Scheme of Work: Introducing the Techniques of Propaganda
Learning Journey
Three 45 minute lessons with an interactive and experiential focus. Students will gain an understanding of the different propaganda techniques and will
begin to evaluate the effectiveness of different sorts of propaganda.
Learning Milestones: Key Questions
1. What is propaganda?
2. How is propaganda constructed to influence our thinking?
3. What examples of modern propaganda are we exposed to in everyday life?
4. How can particular groups use propaganda to influence others to take action?
Learning Destinations: By the end of the lesson…
All students must be able to:
Most students should be able to:
1. Define what propaganda is
2. Understand the difference between
propaganda and factual
communication
3. Understand the different techniques
that make propaganda persuasive
Key concepts/POS
Questioning
1
4. Identify their own examples of
propaganda through online research
5. Explain the different techniques of
propaganda in their own words
1) Justice, Rights & Responsibilities,
Identity & Diversity
2) Critical Thinking, Advocacy &
Representation
3d) Role of the media
Key Skills/Links
Some students could be able to:
6. Analyse and explain the links between visual/
verbal content and hidden agendas
7. Consider the tools of propaganda used in recent
political/ social/ economic events
Communication
Problem solving
Information Analysis
Working with others
Does this feel about right/ excessive? Is this healthy/ unhealthy? Would your parents agree? If we didn’t have social networking,
we would….
Lyndsey Phillips, LBWF Community Safety Team
Lesson 1 – Defining and Spotting Propaganda
Time
Learning Steps
Resources
Internet/ whiteboard/
10 mins
Beginning
Powerpoint access
What is propaganda?
Take a few minutes to brainstorm with the class what they feel propaganda is.
Supplement their views with the following:
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Propaganda is a way to actively spread a philosophy or point of view
The aim of propaganda is to actively influence people’s opinions, rather than to merely communicate
the facts about something.
Propaganda may be used to rustle up support or disapproval of a certain position or situation.
What separates propaganda from "normal" communication is in the subtle, often insidious, ways that
the message attempts to shape opinion
Propaganda is often presented in a way that attempts to deliberately evoke a strong emotion, especially
by suggesting non-logical relationships between concepts.
Propaganda may be a word that sounds musty and out of date – a left-over from the struggles with fascism and
Communism. Old-fashioned stuff that doesn’t touch our lives today.
But, propaganda is not that simple. The underpinnings of propaganda – its effective techniques and insights
into human nature – have fused with advertising and political campaigning. It is often difficult to tell where one
ends and the other begins.
The issues that propaganda raises are much more subtle than we might imagine at first. We pride ourselves
that we live in an empowering ‘information age’, but so much of the information that we receive on a daily basis
has been crafted to make us think and act in a particular way.
The challenge for us it to learn to separate the messages that are being used to influence us from the
information that doesn’t carry any hidden agendas of intentions.
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Lyndsey Phillips, LBWF Community Safety Team
Envelope containing post-its
with each of the propaganda
techniques
Powerpoint of ‘Propaganda
Posters Through the Ages’
with explanatory footnotes
15 mins
Middle
Propaganda Posters through the Ages
Take a look at the attached powerpoint. You may want to go through them all or choose a handful depending
on time available. For each of the posters, ask the class to:
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20 mins
Describe what the poster is displaying (who is pictured, what symbolism, what era etc.)?
Analyse what message the poster is trying to communicate?
Consider how the visual content of the poster supports and relates to the written message?
Think about what emotional messages it conveys that aren't stated in the words?
End
Students are separated into seven groups. Each group is handed an envelope containing the name of one of
the propaganda techniques.
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BANDWAGON
SCAPEGOATING
LESSER OF TWO EVILS
DOWN WITH THE KIDS
ASSERTION
TRANSFER
OMISSION
Groups have two minutes to prepare a brief summary of the meaning of the technique in their envelope. Each
group then present back to the class.
