Schools of Buddhism
A team competition

Religion: Buddhism

Purpose: to reinforce and test familiarity with the major schools of Buddhism

Cognitive Skills: knowledge

Learning Styles: active, verbal

Intelligences: interpersonal

Use: in classroom

For: teams in competition

Estimated time: 15 minutes

Materials needed: cards with responses for each team, list of statements for MC (instructor) to read

The Activity:

• Working cooperatively, teams of 3-4 students will compete, "It's Academic" style, to correctly respond to statements identifying the various major schools of Buddhism.

• Each team will have three cards to display in response to statements read by the instructor/MC:

• Mahayana

• Theravada

• Vajrayana

• One additional team will act as judges, working cooperatively amongst themselves to decide which answers are correct.

• The instructor will verify or correct the judging team's evaluation.

• The instructor can also keep score and give the team with the most correct responses a prize, perhaps even some extra credit on an exam.

Some statements to be read by instructor (correct response indicated by initial in parentheses):

1. The "Great Vehicle" (M)
2. Southern Buddhism as found in such countries as Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Sri Lanka  (T)
3. A reference to Tibetan Buddhism  (V)
4. Northern school of Buddhism, found in China and Japan  (M)
5. Spiritual leaders are called "Lamas"  (V)
6. The "Way of the Elders"  (T)
7. The original form of Buddhism which most closely follows the Pali Canon  (T)
8. Buddhism designed for lay people (non-monastic form of Buddhism) (M)
9. Associated with ritual (Tantric) practices (V)
10. The "Diamond Vehicle" (V)
11. Monastic (T, V)
12. Makes mandalas (V)
13. Believes in Bodhisattvas (V, M)

plus any others one might come up with

Alternative possibilities: any topic which lends itself to a select number of categories with distinct characteristics:

biological classifications; political, economic and/or cultural distinctions among various countries/continents; distinctions between subgroups in other religions e.g., Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christianity; events in different periods (decades, centuries) of history