Discussion 10

Why is writing important?
Objectives:
To encourage pupils to think about why writing is important and how it is used.

Materials:
Photographs, books and/or illustrations of pictographic and writing

Class set-up:
Whole group discussion

Vocabulary:
Script, pictographic

Discussion:
Discuss why writing is important, emphasizing that writing is a way to communicate information over distance and time, and that writing is a way to record information about business, beliefs and ideas.
  • Why is writing important? How is writing used?

    Ask pupils how they use writing in their daily lives, and to imagine what life would be like if they did not write things down.

  • How could you communicate information if you did not have a writing system?

Discuss different types of information recording systems. Ask pupils to consider how information could be communicated if you did not use a writing system. Explain that some of the characters in Ancient China were pictorial representations. Discuss what the benefits and/or difficulties of a system like that might be. Look at 'Writing' follow up activity. Compare and contrast a picture-based and a writing system.

  • What kind of information could you convey using a picture-based system?
  • What kind of information would it be difficult to convey using a picture-based system?

Ask pupils to consider other ways that information can be conveyed and 'recorded' such as through stories passed down through generations.

  • How are the details of your own life preserved? How does writing something down change the accuracy of the information you want to preserve?
  • What are the benefits and problems with communicating and keeping track of important information through speaking and remembering?

Background information:
Writing and Language
Follow up activity:
Writing

 

© The British Museum