English · Foundation

Active learning ideas

Analysing Complex Character Motivations and Psychology

Active learning helps students connect abstract emotions to concrete actions in stories. When children physically act out feelings or craft puppets, they move from guessing motives to observing evidence in the text.

• ACARA Content Descriptions
• AC9E7LE01
• AC9E8LE01
• AC9E9LE01

• 20–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Mystery Object
• 30 min · Pairs

Role-Play: Character Feelings

Read a picture book aloud. In pairs, students choose a scene and role-play the character's actions and feelings, explaining why they act that way. Share one role-play with the class.

Explain the underlying psychological motivations driving a character's actions?

Facilitation Tip

During Role-Play: Character Feelings, assign each student a character moment and prompt them to freeze in a pose that shows the character’s emotion before speaking.

What to look for

After reading a short story or a familiar picture book, ask students to point to a picture of the character and say one word for how the character is feeling. Then, ask them to point to an action the character took and say why they think the character did that.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness

Activity 02

• Mystery Object
• 45 min · Small Groups

Emotion Puppets: Craft and Perform

Students craft simple puppets of story characters using paper bags and markers. In small groups, they perform short skits showing a motivation-driven decision, then discuss as a group.

Analyze how a character's past experiences or societal pressures influence their choices.

Facilitation Tip

While students craft Emotion Puppets, have them label the puppet’s feeling and place it on a story timeline to show when that emotion appears.

What to look for

Present a scenario: 'Imagine a character really wants a toy but another character has it first.' Ask: 'How might the first character feel? What might they do next? Why do you think they would do that?' Record student responses on a chart.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness

Activity 03

• Mystery Object
• 25 min · Whole Class

Why Chart: Whole Class Discussion

Create a class chart with columns for Character, Action, Why. Students contribute sticky notes with ideas from the story, voting on best explanations.

Evaluate the moral dilemmas faced by characters and the implications of their decisions.

Facilitation Tip

For the Why Chart, model filling in the first row as a whole class to show how to cite a line from the text that explains a character’s action.

What to look for

Provide students with a simple drawing of a character from a story. Ask them to draw a face showing one feeling the character had and write one word about why the character felt that way.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness

Activity 04

• Mystery Object
• 20 min · Individual

Drawing Inside Feelings: Individual Reflection

Students draw the character on the outside happy, but inside show true feelings with reasons. Share in pairs.

Explain the underlying psychological motivations driving a character's actions?

Facilitation Tip

When students do Drawing Inside Feelings, ask them to include a thought bubble with a short sentence that connects the feeling to an event.

What to look for

After reading a short story or a familiar picture book, ask students to point to a picture of the character and say one word for how the character is feeling. Then, ask them to point to an action the character took and say why they think the character did that.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers guide students to look for what characters say, do, and think in the text as evidence of motivation. Avoid letting discussions drift into personal opinions without tying back to the story. Research shows that when children draw emotions, they encode the feeling more deeply because they connect visual and verbal memory.

Students will name emotions tied to story events and explain how those feelings drive decisions. Their reasoning should reference specific details from the text, not just general ideas.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Role-Play: Character Feelings, watch for students who assume all characters feel happy and act kindly.

  Prompt them to reread the story segment and point to a line that shows a different emotion, then have them revise their pose and explanation.

• During Why Chart: Whole Class Discussion, watch for students who believe characters act without reasons related to story events.

  Ask them to trace the chart’s arrows backward to show how one event led to another, using the text as evidence.

• During Emotion Puppets: Craft and Perform, watch for students who say only humans have feelings.

  Have them hold up the puppet and read the label aloud to remind themselves that animals and objects can have feelings in stories.

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Methods used in this brief

• Mystery Object