Perception Images

1. It is very important to introduce this activity by explaining we are going to examine our own perceptions now. Share that this means that it may feel a little uncomfortable and that’s ok. It is important that you challenge yourself in this session in order to really benefit. Feeling uncomfortable means we are in the learning zone.
    
2. You can run this in two ways, either:

• physically
• using a tool like Mentimetre to have the images flash up on the screen and allow people to enter their thoughts into a word cloud using their phones/computers, so they are not distracted by other people’s inputs

3. For the physical version, stick up the images (ideally laminated to make them more durable) somewhere around the room, so that participants can walk around and look at them. Preferably, you want to ensure they can’t see these before the exercise.
    
4. Give the participants a handful of post-it notes.
    
5. Then ask them to walk around (in silence) and look at the images writing down the words/feelings that they think of or have when they look at them – they must be the first thought, not the one that your brain corrected!
    
6. Give 10-20 minutes depending on the size of the group and the number of images.
    
7. When completed, gather around the images (or flick through them if using a screen) and discuss themes. Do not point out any one person's comments, just reflect on the variety of comments.

Please refer to the Learning Objectives above for each age group when explaining, facilitating and recapping this activity. Select the questions relevant to the age group and their objectives.

• How did that feel?
• Is it uncomfortable?
• Which images got positive comments on the whole – which didn’t?
• Are there trends there? Why do you think that is?
• Do you think these stereotypes can be considered a form of discrimination? Why?
• In what way can they make it difficult to coexist with others?
• What could be done to change these stereotypes?

This is your unconscious bias – we all have it!

The important thing to know about bias is that we all have it – it's a mechanism so that we can sense danger – also known as our fight or flight response.

But we need to recognise it, slow down our decision-making, and ask ourselves questions about the decisions and opinions we come to in order to understand whether we are really making a decision or forming an opinion based on fact and not bias.

As the adult leader, you should also encourage other reflections and questions based on your knowledge, experience and desired objectives