The Blind Men and the Elephant: deeper meanings
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain how the deeper meaning of The Blind Men and the Elephant can help Hindus understand truth.
Key learning points
- We can learn more about Hindu worldviews by understanding the deeper meaning of stories.
- For many Hindus the story of The Blind Men and the Elephant has a deeper meaning.
- A deeper meaning is that there are many different paths to the truth.
- The Hindu worldview is pluralist, meaning that there are many ways of being Hindu.
Keywords
Truth - what is real or right
Worldview - a way of seeing and understanding the world
Hindu Dharma - the ideas and stories that form Hindu practice and beliefs
Common misconception
All Hindus see truth in the same way.
The Hindu worldview is pluralist, which means there are many paths to truth.
Teacher tip
Show a picture of a tree and ask students to describe it from different perspectives (e.g., from the top, side, or close up). This activity helps students practise understanding that people can see the same thing in different ways.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
4 Questions
Q1.The story of the Blind Men and the Elephant is ...
Q2.The story of the Blind Men and the Elephant teaches Hindus that they should ...
Q3.Someone who is unable to see clearly is said to be ...
Q4.Put the events of The story of the Blind Men and the Elephant in order from first to last.
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.A worldview is ...
Q2.Which of these are true?
Q3.Hindus may choose to read different books to help them ...
Q4.What does the story of The Blind Men and the Elephant tell us?
To help you plan your 2 religious education lesson on: The Blind Men and the Elephant: deeper meanings, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 2 religious education lesson on: The Blind Men and the Elephant: deeper meanings, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 1 religious education lessons from the Hindus: what do Hindu stories teach about life and the world? unit, dive into the full primary religious education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.