Title: Understanding Stereotypes - Science NetLinks
Headings: Understanding Stereotypes
Understanding Stereotypes
Purpose
Context
Motivation
Development
Assessment
Extensions

Content: At around age 6, children become accurate at sorting people by ethnicity. At around age 7 or 8, children understand that race and ethnicity do not change. By the second or third grade, then, children have an adult-like idea of what race and ethnicity are (McKown & Weinstein, 2003). According to Margo Monteith, Ph.D., many children have definite and entrenched stereotypes about blacks, women, and other social groups by five years of age. (“ Where bias begins: The truth about stereotypes,” Psychology Today, May/June 98.) In this lesson, students will confront age-related stereotypes, explore how stereotyping impacts their lives, and discuss how they can make changes to reduce overgeneralizations, unfair assumptions, and uncritical judgments about groups. Motivation
The purpose of this section of the lesson is to get students thinking about common stereotypes; in this case, stereotypes associated with “teenagers” and the “elderly.” Ask students to brainstorm adjectives/phrases associated with being “elderly” and being a “teenager,” based on how they feel the two groups are perceived in society.