ASIA Religions Explained
Social Studies – 7th Grade
Mary Lynn Jones – Dalton Middle School
Dalton, GA
Georgia Standard:
SS7G12 The student will analyze the diverse cultures of the people who live in Southern and Eastern Asia.
b. Compare and contrast the prominent religions in Southern and Eastern Asia: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Shintoism and the philosophy of Confucianism.
Time needed:Four, 55-Minute Classes (Teacher can allot one additional 55-Minute class period if a debriefing time for students is desired.)
Lesson Objectives: Following this lesson, the students will have a basic comprehension of the major religions in East, and South Asia. Students will understand the diversity of religious practices that exist in the region. Students will also know the basic beliefs – including origin stories, founders, primary location and approximate number of followers for each. The religions covered in this lesson will be Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism and Confucianism. Students already have an understanding of Islam based on prior knowledge of the Middle East.
Lesson Procedures:As students complete this lesson, they will each have a packet to fill out. The lesson is designed in stations, with one station for each of the four major religions. The packet includes a teacher designed webquest page for each religion that students will fill out as they visit through each station. (Sample webquest pages are attached at the end of this lesson plan.) Teachers may supplement stations with additional readings, helpful videos or other materials they wish to provide depending on the individual learning objectives. For my specific lessons, I have provided videos as well as a Powerpoint presentation for each station. I have also contacted our school librarians for any additional resources they may be able to pull for the specific content and recommend teachers using this lesson to do the same. In addition to videos and materials supplied by the teacher, students will use the website, It is a fabulous resource for world religions and is included at the top of each webquest instruction page.
Lastly, students are provided a white sheet of construction paper with a preprinted “fortune teller” design on it. (This is also attached at the end of this lesson.) As they visit each station, students will write or draw information from each religion in the designated spaces on the paper. At the completion of the lesson, students will fold the paper into the fortune teller and have that as a review tool with which to study.
In the first day of teaching this lesson, teachers should give an overview to students of what they will be doing, passing out the webquest packets and showing a demonstration of using the website and how to navigate it. I use an online platform to make all of the material readily available to students in one place. If this is not an option for you, then it would be helpful to include a page at each station listing resources, names and web addresses of any videos and copies of any Powerpoint slides used. My students are in a one to one device situation, so each student is already familiar with proper website usage and filters in place to keep students off of other websites. If your students are not accustomed to using devices on a daily basis, you may need to give a mini lesson on appropriate usage of multimedia materials and devices.
Students will spend one day, or class period, at each station. They will not move on to a new station until the next class period and so, should be encouraged to go into as much depth as possible when answering the questions. After the first day, students should be familiar with the procedures and can come into the classroom and get immediately to work on the next station. You may choose to place students in ability groups as they move from one station to the next to allow you the opportunity to provide additional assistance to the students who need it most as well as being able to provide enrichment materials for students who may move through the materials more quickly. Another option for grouping is to have varied ability levels in each group so that there are peer helpers in each group.
Evaluation Method: The evaluation for these lessons is a class discussion on the varying religions with emphasis on how the culture of each country is affected by the major religions located there. Teacher uses this informal assessment strategy to debrief students and to ensure student understanding of the major concepts covered. If students struggle with any of the questions, then that specific religion can be revisited in whole group instruction. I also use to administer a review quiz on the covered content. This website allows the teacher to download results into an Excel spreadsheet to analyze more specific data.
Student Handouts/Web Links:
In addition to the websites already referenced, students will need the Webquest packet that is attached. They will also need the Asian Religions Explained information that is included as an attachment. These reference several Powerpoints and Word Documents that are attached as well. Lastly, students will use the Fortune Teller Paper that is attached.
Resources List:
Atlas of World Religions: Asian Religions,
Confucianism Notes,
Discovery Education,
Encyclopedic Information for Notes,
Fortune Teller Paper,
Kahoot, (public review tools available)
Lawson, Heather – colleague who provided several of the notes pages from her own materials
Religious Demographics of Southeast Asia,
United Religions Initiative for Kids,
World Religions for Kids,
Youtube Videos – search “Asian Religions for Students”,