Refugee Novel Study | Worldwide Refugee Crisis Today | Background Knowledge

Refugee Novel Study | Worldwide Refugee Crisis Today | Background Knowledge

Help students connect Refugee by Alan Gratz to the real-world refugee and displacement crises happening around the world today with this engaging, no-prep research and Gallery Walk activity for Grades 6–8.

Students choose a current region or refugee crisis to investigate using reliable, up-to-date sources. They examine what is causing displacement, who is affected, where people are going, the challenges faced by displaced people and host communities, and how humanitarian organizations are responding.

Rather than simply collecting facts, students analyze the story behind the statistics, consider multiple perspectives, and connect what they discover to themes in Refugee, including survival, hope, resilience, and difficult choices.

Students Will:
- Investigate a current refugee or displacement crisis
- Analyze causes and effects of displacement
- Examine current displacement data and statistics
- Identify where displaced people are going
- Explore the experiences of displaced people and host communities
- Investigate humanitarian responses
- Distinguish facts and data from opinions
- Evaluate whether information is current and reliable
- Analyze what statistics reveal—and what they cannot tell us
- Connect current events to themes in Refugee
- Create and present a Refugee Context Gallery Exhibit

What’s Included:
- Teacher Directions & overview
- Mini research questions & resources
- Group Gallery Walk activity
- 3 student research and analysis pages
- Gallery Exhibit planner
- Color & black-and-white student pages

Group Activity: Refugee Context Gallery Exhibit
Student groups select a specific current region or crisis causing significant displacement and use reliable, current information to investigate its scale and circumstances. They then transform their research into a Gallery Walk display that teaches classmates about the crisis.
As an added connection to the novel, students relate a theme from Refugee—such as survival, hope, or difficult choices—to what they discovered about displacement in the world today.

Perfect For:
- Refugee by Alan Gratz novel studies
- Middle school ELA
- Social Studies & Humanities
- Current events
- Refugee & migration studies
- Global studies
- Research & inquiry
- Cross-curricular ELA & Social Studies
- Sub plans

Why Teachers Love It:
- No prep and ready to use
- Connects Refugee to the world students live in today
- Allows groups to investigate different current crises
- Moves students beyond simply collecting facts
- Emphasizes current, reliable information
- Builds data literacy and source evaluation skills
- Encourages students to consider multiple perspectives
- Examines both displaced people and host communities
- Connects research directly to important themes in the novel
- Develops research, analysis, collaboration, and presentation skills

Students leave the activity with a deeper understanding that the experiences explored in Refugee are connected to real people, families, and communities experiencing displacement around the world today.