Beavers and Cubs: Draw The Description

 They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but can you turn words into an accurate image?

Answer Sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14uo3wvi1LRbeCw2v4Cw0jYDfNwWZfbOc/view?usp=sharing

  1. Read the description of the first person below.
  2. Draw the person based on the description.

Draw the image you see in your minds as the person is described. You could use coloured pencils to draw the most detailed version you can.

  1. What did you draw?
    • What are they wearing?
    • What size are they (tall, short, fat, thin)?
    • What colour is their skin?
    • Do they have a gender?
    • How old are they?

4.      Take a look at the answer sheet. Chat about how similar to actual image of the person your drawing is. What are the most significant differences in your drawing and the actual image?

Why did you draw the description the way you did? What about the description made you think the person looked a certain way?

5.      Repeat steps one to five with the other person descriptions.

 

Person 1:

  • I’ve won 11 Olympic gold medals.
  • I’ve held over 30 world records.
  • I’ve won the London Marathon six times.
  • In 2019 I was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
  • In 2020, I was elected as the Chair of Trustees for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE)

Person 2:

  • Growing up, I was one of the top tennis players in North America.
  • I studied for a PHD in astrophysics.
  • I worked at NASA developing the Space Shuttle’s robotic arm, which is used to deploy satellites.
  • I am the youngest American astronaut to have travelled into space.

Person 3:

  • Being infected with tuberculosis as a teenager inspired me to pursue a career in medical research.
  • I created the world’s most effective drug for fighting malaria, which has saved millions of lives.
  • In 2015, I won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Person 4:

  • I joined the U.S. Naval Reserve in world war two and eventually became a Navy commander.
  • I coined the term ‘computer bug’ after taking apart a machine that wasn’t working a discovering a large moth inside it.
  • I programmed one of the earliest computers.
  • I created the first computer language ‘compiler’, which translates compute code into programming languages and allowed people to write programmes for multiple computers.
  • I was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Person 5:

  • I co-founded a TV network, which I sold for $2.9 billion in 2001.
  • I served on the Executive Committee of the United States Golf Association.
  • I am currently the CEO of a luxury hotel chain.
  • I own a national ice hockey team and two national basketball teams.

 

Reflection

Unconscious bias is when we have stereotypes about certain groups of people without realising it. For example, we might presume doctors are men and nurses are women because we’re used to hearing about and seeing male doctors and female nurses in the media. It may also mean that we expect achievements from some groups of people and not others. This may come across unsupportive and can even lead to prejudice. Everyone has unconscious bias as it’s part of how our brains understand the world, so it’s really important to challenge the way we’ve always seen and done things.

In this activity, everyone drew people based on descriptions of the work they’ve done and impact they’ve made. Think about the drawings which differed a lot from the actual image. What was it that made you choose a certain age, race, gender, size, or look for the person? This is a really difficult question, but often we associate certain traits with certain jobs, personalities or achievements. This is unconscious bias and is caused by lots of things, like only learning about history from one perspective, or watching TV shows and movies where characters are built on ignorant or harmful stereotypes.

There are many ways to reduce unconscious bias. Can you think of some suggestions. For example, you could:

  • Engage with positive images of people of different genders, races or abilities by reading stories like ‘Little Leaders: Exceptional Men in Black History and Exceptional Women in Black History’ by Vashti Harrison or films like ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’.
  • Talk about how people have been discriminated because of their race, gender, sexuality, ability, and age. If you understand the problem, you can better address it.
  • Read more than one account of history. People’s perspectives and experiences of what happened (and how it happened) differ.

 

This activity completes:
Beavers Creative Activity Badge – requirement 4
Cubs Artist Activity Badge – requirement 1.a

 


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