If the world population was 100 people….
Last year I was privileged to attend a student Social Justice conference. It was both confronting and inspiring. A focus for the day was the “Minature earth” video, which followed on from a game. Today I played the game with the 2 senior classes of grade 5/6 students.
They all sat in a circle, some were blind folded, some had arms in slings or legs bound together. I held a jar of lollies up, which I told them equated to all the world’s resources. It was their food, water, energy, shelter and survival. They would have to take what they needed to survive. The students represented every country in the world. I spread the lollies on the floor and on my command they could take what they needed to survive.
As you can imagine, very few stood back and waited as the majority grabbed all that they could.
Half of the students got nothing. About 20 had 1 or 2 lollies and only 10 students had managed to grab most of the lollies.
We posed the question…What should we do with the resources now?
Those with nothing wanted the others to share otherwise they would have to fight or invade their countries.
Those with 1 or 2 were willing to share, whereas those with the most were happy to take what they needed and give the leftovers to those with nothing.
The impact on the students was very powerful. Most students do not realise how lucky they are. We still have a lot of work to do…..
February 21st, 2012 at 9:54 pm
Hello Kidsjig,
What an amazing game to play. It’s a reflection of what is happening in the world today where wealthy nations use most resources down to poor nations who find little is left. Even in Australia itself we can see the distribution of wealth is weighted towards a few having so much compared to those at the other end with so little.
Had all of you managed to sit down together and work out what a fair share of resources might have been, all may have received similar amounts. How much better would it have been?
Keep learning everyone.
@RossMannell
Teacher, NSW, Australia
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:01 pm
What if the world had 100 people…..What a powerful message!
It really made me stop and think about how fortunate we really are and that we should do more to help those who are in need around the world.
February 24th, 2012 at 1:26 am
It sounds like you had a great time at this conference. You and the other students who attended were giving the opportunity to think about topics that are very important to the survival of our Earth. I am hopeful that young people are thinking about these topics and when you grow to be the leaders of our world you will make wise and equitable decisions. What we do in one country affects everyone around the world. Your class is learning about important ideas!
Mrs Soltau-Heller
March 19th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
WOW! This is such a powerfull movie. It really makes you think how lucky we are to live in Australia, to have a roof over our head and to have a bed to sleep in. We take these things for granted. This needs to be shown to other people to make them think about our world.
Sarah.