TEACHING ARTS AND TRADES WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF BELIEFS

• Draw or print out a picture of a gnome, dwarf, fairy or other mythical figure that some people in the past (and maybe in the present) may believe in. Color or paint* it in. Also write a one-sentence description* of the figure.
• Using any medium you like, create a picture or figure* of a mythical animal that some people believe in (e.g. unicorn, phoenix). Include an information sheet that describes your figure/animal, such as what it is and what culture(s) it is from. 
• Using any medium you like, create a representation* of a scene from a story from any belief system you would like.
• Create an artistic story book* (or something similar) that represents the story of a myth of your choice, using whatever medium you would like. 
• Create a piece or entire costume* that a mythical figure or creature may have worn, using resources you find for reference. Put it on, and perform a scene* representing what you believe such a creature or figure would say, or how they would behave.
• Create and perform a live dance/theatre/singing/performance art/musical piece* inspired by a mythological story from any culture, giving credit to the culture.
• Create a multimedia piece* combining 3 or more myths, each from a different part of the world.

• Using the internet, choose a mythological place some people in the past or present may believe in. Print out a picture of that place that you like the most. Cut it out and mount it* onto a background of your choice. Include a label which has the name of the place and what type of mythology the place is from (e.g. Norse or Hindu mythology).
• Choose a place that is mythological or that only some people believe may have existed, and look up some pictures of it. Design and draw* your own building that fits in the theme, such as a building you would like to live in.
• Create a travel brochure* for a mythological place.
• Embroider and/or sew a piece* (e.g. a pillow case) featuring a mythological figure or creature of your choice.
• Choose a mythological place, and create and cook/bake a dish* inspired by that place, perhaps something which you believe they might eat there. 
• Create your own set of professional postcards* for a mythological place of your choice. 
• Imagine you are a tour guide planning your first trip to a mythological place. Create a detailed tour itinerary* of where you would bring your guests and what you would say about each place.
• Create a city plan* of a place that you feel belongs in a mythological place of your choice.
• Create an architectural rendering of a place* that you feel belongs in a mythological place of your choice.

TEACHING ENGLISH WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF BELIEFS

• Find a storybook about a myth or legend in any culture and read it, with the help of a grown-up if needed. Then write or speak a few sentences* about your favorite character and/or part of the story and what made the legend most believable to you.
• Find a storybook about a myth or legend in any culture. Practice reading it out loud, with expressions and different tones of voice. Give a reading* to some other children or family members, and ask them what they feel the legend was trying to teach you.
• Using online resources, select a short mythological story (e.g. the Akan myth of Adu Ogyinae; the Greek myth of Artemis, goddess of the hunt). Write a short summary of the story*, including the main characters and 5 examples of the symbolism and/or lessons that the story contains.
• Using online resources, select a short mythological story. Then create an alternate medium version* (such as a comic/ picture-book version) of it. 
• Choose a piece of classical fiction* that concerns beliefs, myths and/or legends from a culture that is unfamiliar to you (e.g. The Ramayana from Indian culture). Write an essay* discussing the work, including information on the historical and cultural context in which it was written.
• Choose three classical works that are considered myths and/or legends and write an analysis comparing and contrasting the literature*, including the beliefs and values contained in the work. Include how these beliefs and values are different from yours and/or may have affected/expanded your beliefs.
• Write a dissertation, or college level class curriculum* on comparative literature involving beliefs, myths and/or legends, using various works from whichever two or more cultures you choose. 

