The KeyCode project (2020-1-FR01-KA201-080108) is funded, by the European Commission through the French National Agency for the Erasmus+ Programme, with the aim of addressing the challenges that young students face in consolidating their European identity.

The KeyCode project is funded, by the European Commission through the French National Agency for the Erasmus+ Programme, with the aim of addressing the challenges that young students face in consolidating their European identity.

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Teaching Resources

Power Station


Duration
2 teaching hours (90 minutes)

Age Group
13 - 14
15 - 16

Objectives
Promotion of EU citizenship, EU and democratic values and human rights
Enhancement of empathy outside school (friends, family, strangers
Development of empathic behavior at school

Needed material
• A long piece of strong string or rope, equal to the width of the
room to represent an electric cable.
• A4 size sheets of paper of 2 different colours, for example red
and green
• Markers, one per small group
• Props: a loud bell or hooter, hard hats, a white coat, a cable cutter
(real or made out of card)
• 2 reels of sticky tape
• 2 rooms (optional, but preferable)
• An assistant to operate the bells, lights and any other special effects

Emotional Intelligence Areas
Self-awareness
Self-regulation
Empathy
Internal motivation
Social skills

Description
POWER STATION is an activity that helps students think about acts of violence that are common in their daily lives and then look for creative ways of dealing with them and finding alternative solutions to these violent situations.
The activity asks from the students to put themselves in an imaginary situation in which they play the role of technicians that are working in a power station. Normal power stations generate electricity from uranium, coal, gas, rubbish, bio-fuels, the sun, wind or waves. This power station, however, generates energy from acts of violence and is potentially dangerous and ought to be closed down or converted to run on another fuel. The teacher is the manager of the power station.
Students are initially asked to think and come up with ideas on what violence is in their daily lives, and refer to specific acts of violence. They could be acts that they themselves or a person they know have experienced, acts they have witnessed or heard on the news, etc. They then discuss in groups and agree on what they think are the most important acts of violence they want to work on and then go through the imaginary activity trying to find solutions to the several incidents of violence.
POWER STATION helps students realize the toxic impact of violence and violent feelings in daily life and understand the importance of finding creative solutions to replace violence.
It also helps students make connections between violence and relevant human rights, such as the right to life, liberty and personal security, freedom from discrimination, freedom from interference with privacy, family, home and correspondence.

Lesson Plan
1. Explain to the students the imaginary scenario slowly and clearly, allowing time for them to absorb information and put themselves into the story.

2. Ask students to carry out a quick personal brainstorming session of “violence around me”. Explain clearly that they are not going to look at the “big issues” such as terrorism or genocide but rather at those acts of violence which we all meet in everyday life at school or in youth clubs, on the street and in our homes and some that we might hear on the news. For instance, students might come up with verbal abuse, insults, sarcasm, queue-jumping, barging in front of someone, smacking a child or hitting / being hit, domestic violence, intimidation by gangs, burglary, petty theft or pick pocketing, vandalism, and so on.

3. Divide the students into groups of 3 to 5 and hand out three sheets of (red)paper and a marker pen to each small group. Ask students to share the issues they brainstormed and agree collectively on which forms of violence are the most important to tackle. They should write these down, one on each piece of paper, in big letters and using key words or very short phrases.

4. Collect the sheets together and do a quick check to see if there are any that are duplicated. Discard the duplicates.

5. Give the students a five-minute break while you prepare for the next part. Hang the pieces of paper over the “electric cable” about 0.5 m apart. Tape them onto the string so that they stay in position and do not slide.

6. When you are ready and all the “forms of the violence” papers are stuck onto the rope, tell the group that you just received notification from the Health and Safety Executive that the plant will be closed down unless they – the “technicians” – can find alternative fuel to power the station.

7. Invite the “technicians” into the “power station”. Split them into 2 teams and give plenty of sheets of (green) paper, marker pens and a roll of sticky tape to each.

8. Point out the power cable and the papers representing the acts of violence.

9. Explain that one of the reasons why the power station is so dangerous is that violence generates energy in a very uneven flow; there are frequent surges. When this happens the only quick way to prevent the whole place exploding is to cut the cable; however, this is an extremely dangerous procedure and should be avoided at all costs. When a particularly strong surge is building up, warning lights will flicker and they will hear a bell. They will then have to act fast to divert the build up of energy. To do this they need to identify ways of transforming the acts of violence on the electrical cable into positive actions.

10. Explain how it works in practice: They will hear bells and see warning lights flashing. You will point to where you may have to cut the cable and read out the words on the two sheets that hang on the cable either side of the cutting point. The two teams then have a maximum of 1 minute to consider ways of tackling the two different forms of violence. They note their proposals down, each one on a separate sheet of (green) paper, and race to stick them as quickly as possible onto the rope where you are about to cut.

11. Now start the power station up and let it run for just a minute or two. Signal to the assistant to start ringing the bell and flashing the lights. Take the bolt cutter and mime that you are about to cut the cable at a certain point. Read out loud the two forms of violence and urge the teams to start their rescue work.

12. After one minute, stop the bell and flashing lights and put aside the bolt cutter, step forward and read out what is written on the “solutions papers”. Briefly discuss the suggestions with the whole group. Get the teams to amend or discard any papers that, on reflection, are not realistic. Remove the two “forms of violence” papers and express your relief.

13. Repeat steps 11 and 12 until all the “violence papers” have been removed and are replaced by “solution papers”.

14. Finally, collect all the “solutions papers” off the wire and stick them on the wall beside the various expressions of violence.

Assessment
The discussion after the activity starts by reviewing the activity itself and then goes on to what students have learnt about acts of violence and their solutions as well as the corresponding human rights.

The following questions can be asked:
- How did students feel during the activity? Did they enjoy it? Why (not)?
- Did everybody agree about the importance of the different forms of violence?
- What are the causes of the particular expressions of violence identified?
- Were the proposed solutions and actions realistic? In the short term? In the longer term?
- What challenges or resistance might people face when trying to implement these solutions?
- How can young people best prevent violence and defend peaceful alternatives?
- Which human rights are violated by violence?

Links for further information


TESTING AND ASSESSMENT