Pupils are being asked to put themselves inside the minds of the 7/7 bombers to understand the motives of terrorists.

A government-endorsed teaching pack suggests secondary schools ask pupils to do a presentation on the 7 July London terror attacks from the bombers' perspective.

The attacks, in 2005, killed 52 of the capital's commuters and injured 700 others.

The pack, called Things Do Change, was developed in West Yorkshire, home to three of the 7/7 bombers: Siddique Khan, Shezad Tanweer and Hasib Hussain.

Its author, Sail Suleman, told the Times Educational Supplement that schools should not shy away from asking pupils to think about what turns people into extremists.

She said: "Radicals, extremists and fundamentalists come in all different forms. Is it right? Is it wrong? Is it justified? Was it pressure from individuals they were hanging out with? Hopefully, we'll encourage pupils to stay away from those individuals."

The department for children, schools and families (DCSF) recommends the pack to teachers as part of its online guidance on how schools can help tackle extremism.

The pack is designed for use by 11- to 19-year-olds in their classes on multicultural Britain and emphasises the similarities between communities, rather than their differences.

Among those who have used it are madrassas and mosques in West Yorkshire, schools in Birmingham, Sandwell and Lancashire and police forces in London Thames Valley and Greater Manchester.

But Don Rowe, head of curriculum development at the Citizenship Foundation, said some teachers might find it difficult to ask their pupils to put themselves into the minds of extremists.

He said: "It's quite a complicated, ambitious question to ask. I certainly wouldn't expect anyone who wasn't confident in this area to barge in with this sort of material.

"Many form tutors are asked to address some of these issues without proper training. But you need additional information about different forms of Islam, for example. Otherwise, there's a danger that all Muslims will be bunched together."

The pack also suggests teachers ask pupils to imagine what effect 7/7 might have had on British Muslims, non-Muslim Asians, and the rest of the population.