• Read a story book of your choice and discuss* three or more beliefs the main character and other characters may have, based on the story. (e.g. in Jack and the Beanstalk, do the giant, Jack’s mother, and Jack have similar or different beliefs? What were one of each of their beliefs?).
• Write a short story where there are two characters that have different beliefs. Then rewrite* it where the have similar beliefs. Which made a more interesting story in your opinion, and why? Discuss* that and anything else you learned from this experience.
• Read a book where the main character overcomes the beliefs of others (such as in Linda Elder’s Fairminded Fran and the Three Small Black Community Cats). With others that have read the book, discuss the main characters’ struggles and success around beliefs (eg. how Fran helped the cats) and what people/beliefs stood in the way.
• Read a novel where the main character studies/struggles with beliefs, such as Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Write a book report*, including the main character’s study on people’s beliefs and the character’s own struggle with beliefs. 
• Read a book on groupthink beliefs, such as William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, and write a 5+ page book report*, focusing on groupthink and beliefs.
• Read two books that focus on dystopian beliefs (such as George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four). Write a 5+ page in depth analysis* comparing the two books you chose, focusing your writing on discussing beliefs and what each story was saying about beliefs.
• Read two books that are social commentary, such as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We. Then write an 10+ research study* comparing and contrasting aspects of the works you find interesting, including people’s beliefs and behaviors, and include 20+ sites from each book, and your thoughts about the world around you.
• Write an open source lesson plan* on comparative literature involving two cultures, using various works from whichever two cultures you choose.

TEACHING HEALTH WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF BELIEFS

• Choose a picture. Then imagine you are a person that is happy because they believe they are always lucky, and write down at least three words* describing what you see in the picture. Wait five to thirty minutes. Then imagine you are a person that is angry or sad because they believe they are always unlucky, then look at the picture again, and write down at least three words* describing the picture. Are these two sets of words different? Talk about* what you did or did not experience/ learn about how beliefs may or may not affect how we experience things.
• Look up the definition and examples of belief and discuss what it is with 3 people. Then create a list of 3-5 things you feel you may not fully like about something, yourself, or others. Then look up or get help creating a list* of three or more ways that could help you create more ‘healthy’ beliefs/ viewpoints about those 3-5 things. 
• Research and write a short piece* about what others believe about the health effects of mantras and the power of positive thinking to both one’s emotional and physical health. Include how this fits into your beliefs and if what you uncovered would or would not be helpful to you.
• Write a reflective piece* about self-limiting beliefs and how they may affect one’s life choices, including health choices. Include your personal reflections, and flow charts/ other graphical representations of data you uncover as you research the topic.
• Create a questionnaire and use it to interview* at least 20 people about beliefs and experiences with positive self talk and one’s emotional health. Probe the people that had the most positive experiences for ideas on how to improve your self-talk and try them. Create an open source resource* from all of this, including to what extent each way is or is not working for you. 
• Research and write a scientifically valid article* on negative beliefs or belief patterns and how cognitive behavioral therapy or other therapies may or may not help. 
• Use published research to write a dissertation on, or give a public speech* at a related conference, about psychosomatic illnesses or how positive/negative beliefs affect one’s health. 

TEACHING MATH WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF BELIEFS

• Find two optical illusions that tend to cause people looking at it to draw incorrect beliefs about sizes (such as identifying the wrong shape to be bigger). Print it out or photocopy it, and report* what 5 people think of the comparative sizes of the shapes when they look at the optical illusions you show them, and their reactions when you let them know their beliefs were incorrect.
• Draw* two identical versions of an object that people believe can cause people to see different things depending on how it is viewed, such as the Necker Cube. Color one in one of your drawings to show one way of viewing the object, and color another one in to show the other way you can view the object.
• Find three geometrical optical illusions that involve lines/arrows, such as the Poggendorff illusion. Copy them out and write a short description* about how each illusion works.
• Write a 3-5 page piece* about “impossible objects”, those that you believe can exist at first glance but are impossible upon closer examination.
• Write a 7-10 page report* exploring three types of mathematical paradoxes, as classified by mathematician Leonard Wapner or another mathematician. 
• Write an in depth analysis* about three or more mathematical beliefs that were widely accepted before being proven wrong. Use 20+ citations. 
• Write an open source lesson* about controversial mathematical theories, including both or multiple sides of the discussion.

