Activity 1: Truths about Truth

Scholars in adolescent development have long recognized adolescents’ need to seek justice, right wrongs, and explore abstract concepts (Erikson, 1993). Topics of truth and falsehood are often deeply satisfying to them. In this activity, students review a list of quotations and select one to write about. An activity sheet invites them to use library resources to reflect on the meanings of words associated with the concept of truth.

To extend the discussion beyond the classroom, ask students to conduct library research and interviews. For example, students can learn how to use library and Internet resources to find quotations referring to concepts such as truth, belief, or lie. They can research the differing meanings of objectivity in science, medicine, journalism, and the law. They can develop a questionnaire and interview family members and peers, asking questions such as, “How do you know whether someone is telling the truth? Is truth so important?”

I used this activity in a conference workshop. Click on the quotations below to find reactions to and interpretations of them from teachers who participated.

• “Art extablishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.” (John F. Kennedy)
• “Ridicule is the best test of truth.” (Lord Chesterfield)
• “Truth exists, only falsehood has to be invented.” (anonymous)
• “There are truths which can kill a nation.” (anonymous)
• “’Tis strange but true, for truth is always stranger. Stranger than fiction.” (Lord Byron)
• “The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.” (Proverbs)
• “Nothing ever becomes real until it is experienced.” (John Keats)

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Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted April 2001
© 2001 International Reading Association, Inc.   ISSN 1096-1232