MYP Individuals & Societies • Unit 4
Catalysts for Change
Courageous actions are needed to bring about sustainable change.
Change, power and perspective.
Original AdornGeo sequence
Unit learning
Forms of protest
Mahatma Gandhi
Source analysis
Martin Luther King Jr.
Human-rights and peace activists
How individuals become catalysts for change
Forms of protest
Begin with the original picture activity and Gene Sharp's 198 methods of nonviolent action. Sort methods into protest and persuasion, non-cooperation, and nonviolent intervention; then compare their likely reach, risk and effectiveness in different political contexts.
198 methods of nonviolent action
Erica Chenoweth — the success of nonviolent civil resistance
Mahatma Gandhi
Use biography, film and Gandhi's own words to investigate satyagraha and civil disobedience. Students should distinguish Gandhi's aims, methods and historical context before judging how far nonviolence helped make him a catalyst for Indian independence.
Mahatma Gandhi — British Pathé archive
Gandhi arrives in the United Kingdom, 1931
Gandhi's Quit India speech — archive excerpt
Source analysis
Pause the case studies to learn how historians test evidence. For each written, visual or audiovisual source, establish origin, purpose, content, value and limitations, then use the source as evidence rather than treating OPCVL as a detached checklist.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Apply the source-analysis routine to King's speeches and the wider civil-rights movement. Compare moral argument, mass mobilisation, media visibility and nonviolent direct action, then connect evidence to changes in law and public opinion.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech
The life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
Human-rights and peace activists
Broaden the comparison beyond two famous leaders. Choose an environmental, human-rights or peace activist; locate their campaign; identify the power they challenged; and judge impact using specific evidence rather than reputation alone.
Synthesis — becoming a catalyst for change
Bring the unit together through a comparative evidence task. Students explain how context, identity, strategy, networks, risk and access to power shaped two catalysts, evaluate the reliability of their sources, and justify which actions created the most sustainable change.