TEACHING SCIENCE WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF BELIEFS

• Draw a picture* of the human body and draw/color the area you think is responsible for beliefs. Talk about* the organ that lies in that area.
• There used to be a belief that humans only use 10% of their brains. Do you think that is true? Write a few sentences about what you believe, then look it up and write a few sentences about what your research says, and then write a conclusion tying them together*.
• Look up the term “placebo effect”. Write a 2 page paper* to describe what it is and 3-5 ways you have seen it affect yourself or people you know. 
• Researchers have noted that when someone believes a statement, activity appears in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex of the brain. Print out a diagram of the brain and color in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Create an info graphing and accompanying two paragraphs* about what this area does or what happens in that area.
• Watch a documentary about belief and the body, such as “Biology of Belief” by Bruce Lipton. Write a 5+ page report* about what it taught about beliefs and include your beliefs around the content.
• Write a report* about the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and beliefs, including what happens when there is damage to this area.
• Research and write a public speaking piece* about epigenetics, how beliefs can/can not reprogram genes.
• Choose one or more things within the life sciences that were once believed to be true but then proven wrong. Write a short essay*, including a timeline of related beliefs. 
• Write a systematic review* of published literature regarding a topic concerning to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and beliefs.
• In a slide show* you design for high school age learners, explore the process of proving a belief in the life sciences “wrong”, and use 5+ examples of how this has been done in the past. 

• Find out what people once believed were five classical elements and draw pictures* for them. Then look at a periodic table and count how many elements are currently known to us. 
• Write a few sentences* about what the five classical elements people used to believe in were and what we know about atoms now, including the periodic table. 
• Write a paragraph or more* about the Caloric theory and what it said about heat. Then write at least another paragraph* about what we now know about heat. 
• Write a short report* about a belief that used to exist in the past in science but is understood differently today, such as the Phlogiston Theory, and what the scientific world currently believes to be the mechanisms behind the phenomena it described.
• People once believed in alchemy. Write an essay* about what they believe versus what we know today.
• Choose three or more things within the physical sciences that were once believed to be true but since then have been scientifically proven inaccurate or incomplete in understanding. Write and free share a blog format objective explanation* about the original belief and what we currently believe to be true.
• Write an article for a science website* to explore the process of proving whether a belief in the physical sciences is accurate or inaccurate, and use examples of how this has been done in the past.

• People once believed the Earth was flat. Draw a picture* of the Earth they believed in beside one we currently use.
• People once believed that the universe was geocentric. Draw pictures* of what they believed versus the solar system as we currently understand it. Write a few sentences to describe each picture.
• Create a project* showing drawings of what people had believed Pluto’s surface to be like and compare with photos from the New Horizons mission. 
• Write a short piece* explaining the older belief in the Earth’s having immovable continents as compared to what we know now about the planet.
• Make a video* about Einstein’s Static (or Stationary) Universe compared to what scientists believe to be true today.
• Make a presentation to your peers* about where people had previously believed our solar system was located within the Milky Way and where we now believe it is located. Include other beliefs about our solar system and the Milky Way that have changed over time.
• Choose one or more things within the earth sciences that were once believed to be true but then proven incorrect with expanded understanding, such as how Albert Einstein destroyed the myth of the planet Vulcan. Create a project* that shows the original belief and how it was disproven, including a timeline of related beliefs.
• Prepare a lecture* for middle school aged students about the process of disproving a belief in the earth sciences, and use examples of how this has been done in the past.

TEACHING SOCIAL SCIENCES WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF BELIEFS

• Draw a picture* of something/someone you believe in that others may not, such as the Easter bunny, and then ask at least ten people if they also believe in what you’ve drawn. Ask them each to name something they may believe in that you may not. 
• Ask some other people what they believe in. Find at least one thing someone believes in that you don’t believe in, and one thing you believe in that someone else does not believe in. Make a small list* for your findings. 
• Do some research on three or more major world religions and write a short piece* comparing and contrasting some of their beliefs.
• Choose a belief related to inequality that you believe may currently be problematic in your region and create a Powerpoint* about this type of belief and what types of things in the society may perpetuate this belief. Include examples and ideas on how to make a positive impact in this area.
• Learn about what groupthink is and the relationship between beliefs and groupthink. Then keep a journal* for two weeks, reflecting on the past and documenting examples of groupthink you have witnessed in person and/or seen in magazines/movies/the news/tv shows/social media, searching for examples if necessary so you have at least 5. In at least 2 pages, discuss why you believe groupthink happens and any positive ideas you have around this subject to help make change.
• Do some research on the major world religions, other belief systems and/or philosophies that interest you. Write an essay* comparing and contrasting some of their beliefs, using themes that interest you. Show what your point of view is.
• Even within one culture or religion, beliefs change over time. Choose one or more aspects of one or more culture or religion, and write an essay* documenting how beliefs have changed over time, including both how and why they have changed.
• Write a social psychological analysis* of beliefs about one or more marginalized groups that you are concerned about.

