Civic Participation and Community Action Sourcebook

Prep and Practice

Comparing Myths and Facts

This activity helps to raise awareness of how myths do influence our thinking.

Write each statement from the handout on a different color paper (e.g. blue = myth, red = fact). Make sure the number of myth/fact pairs corresponds to the number of students. Place the myths and facts in a basket or envelope and have students each pick one. Then ask the students to walk around the room and to read their statement to fellow classmates, asking the students to decide among themselves who has the myth to their fact or the fact to their myth.

Once the students have found their matches, have them place the statements on a wall. All the myths should be in one column and all the corresponding facts should be in an adjacent column. This type of display helps to reinforce the differences between the myths and the facts.

A discussion may follow around what they learned:
• Had they believed some of the myths?
• Were they surprised by the facts?
• What’s a myth?
• What are some you know?
• What makes it easy for some myths to stick?
• What do we learn about ourselves by our myths?
• What is something that many people believe but which you think might be a myth?
• How can you research it?
• Do research and report back.

Adapted with permission from an activity in the Breast and Cervical Cancer Curriculum Sourcebook, Health and Education in Adult Literacy (HEAL) Project, World Education, Boston, MA.

Handout: Myths and Facts about Gun Control and Crime

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