Lesson 0.3, Unit 0. One period. Twelve slides.
Do now
- Your family has to pick one thing for dinner tonight and everyone wants something different.
- How does it get decided in your house?
- One sentence. Be honest.
Teacher notes
Four answers on the board: one person decides; the loudest wins; we vote; we take turns. They come back on slide 10.
The situation
- A small plane. The north woods. Late October.
- Engine fails. Hard landing on a lake shore. Everyone walks away.
- The pilot's distress call went out. Searchers know the area, about twenty miles across.
- Nearest town: forty miles through forest. No road.
- 35 F by day. Below freezing at night. Dark at 6. It is 2 in the afternoon.
Teacher notes
Image: a lake shore with a small plane on it, trees behind, a low sun.
Read the full scenario from the handout aloud. The lake water needs boiling.
Ten things survived
- A: orange tarp, 12 by 12 feet. B: waterproof matches. C: metal pot with a lid.
- D: first aid kit. E: three wool blankets. F: loud whistle.
- G: flashlight, fresh batteries. H: 24 granola bars. I: folding knife. J: road map of the state.
Teacher notes
Image: the ten items drawn in a row, each with its letter.
Rank alone
- Silence. No looking at a neighbor.
- Rank 1 (most important for surviving until searchers find you) to 10.
- Write the letters in the Alone column.
- One word of reason for your number 1.
- Eight minutes.
Teacher notes
Watch the loudest voice at each table. That is the person the next step tests.
Rank as a team
- One team ranking.
- Every person has to be able to say why for the top three.
- No voting on the whole list. Talk through each item. Move the cards.
- Sentence starter: "I think ___ is number ___ because ___."
- Ten minutes. The reset cue ends it.
Teacher notes
Circulate. Note per table: who talks first, who does not talk, whether anyone asks a quiet person. One observation per table for slide 10.
The expert ranking, 1 to 5
- 1 B, matches: fire is warmth, a signal, and boiled water. The first night below freezing is the biggest danger.
- 2 E, wool blankets: warmth for four, even damp.
- 3 A, orange tarp: shelter from wind and rain, and a search plane can see it.
- 4 C, pot with a lid: the lake is your water, and it has to be boiled.
- 5 F, whistle: three blasts; carries farther than a voice; costs no energy.
Teacher notes
Reveal one at a time with the reason. Students copy into the Expert column.
The expert ranking, 6 to 10
- 6 G, flashlight: signal at night, move safely. Batteries run out.
- 7 D, first aid kit: nobody is badly hurt; keeps small things small.
- 8 I, folding knife: useful, not lifesaving by itself.
- 9 H, granola bars: food is the last thing you run out of. Ration them.
- 10 J, road map: town is forty miles away and searchers know where you are. Stay with the plane.
Teacher notes
The map is the teaching item. Almost every team ranks it too high because walking feels like doing something.
Score it
- For each item: the difference between your rank and the expert rank. Ignore the minus sign.
- Example: you put the matches at 4. The expert put them at 1. The difference is 3.
- Add the ten differences. Lower is better.
- Do it for the Alone column and the Team column.
Teacher notes
Image: one row of the table worked on the board.
Seven minutes. Walk and read totals. Two totals the same means the alone column was overwritten.
The numbers
- Table 1: average alone ______, team ______
- Table 2: average alone ______, team ______
- Table 3: average alone ______, team ______
- Table 4: average alone ______, team ______
- Did the team beat the average? Did it beat the best person?
Teacher notes
In most rooms the team beats the average and often the best individual. Ask the table where it did not what happened to the best person's idea.
What you just did: five steps
- 1 Name the choice: what do we need to survive until rescue?
- 2 List options: the ten cards.
- 3 Weigh each against what matters: cold first, then water, then being seen, then food. Searchers are coming.
- 4 Decide: the team ranking.
- 5 Look back: the score and the reasons.
Teacher notes
Image: five boxes in a row with an icon each: a question mark, a list, a scale, a check mark, a mirror.
"This is how we decide in this room all year: a recipe, a budget, a design, a product. Five steps, same words." Share one observation per table, no names. Point back to the do now answers: which of the four ways your families decide has all five steps?
Exit card
- The five steps in order. Handout turned over.
- My alone score and my team score.
- The one item I would still rank differently from the expert, and my reason.
- Three people read line three aloud.
Teacher notes
A defensible disagreement with the key is doing the lesson right. Say so.
Tomorrow
- Tomorrow: water, rice, four measurements, and a team.
- Nobody may say a word.
- Then you write your own team rules.