Teachers are the ones out there shaping the minds of the future. We trust them to teach today’s children important lessons about the world and its functions, helping them better understand the nature of things.
Though we non-teachers very rarely get a look at what goes on in these classes, some teachers are kind enough to share lessons and tactics they’ve used, assuring us that these kids are in good hands.
Teaching children about big, complex topics can be pretty tough.
Things that affect the entire globe and are an intrinsic part of a country’s functions, things like politics and economics.
One former teacher, @CaoimheRua88 on Twitter, devised the perfect game to teach her students about these concepts. She explained the rules in a Twitter thread, hoping others would find use it in.
It begins with her dividing the class into ‘countries’ of different sizes and populations.
“Next I gave each Country equipment,” she explained, “Scissors, coloured paper, rulers, protractors, pencils, coloured markers and fake money. Only some countries have much more equipment than others. One table may have most of the scissors or one table might have only money. This can be random.”
Then they were given a mission, to make shapes out of their supplies to sell to her, the boss.
She set prices for different shapes, listing specific colors and measurements and how much each is worth.
“As they hear the market prices for various shapes the teams begin to look at their resources and excitedly begin to make plans.
Some begin to realise they only have green card or no scissors. Some have all the rulers but no card at all. One country has everything it needs.”
“This is the fun bit,” she says before sharing what happened next.
“My God complex kicking in at this point, I kick back and watch chaos ensue. Theft, bartering, skullduggery, corruption, the LOT. Some countries try to form a production line others take on solo efforts but I change the prices of various items suddenly. Countries that worked on producing lots of the high value shape are instantly wiped out financially. Others are suddenly RICH!”
She explains more how she’d personally intervene, changing the course for the various countries and doing it all very suddenly.
Some teams are immediately ruined by her interference and give up, others are satisfied with their work and relax. It comes time for the game to finish.
She starts counting up everyone’s money and discusses the results. Right away, teams start talking about their disadvantages.
When the debate is over, she asks them an important question. Why didn’t they work together?
She gives them examples like pushing their desks together, sharing the resources, et cetera.
She plays this game again a week later, but this time, gives them a day in advance to prepare.
“The results would make your heart happy,” she writes, “They now understand (for the most part) what it means to be a Global Citizen. Why we can’t survive on our own.”
She found the lesson to be an effective way to get kids talking about global relations.
“I don’t teach anymore but I would like to think those kids are sitting watching the news now thinking ‘We need to work together’,” she says at the end of her thread, “And if they aren’t, sure it killed an afternoon when it was too rainy to be outside and tricked them into doing Maths.”
h/t: Upworthy