As a group, students watch the different propaganda techniques found at:
http://www.digitaldisruption.co.uk/teaching-tools/propaganda-techniques/ (5-7 mins)
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Lyndsey Phillips, LBWF Community Safety Team
Lesson 2 – Analysing Modern Propaganda
Time
Learning Steps
Resources
10 mins
Beginning
Internet Access
Propaganda Taboo
Cards with names of different
propaganda techniques
Students play ‘taboo’ with the propaganda techniques as a way of recapping learning from the previous lesson.
Student volunteers are handed a card with the name of one of the propaganda techniques and a lists of words
that they are not allowed to used in describing it. The student volunteer then has thirty seconds to describe the
technique.
25 mins
Middle
Separate students into three groups. Allocate one of each of the following themes to the 3 groups:
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ADVERTISING
HEALTH
NATIONALISM.
Explain to the class that they should find 2 or 3 key examples of modern propaganda under their theme
Explain also that they will have to prepare a short presentation of their findings for the rest of the class (this
may be verbal/ visual)
Prompts
 The key characteristic of propaganda is that it does not appeal to our reason but to our emotions.
 Propaganda is designed to manipulate, not inform – the beauty industry is an example where most
young people will have some expertise.
 We live in an age of 15- and 30-second tv ads, sound bites, spin control, and negative political
campaigning. In a way, our whole perception of information has been skewed by the machinery of
propaganda. The word itself is out of fashion, but very sophisticated forms of propaganda are used to
sell us products, capture our vote, and make us support or reject various causes.
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Lyndsey Phillips, LBWF Community Safety Team
Background Information
Advertising
The automobile industry uses advertising to equate expensive cars with power and freedom, while the fashion
industry encourages women to pursue public acceptance through physical beauty. One of the most
controversial propagandists is the tobacco industry, which was banned from access to television advertising in
1969, but continues to portray young, healthy attractive people smoking cigarettes in magazines/ online.
Health
The propaganda involved in these efforts generally pursues social goals that most people would agree are
positive, such as reduced smoking and obesity, healthy eating and exercise. More controversial government
publicity campaigns include the "War on Drugs," in which advertisements make controversial claims about the
impact of drugs. Both pro-health and anti-drug advertisements embody numerous techniques of propaganda,
including the condensation of complex subjects into simple, emotionally powerful messages.
Nationalism
Nations require the cooperation and support of their citizens in order to continue functioning. This support is
maintained through the use of propagandistic messages that portray one nation as inarguably superior to
others. This propaganda can be tremendously blatant, as in the case of World War II representations of the
enemy by both Axis and Allied powers. These representations frequently played on racist stereotypes and
xenophobia. Nationalist propaganda is usually more subtle than this, encouraging populations to identify with
their own countries more than others.
10 mins
End
Class gives presentations of their research to the rest of the class.
5
Lyndsey Phillips, LBWF Community Safety Team
Lesson 3 – Propaganda: ‘The War on Terror’
Time
Learning Steps
10 mins
Beginning
Recap on the previous lessons and discussions around techniques of propaganda and modern examples in
the media.
Write the following quote up for the class to see:
“No matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as the truth.”
― John F. Kennedy
Ask the class if they feel this is a harsh or fair comment from JFK. Invite the class to think of examples of
‘big lies’ they feel have been told to the ‘masses’.
Middle
One of the most controversial issues in recent years was the search for Weapons of Mass Destruction
(WMD’s) in Iraq. Many refer to the mission as Weapons of Mass Deception.
20 mins
The case for war on Iraq was built around two key arguments: a) that Iraq was in some way connected with
the events of 9/11, and b) that the Iraqis possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), had used them in
the past, and were willing to use them against the US.
It is now widely acknowledged that the Bush administration used faulty and false information to justify the 2003 war
on Iraq, and that the mainstream media, by not adequately investigating the case for war, assisted with the project.
Divide students into small groups. Ask half the class to find 3 examples of propaganda that would be
considered ‘pro war’ and the other half to look at examples that would be considered ‘anti-war’. This can be
posters, video clips or articles. and should include both textual and visual examples (such as quotations, excerpts of
speeches, and photographs).
Ask the class to identify which techniques of propaganda have been used in their examples.
Give them each a few minutes to present back their examples and the analysis to the rest of the class.
10 mins
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Lyndsey Phillips, LBWF Community Safety Team
Resources