lorena_recio@yahoo.

com 26 Mar 2017

LESSONS IN DIGITAL LITERACY

EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
By Nik Peachey
lorena_recio@yahoo.com 26 Mar 2017

LESSONS IN DIGITAL LITERACY

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
This lesson is based on an infographic
about the importance of emotional
intelligence (EI) and its role in our lives.

In the lesson students will explore the

differences between IQ and EI and develop
an understanding of how they can improve
their EI and how doing this can benefit
them.

By Nik Peachey
lorena_recio@yahoo.com 26 Mar 2017

LESSONS IN DIGITAL LITERACY

EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
By Nik Peachey

EMOTIONAL INTRODUCTION
INTELLIGENCE
This lesson is based on an infographic about the importance of
emotional intelligence (EI) and its role in our lives. In the lesson
students will explore the differences between IQ and EI and
develop an understanding of how they can improve their EI and
how doing this can benefit them.

Aims:
• To develop students’ understanding of EI and its importance.
• To develop students’ abilities to study and research effectively
using digital tools.
• To develop students’ abilities to read and understand visual
information.
• To develop students’ abilities to check the credibility of online
information.
• To develop students’ abilities to carry out online research and
to represent their findings visually.
• To develop students’ abilities to extract information from
research and create informative text based on their findings.

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lorena_recio@yahoo.com 26 Mar 2017
LESSON PLAN
Resources
• Printable PDF copies of the worksheets can be
found at: http://goo.gl/kwpWXH
• The infographic can be accessed at: http://
tinyurl.com/zh3mdrn or by clicking or scanning
the QR code.
How to use this plan
The materials in this plan can be used in different
ways. The first four tasks can be used
independently as a simple reading and
discussion lesson.
The final four tasks can be used selectively as
follow up task or you can use all four tasks as an
ongoing project over the course of a number of
lessons.
This lesson contains eight tasks:
• A discussion task which gets students thinking
about the differences between IQ and EI.
• A reading task which develops students’
abilities to scan read text for specific
information.
• A reading task which encourages students to
read for deeper comprehension and to check
information.
• A discussion task which gives students the
opportunity to reflect on the information and
apply it to their own lives.
• An online research task which gets students to
check the accuracy of the information they
find.
• An online research task which gets students to
find out more about IQ and the origins of the
test.
• A social research task which gets students to
create an online questionnaire to measure EI.
• A writing task which gives students the
opportunity to consolidate their learning in the
form of a blog article.
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lorena_recio@yahoo.com 26 Mar 2017
Discussion task - EI vs IQ
• The aim of this task is to get students thinking
about IQ and EI and what they represent.
Start the lesson by putting the students into pairs
or groups and giving them the discussion
questions. This should help to get the students
thinking, talking and sharing their knowledge of
the topic.
Once they have finished talking you can do a
brief plenary session with the whole group.
You could ask the students to try to decide which
they think is more important.
Discussion task - EI vs IQ
Ask and answer these questions.
1. What is IQ?
2. Do you know what your IQ is?
3. How is IQ measured?
4. What is emotional intelligence (EI)?
5. How do you think EI can be measured?
6. How important do you think EI is in the work
place?
7. In what kinds of jobs do you think EI would
be more important than IQ?
8. How do you think you could improve your
EI?
Reading task - Understanding statistics
• The aim of this task is to develop students’
abilities to scan read for specific facts and
information.
Give the students the reading task. Ask them to
look at the statistics and try to find out what they
refer to in the infographic.
Once they have had some time to find the
information, put them in pairs or small groups
and ask them to compare their answers and
share what they have discovered.
Have a short plenary session and confirm and
clarify their answers.
Reading task - Understanding statistics
Study the infographic.
What do these statistics refer to?
• 59%
• 20%
• 34%
• 3 minutes
Answers:
• 59% = Percentage of managers who said they
wouldn’t employ someone with low EI even if
their IQ was high.
• 20% = The reduction in formal complaints
following EI training.
• 34% = The increase in profit growth of
companies hiring high EI managers.
• 3 minutes = The amount of additional time
doctors needed to spend with patients talking
and expressing sympathy in order to reduce
malpractice suits.
Reading task - Facts about EI
• The aim of this task is to develop students’
ability to read for deeper understanding and to
check their assumptions.
Give the students the reading task. Ask them to
look at the statements and try to decide which
ones are true.
Once they have made their decision get them to
look back at the infographic. Ask them to explore
the graphic and to check their assumptions.
Once they have had time to check the
information, put them in pairs or small groups
and ask them to compare their answers and
share what they have discovered.
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lorena_recio@yahoo.com 26 Mar 2017
Have a short plenary session and confirm and
clarify their answers.
Reading task - Facts about EI
Look at the infographic again and find out
which of these statements are true or false.
1. In 2011 the majority of hiring managers
placed increased emphasis on EI.
2. EI can be improved with training.
3. The most important aspect of EI is that it
enables managers to lead by example.
4. EI can impact on profitability.
5. Doctors can reduce their number of
complaints by spending at least 3 extra
minutes examining each patient.
6. People with high IQs tend not to admit to
their own mistakes or take criticism well.
7. You can improve your EI by being more
aware of gestures and body language in
yourself and others.
8. Being positive is an important part of EI.
Answers:
1. False. It was only 1 in 3.
2. True
3. False. The most important aspect is remaining
calm under pressure. Leading by example
was 4th.
4. True. Some studies have found this to be true.
5. False. They should spend 3 extra minutes
talking and sympathizing with the patient.
6. Unclear. It’s implied that this is true because
people with higher EI are more likely to take
criticism and admit mistakes.
7. True.
8. True.
Discussion task - Your response
• The aim of this activity is to get the students to
think more deeply about the information and
how it relates to their own lives and to share
their responses to it.
Give the students the discussion task and put
them into small groups to interview each other.
Once they have discussed the questions in their
groups you might want to have a whole class
plenary session. You could also ask the students
which they now think is more important EI or IQ
and split them into two groups.
Discussion task - Your response
Ask and answer these questions in pairs.
Repeat the discussion you had before you
looked at the infographic.
1. What is emotional intelligence (EI)?
2. How do you think EI can be measured?
3. How important do you think EI is in the work
place?
4. In what kinds of jobs do you think EI would
be more important than IQ?
5. How do you think you could improve your
EI?
6. Is there any information in the infographic
that you disagree with?
7. Who would you like to share the information
with? Why?
8. Can you think of someone you know who has
low EI? What do they do that makes you think
they have low EI?
9. Would you like to have EI training? Why?
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lorena_recio@yahoo.com 26 Mar 2017

