According to Appiah (2006), people formed their perceptions of the world based on their inherited beliefs and their own experiences during their upbringing. Meanwhile, the General Learning Model (Buckley and Anderson, 2006) proposes that media-based experiences contribute to users’ knowledge structures, including their person schemata (i.e., typical characteristics of people or groups of people) and their behavioral scripts (expectations of how people behave in particular situations). In other words, the information students get from the books, films, and videos will largely determine their values and judgments. From this perspective, this unit will focus on how these media influence students’ perceptions of the world. Some essential concepts such as perception of the world, culture and social value, diversity, gender equality, character prototypes, and violence will be included.

 

       The whole unit will be conducted in the form of project-based inquiry which lasted for two weeks with 7 periods in total (45 mins/period). Students will explore in this unit how to accept the information delivered in these media critically and comprehensively. A number of resources will be offered to students and they can also find relevant materials on their own. Students will work both individually and in a group to read books and articles, conduct interviews and surveys, and finally present their research results creatively. Meanwhile, students are supposed to adopt their research results in their community service projects like a campaign against violence, an advocacy for diverse readings, or a culture fair to arouse people’s awareness of the diversity of the world. In this way, students will learn to tell the real from the fake, tolerate and appreciate the diversity of this world, form a clear idea of their culture as well as know about the world from different perspectives. Gradually, they can develop Global Citizen Perspectives.