SAÉ 3 “Outlier Groups” – Understanding Belonging Dynamics

The “Outlier Groups” SAÉ invites Grade 7 students to delve into the concept of belonging dynamics. Kicking off with the opener “Who Are We in Our Groups?”, they discuss their sense of belonging and discover how identification, differentiation, and even conformity or contestation influence their relationships. The first three activities highlight the impact of peer pressure: in “Peer Influence,” students identify situations of social pressure; in “Being Yourself in a Group,” they analyze fictional cases to understand how belonging can shape individual and collective behavior; and in “Between Conformity and Marginality,” they create scales illustrating the nuances between fitting in and being excluded. Finally, the Final Activity, “Exclude Exclusion!”, challenges them to create an awareness poster on a key concept (inclusion, tolerance, diversity), based on a survey about stereotypes encountered at school or online. This SAÉ is tied to the “Media” broad area of learning and develops the cross-curricular competency “Using Creative Thinking”, encouraging them to reflect on everyone’s role within groups.