Theory of Mind Lesson Plan

Katelyn Smith
Outline of Topic: Why is Education centered around cultivating Theory Of Mind in our Students Helpful?

● in middle childhood, participating in social interactions that require an understanding of

emotions promotes ToM development → Children spend a majority of their time IN
classrooms

● directing children’s activities toward understanding the mental states of other people and
the development of language for describing the emotions, thoughts and intentions of others
fostered ToM development in middle childhood

(Szumski)
What IS Theory of Mind (TOM)

Theory of Mind is the ability to explain, predict, and interpret how humans ascribe mental

states to other persons and how we use the states to explain and predict the actions of

those other persons (Apperly, I. (2010))

What this means:

someone's (specifically students) capacity to understand other people and their own

individual feelings or thoughts.

Lesson Plan:
 Classroom Setup Have a bucket in the center of
each of the tables (this will be for
the TOM activity)
Start of Class: Arrange your classroom into pods
each with an even amount of students at them.

After first activity: Move to the carpet and sit in

a circle (if amicable, if not, arrange the desks
into a circle)
 Learning 1) Enables students to Think
Critically

Objectives 2) Inspires Creativity and out-of-the-

box thinking skills
3) Students will be introduced to
Why is this lesson important? TOM and understand why it is
important
Activity 1: Describing
1) Have a bucket filled with locations (beach, Disneyland, Zoo, School) written on
pieces of paper in the center of all of the pods
2) Each student must then take out a piece of paper and for 3 minutes, write everything
they know about that location.
EX: Beach → “Saltwater, sand, summer, playing outside, sunscreen, trips with my family, seagulls, picnic, ect.”

3) After the 3 minutes, have the students switch papers with someone else at their pod
and have them write about the other persons topic for 3 minutes
4) After they have switched and written everything down, allow the pods of students as
a whole to discuss what they wrote about and how it was different than what the other
person said.
- Did they come up with ideas that you didn’t think about?
- How does your peer’s perspective differ from your own?
Activity #2: Circle Time
After your students have had their discussions about the various locations, have them
come to the carpet to circle up. You are then going to show them seemingly normal
classroom objects (paperclip, eraser, marker, pen, ect) and ask them as a class, to come up
with as many uses for these objects NOT INCLUDING WHAT THEY ARE INTENDED
FOR that they can.
- This inspires creativity, group cohesion, collective thinking, and out-of-the-box
thinking skills
- Encourages students to think from different points of view and enables the use of
higher order thinking.
Closing Time:
- Encourage your students to share with the class some interesting ideas
that their pod buddy had, that they did not originally think about

- Discuss the Importance of sharing opinions and seeing things from a

different point of view

- Explain what Theory of Mind is and ask the students how they applied
those skills into their learning today