Online research - Fact checking Research task - IQ

• The aim of this task is to develop students’ • The aim of this task is to develop students’
online research skills and to encourage them to online research skills.
follow up and check the information they find.
Ask the students what they know about the IQ
Tell the students you want them to do some test.
online research to check the information in the
infographic. Tell them you want them to do some online
research to find out more.
Ask them to start by searching through the
sources at the end of the infographic. Then ask Ask them to:
them to try to find 2 - 3 other online sources
which confirm or contradict the information. • Find a link to a free test.

Ask them to make notes and keep a record of • Take the test and see what results they get.
the sources of the information they find. • Research the background history of IQ testing.
They should include: Tell them to make notes and keep a record of the
• URL sources of the information they find.
• Name of publication Once they have completed their research ask
• Name of author them to also add some notes about their own
• Date of publication assessment of the test and how effective they
think it is.
• Their assessment of the credibility of the
source. Once they have completed this work you could
Once they have completed the research ask ask them to either create a short presentation
them to share it with the class or in small groups about IQ, a summary text or even an infographic
and compare what they discovered. to share their findings using one of these tools:
This could lead into a discussion of what makes • https://www.canva.com/
a source credible. • https://www.draw.io/
Online research task - Fact checking Research task - IQ
Try to check some of the facts and statistics Do some research into IQ.
presented in the infographic. See if you can find similar information to that in
Try to find sources which either support or the EI infographic.
contradict these facts. You should:
Make notes of: • Find a link to a free test.
• URL • Take the test and see what results you get.
• Name of publication • Research the background history of IQ
testing.
• Name of author
• Date of publication • Create a report to share the information you
found.
• Your assessment of the credibility of the
source.

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lorena_recio@yahoo.com 26 Mar 2017

Social research task - Measuring EI Social research task - Measuring EI

• The aim of this task is to develop students’
ability to create research questionnaires and
present their results.
Tell the students you want them to create a
questionnaire to find out if someone has a high
EI.
Tell them they should do this by creating
questions based around the information in the
infographic.
Give some examples of questions:
Example:
You make a serious mistake at work. What do
you do?
a) Hope nobody finds out.
b) Admit to the mistake and think about how you
can avoid repeating it.
c) Deny that you have done anything wrong.
Once they have written their questions, ask them
to use the Riddle personality test: http://
www.riddle.com/ and create three personalities:
• High EI
• Moderate EI
• Low EI.
They should link the answer choices from each
question to one of the personality types.
Create a questionnaire to find out if someone
has high or low EI.
• Think of ten questions you will ask.
• Try to offer 3 possible answers for each
question.
Example:
You make a serious mistake at work. What do
you do?
a) Hope nobody finds out.
b) Admit to the mistake and think about how
you can avoid repeating it.
c) Deny that you have done anything wrong.
• Link each answer to one of three different
personality types:
• High EI
• Moderate EI
• Low EI.
• Create your questionnaire using the
personality test in Riddle.
• Share your questionnaire with your
classmates and your social media contacts.
• Create a short report to show the results of
your research.

Once the questionnaires are ready they can then

share them with each other and their social
media contacts and friends.

Once they have had time to collect the data, ask

them to create a simple infographic to display
the results using one of these tools:

• https://www.canva.com/

• https://www.draw.io/

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lorena_recio@yahoo.com 26 Mar 2017

Writing task - EI at work Writing task - EI at work

• The aim of this task is to develop students’ Write an article for a business blog about EI.
writing skills and also to pull together and
consolidate everything they have learned from Include these sections in your essay:
the lesson tasks. • A definition of EI
Tell the students you want them to write an • The importance of EI in the workplace
article for a business blog. Tell them to give it
• The importance of EI in personal
the title ’EI in the workplace ’.
relationships
Tell them to structure the article in five sections:
• How to improve EI
• A definition of EI
• Conclusion
• The importance of EI in the workplace
• The importance of EI in personal Share your draft with one of your classmates
relationships and get their feedback.
• How to improve EI
• Conclusion
Students could do the writing part of the task at Copyright © Nik Peachey
home or in class.
Once the students have done a first draft you
could give them a study partner and ask them
to peer edit their texts.
They could then review the text before
submitting it to you.
Here are some tips you could give the students
on peer reviewing:
• Be positive and look for what you like about
the text.
• Identify any spelling or grammatical errors.
• Identify anything you feel wasn’t clear.
• Think about whether the tone of the text is
consistent and appropriate for the reader.
• Has the writer avoided mixing formal and
informal styles?
• Has the writer completed the task with all five
parts of the article?