ABSTRACT
This chapter continues with the theme of how Religious Education can provide children with opportunities to learn to think in depth through a rich variety of images. Whilst the work described in the previous chapter for children in Reception classes discussed the theme of ‘good and bad’, the suggestion made for Year 1 pupils takes the ideas a step further by examining the images of light and darkness. ‘Light and darkness’ is a particularly suitable theme for this age group because all children will have undergone a variety of experiences of both. Everyone knows how daytime is characterised by light and night-time by darkness. In addition, all children will have experienced lying in bed, unable to fall asleep, and feeling afraid of the shadowy shapes dimly glimpsed in various parts of the darkened bedroom. They are equally aware of how the power of darkness quickly evaporates as soon as a light is switched on: what loomed as a terrifying monster, for example, is shown to be little more than the familiar old chair standing by the bookcase; in a similar way the frightening black ‘monster’ with the red eye is nothing more than the portable television set left on ‘standby’.
