• General Reference Center Gold, or
  
• InfoTrac Junior Edition, or
  
• InfoTrac Student Edition

Procedure:
Student(s) involved: 3 Individuals do independent research, then pool their examples and arguments to make a group report.

Time Required: Report in class the third day after assignment

Steps/Activities by teacher:

1. On day of assignment, discuss human rights, the U.N. declaration, and examples of violations (anywhere) to establish students' grasp of the terms/ concepts.
   
2. Explain that even in the U.S. questions arise over how we maintain human rights, with examples.
   
3. Explain that the assignment is to report on instances of both support and violation of human rights, and conclude which seems dominant.

Steps/Activities by student(s):

1. As a group, log on to Gale Group's General Reference Center Gold, and do a Subject Guide Search for human rights. As a group, read the entry in the encyclopedia, and write down your own definition of "human rights" after discussing it for 20 minutes in class the day of the assignment.
   
2. Each Student do an advanced search in Gale Group's General Reference Center Gold: ke China and su "human rights'. Each student choose one article (different from the other students' articles) to read.
   
3. Each student summarize from the article an instance of support or non support for individual human rights that illustrates the conflict or lack of conflict between individual rights and the government in China.
4. Compare or contrast each incident and it's outcome to a similar one in the United States, and give an opinion as to what the similarity or difference means about China's support of individual human rights.
   
5. Meet as a group to draft 5 conclusions about human rights in China, how supportive the government is of human rights, and how that compares with the USA. Give the basis for each conclusion.
   
6. If human rights need improving in China, do a Subject Guide Search on Human Rights Workers, and give 3 examples of what is being done by them to improve human rights in China.
   
7. What is the UN doing about human rights around the world?

Related Activities:

• Students could check both online and printed encyclopedias for additional information, as time permits.
  
• Team could also find an example of human rights supported or not in another country in Asia, such as Japan or Indonesia, etc.
  
• Team could compare an event in the USA that compares to the one chosen for China.
  
• A map could be constructed showing the locations in the world where human rights are being addressed by the United Nations.

Culminating Event(s): A student selected by the group to be the reporter will present their report, calling on each member for a supporting element.