Summary
This lesson plan was created Professor Andrew Mangham and Professor Emma Aston with Naomi Miller from Outreach and Engagement at the University of Reading.
Andrew Mangham’s research on monsters, which you can read in his book We Are All Monsters: How Deviant Organisms Came to Define Us, teaches us to appreciate the ways in which monster myths and biological sciences have long understood monsters to be a powerful way to think about difference, inclusion, and prejudice. Inspired by the classical past, authors like Mary Shelley and scientists like Charles Darwin gave us powerful tools for thinking about monstrosity as nature’s way – an emblem of the creative workings of genetic codes and evolution.
Emma Aston’s research has always tried to escape the ‘monster as villain’ cliché by focusing on the nuanced and subversive nature of ancient Greek myths and rituals. Her first book, Mixanthropoi: Animal-Human Hybrid Deities in Greek Religion, explored the surprisingly large number of ancient deities represented in part-animal form. If hybrids are monsters and monsters are bad, why were they worshipped? Could it be that boundary-crossing bodies have their own inherent power, their own magic? Ancient religion says yes!
How to use the lesson plan
This lesson plan is for a scheme of work lasting 1 week or 1 lesson
- Key topics to be covered and knowledge achieved by the end of the session are outlined
- Supplementary resources have been provided which may be used in class to better situate the content with students
- The ‘Further Reading’ section provides references to works curated by Professors Emma Aston and Andrew Mangham at the University of Reading. You can use this to develop your own knowledge or your teaching materials.
Evaluation
For teachers
We are keen to evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of these resources as they are used by teachers in schools.
You can scan the QR code on the final page of this resource which will take you to a short post-survey (‘Lesson Plan Effectiveness Evaluation’). We encourage you to be as open and honest as possible as this will enable us to better develop the materials.
All data will be anonymised prior to analysis. If you do not feel comfortable answering the survey, or prefer to give feedback in a different way, please contact Stephanie Mitchell, (s.mitchell@reading.ac.uk).