• Learn seven words for different words related to beliefs and different kinds of beliefs.
• Read a book, comic book, article or other piece at your own reading level related to beliefs (such as mythology from different cultures, fantasy fiction, science fiction, etc.) and make note of at least 10 new words or phrases that you learned related to beliefs. Write out these words or phrases* and use them to make new sentences.
• Read a book related to beliefs at your reading level, either fiction or non-fiction (such as mythology from around the world, world religions, fantasy fiction, science fiction, etc.). Write a short summary* and add any other elements of a book report that you would like to add.
• Create your own piece of short fiction* (mythology, fantasy fiction, science fiction, etc.) and make it reflect some of your core beliefs.
• Compose a piece of either fiction or non-fiction* about the power of beliefs, in any genre.
• Read two or more works related to beliefs (such as mythology from around the world, world religions, fantasy fiction, science fiction, etc.), either fiction or non-fiction. Write an essay* comparing and contrasting the two works.
• Read a book related to beliefs that has had book reviews written about it. Read those book reviews and create an analytical piece* taking into account both the book reviews and the book itself. Also include your own review of the book.

TEACHING TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF BELIEFS

• If someone tells you a belief, such as that the world is flat or it is round, what could you do to find out whether or not what they are saying is true? List* two websites that could help you.
• Create a poster* to show at least five kinds of website or apps (such as free encyclopedias), where you can easily find information instead of just believing what others tell you, and showcase a specific example for each. 
• Sometimes it is difficult to know who to believe. Find out how to tell whether a source is credible. Create a visual display* showing what you have learned.
• Sometimes it is difficult to know who to believe. Find out how different lie-detector apps are supposed to work and if they work. Write a report*.
• Investigate how beliefs and attitudes spread through social media and the internet. Share your findings in a blog article* that you write.
• Read about persuasive technology and the Persuasive Tech Lab. If possible go experience it. Write a 2 to 5 page essay* about this type of technology and your opinion on it.
• Create a 3-dimensional timeline* tracking the development of technology in lie detection, including what is predicted to be the future. 

• Brainstorm some beliefs* that make some people give more to others in need than others do.
• Create a flow chart* showing how you think beliefs can be changed, including the use of imagination.
• Create a list* of self-defeating beliefs related to learning and what the corresponding positive affirmations would be.
• Make a list* of limiting beliefs you have about yourself and your life and write positive affirmations to counter these. Now imagine yourself with these positive beliefs. Visualize it.
• Write a short piece* about negative beliefs regarding teachers’ beliefs about certain groups of students and learning (e.g. “girls cannot do well in Math”) and the effects of these beliefs on the teaching and the students. What about beliefs countering these?
• What are some limiting beliefs and attitudes your culture has about a certain group (or groups) or a certain social or environmental issue? Read about social psychology and write an essay* about those limiting beliefs and how to change those beliefs. 
• Create and execute a concrete project* regarding beliefs and world change.

TEACHING VALUES WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF BELIEFS

• Talk about and then create a picture or diagram* showing how one of your beliefs has influenced your values and how you behave.
• List* some ways we can be polite when someone has different beliefs than us. 
• Create a mindmap* about beliefs your community has, and whether or not these beliefs help members of the community to feel connection to one another, contribute to the community and create positive change.
• Create a mindfulness journal* for one or more weeks to track what beliefs you notice that you have (or that others around you have).
• What political divisions stem from beliefs rooted in different/opposing values, and what can be done to bridge the divide or create a more coherent community? Reflect on actions by people, communities or local governments. Present* your conclusions to your community.
• Do you think people who believe they are accountable for their actions and life decisions act differently from others? Create a physical depiction* that shows your belief.
• What do you think about human longevity and the quest for immortality? Research and write a 3 to 5 page paper* about beliefs 5 other cultures have around this topic and the value placed on extending life.
• Videotape a speech* about something you believe strongly about and how this belief has impacted your life and/or will impact your life or the lives of others and share the speech on the internet.