Handout 0.3: Survival Ranking Sheet

Name: ______________________ Date: __________ Period: ______ Table number: ______

The situation

Read this with me. It is made up, but the cold is real.

You and the three other people at your table were on a small plane. It was flying over the north woods in late October. The engine failed. The pilot made a hard landing on the shore of a big lake. Everyone walked away with scrapes and bruises, nothing worse. The plane is wrecked and will not fly again. But it is in one piece, and the door still closes.

Before the landing, the pilot radioed a distress call and gave the plane's position. The radio is dead now. But searchers know the general area, about 20 miles across. The nearest town is 40 miles away through thick forest with no road. It is about 35 degrees F in the daytime and drops below freezing at night. The lake water is clean-looking but not safe to drink without boiling. It is 2 in the afternoon, and dark comes at 6.

Ten things survived the crash. Your job: rank them from 1 to 10. Number 1 is the most important for staying alive until searchers find you. Number 10 is the least important.

The ten items

Image for the item cards (one per card, for the ELL word bank): A, an orange square with a corner folded; B, a small box with a match; C, a pot with a lid; D, a white box with a red cross; E, a folded blanket; F, a whistle on a cord; G, a flashlight with a beam; H, a granola bar in a wrapper; I, a folding knife, closed; J, a folded map.

Part 1: Rank alone (silence)

Rank all ten. Write each item's letter in the Alone column next to its rank number. Then write one word that says why you picked your number 1.

My number 1 and why (one word): ______ because ______________

Part 2: Rank as a team (talk)

Rule: Your team makes one ranking. Every person must be able to say why for the top three. No voting on the whole list. Talk through each item. Move the cards on the table. Write the team ranking in the Team column.

Sentence starter: "I think ___ is number ___ because ___."

Part 3: Score

Directions: Copy the expert ranking into the Expert column as I reveal it. Then score your Alone column. Go item by item. Find item A in your Alone column and in the Expert column. Subtract the smaller rank number from the bigger one. Write the answer in the Alone difference column, on the row where you wrote A. Do all ten items. Add up the column. Then do the same for the Team column.

Example: You put the matches at 4. The expert put them at 1. The difference is 3.

My alone total: ______ My team total: ______ The best alone total at my table: ______

Did the team beat my alone score? Yes / No Did the team beat the best person at the table? Yes / No

Part 4: The five steps

Directions: Write each step next to the moment in the simulation that matched it. Circle the step your team did worst.

The one item I would still rank differently from the expert, and my reason:

Item and reason: ________________________________________________________________

Grade 8 stretch:

(a) Write a one-sentence rule. What should a group do when one member is sure and the rest are not? ________________________________

(b) Same ten items, new situation: a hot desert road in July. The town is 5 miles away. No distress call went out. Which two items move the most in your ranking, and why? ________________________________________________

Exit card

1. The five steps in order (from memory, do not look at Part 4): ______________, ______________, ______________, ______________, ______________
2. My alone score: ______ My team score: ______
3. The one item I would still rank differently and why: ________________________________

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