Ask members of the class to gather around and form a circle. Hand out a list of questions to each member of the class. Questions should ask the name, race, ethnic background, family background and family traditions of every student. Allow 10 minutes for each student to gather his or her thoughts on each subject. After this, give each student two minutes to tell the rest of the circle their information. Class members will learn a little bit about each of their classmates' backgrounds, while accepting and beginning to understand the differences and diversity within the group.
Ask the class to form a large circle. Once this has been done, start by calling out the names of different "social groups" who should then walk into the middle of the circle. Start off with certain "low-risk" groups. These groups might include members with green eyes or brown hair. As you go along, move to more oppressed groups, such as African-American or female. Have them stand in the circle for 30 seconds before joining the outside of the circle again. Tell students to think about what it was like to be in the circle, how it felt to have the attention of the rest of class and how it felt to be on the outside of the circle. This experiment will offer students a good understanding of discrimination as a problem.
In this experiment, each student should put a survey together interviewing each fellow classmate. A subject will be provided -- for example, skin color. With the information gathered, each student should create a bar graph or a bar chart displaying this information. Ask students to compare and contrast charts while thinking about the differences shown. Tell them to think about why these differences exist and why they might be good for the classroom environment. Every student should present his or her own graph to the class.
Use books and other materials in the classroom to increase student awareness of diversity. Ignorance is most often the cause of the failure to accept differences in a group and books are effective tools to address this problem. Whether it's through fiction or nonfiction, books that go into issues of diversity and discrimination are often a big help. For example, read Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" with the class, allowing the students turns to read sections aloud. This particular novel outlines many issues linked with racial discrimination. Once you've completed the novel with your class, ask them to work on individual presentations, reviewing a certain issue made clear in the book.