Class Discussion: The class has been immersed in the study of immigration past and present. This lesson will revisit the class’s first discussion of this issue and the list of “commonly held assumptions.”
Questions:
In this review, try to identify any assumptions that were once, but are no longer, your own commonly held assumptions. Why did you shift? Can you identify any additional “commonly held assumptions” that should be added to the list?
Research:
The class will examine numbers, statistics, and facts related to these assumptions in an effort to either support or refute them. Students will undertake this task in small groups. Either assign one or two assumptions to a group or have each group assess all information relative to all assumptions and process their findings as a class.
Questions:
To what extent are immigrants or immigration policies responsible for the problems? What other factors are at play?
In small groups or as a large class, students use all relevant handouts to fill out Worksheet 8.1: Commonly Held Assumptions: Data Collection. You may also want to refer back to the handouts in Lesson Two. Other relevant handouts include:
Class Discussion:
Questions: Which of the assumptions held up under scrutiny? Which did not? Were there discrepancies in the amount of data found to support or refute the various assumptions? What might account for these variations? How does the political climate of the nation affect this issue? What roles do the media play?