2. DO NOW
Get into groups of four to play a game - you know the groups
- don’t mix them up unless people are absent.
This is a modeling activity that will represent your
background information - along with tonight’s reading.
Materials: 2 beakers with 10 drinking straws in each in the
center of the table, another beaker for each player in their
lap (don’t drop them), beaker sizes don’t matter.
3. PROCEDURE 1 - EVERY PERSON FOR
THEMSELVES - READ, DISCUSS AND
UNDERSTAND BEFORE TRYING!!!
Play a fishing game where straws represent fish
You are competing with the people at your table
The person with the most fish when time is up will win
A round is the time it takes one of the center ‘fish’ bowls to make it around the table
One ‘fish’ bowl is passed around from player to player and the other is ‘storage’ and kept in the center of the table (these ‘fish’ don’t exist unless they
get placed into the bowl being passed around
At the end of every round (when everyone gets a turn), ‘fish’ multiply at a rate of 1 new ‘fish’ for every ‘fish’ in the bowl that is traveling around (so, if
the bowl makes it around the table, the last person puts it on top of the table and places a new ‘fish’ in the bowl for every ‘fish’ there) - example, if the
bowl makes it around and 2 ‘fish’ are left, then 2 new ‘fish’ are added to the bowl
A turn looks like this...
Pass the fish bowl under the table (so that nobody can see what’s in the bowl or what you take)
Take as many fish as you want and pass the bowl on - you can only take as many as will fit in your hand (1 hand)
Pass the bowl on. Each fish represents one point
Please avoid trying to ‘figure out’ the game - just follow directions
After 5 minutes, or when you are done - write in your notebook exactly what happened
Lastly, if you run out of fish in the bowl and in storage, then you can tally mark ‘your fish’ in your notebook and put them in storage to keep the
game going
4. PROCEDURE 2 -
NATION VS NATION
Same game, but now you are competing with other tables.
Take 2 minutes to talk - in case you’d like to discuss a
strategy
In your journal / notebook, how did the game change?
Be specific!
5. PROCEDURE 2 - NATION VS
NATION AND TRANSPARENCY
Same game, but now you are competing with other tables
AND the fish are passed around on the TOP of the table
Take 2 minutes to talk - in case you’d like to discuss a
strategy
In your journal / notebook, how did the game change?
Be specific!
6. REFLECT - ON PAPER!
How is this model like the real world, how is it different?
How did you manage your fishery?
How does competition / cooperation change the game?
How does transparency change the game?
How would it work if all of the tables worked together?
Does a loss at one table mean anything to another table (if the tables represent
nations)?
Are fish a renewable resource?
Are fish an unlimited resource?
8. DO YOU WANT TO DO
SOMETHING? NO, YOU DON’T
HAVE TO.
Visit the Environmental Defense Fund
I’ll link it on the schoolwires site - Environmental defense
fund uses science and relationships with business,
community and government to come up with sustainable
solutions.
It’s a new page on my site called Action Pages
