Violence in Sports Lesson Plan

Level: Grades 3 to 7

Author: MediaSmarts 

This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

Overview

In this lesson, students explore the gratuitous use of violence in sports. The lesson begins with a class discussion about sports and discuss whether they believe violence is engrained into their culture. Students discuss whether they think violence in sports is appropriate and whether they are one in the same. If violence were to be removed from sports, students think about whether they would be as popular with the general public. Students think also about how social media perpetuates violent personas in athletes. After their discussion, students will create and research profiles on two athletes: one violent and one non-violent. These profiles will highlight the popularity of their chosen athletes and whether it is tied to their behaviour, thus inadvertently rewarding their violence. Students will then present their findings to the class. 

Learning Outcomes

Students will demonstrate:

  • an awareness of the amounts of violence in various professional sports
  • an understanding of how the media uses sports violence as a marketing tool
  • an understanding of how sports violence affects kids, both as spectators and participants

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) is available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.

Lesson Kit