During the last week of class we have been discussing the topic of survival. Through our discussions we discovered that human beings are equipped with some interesting pieces that help us to survive. Some of these qualities are our skin, the ability to feel pain, the ability to swallow, teeth, eyelashes, and fingernails, just to name a few. The students decided that it would be beneficial for them to learn some simple survival skills so that they would be prepared if they were ever in an emergency situation.
One activity that the students really enjoyed was "Survival in the Arctic." We went on a journey of the mind to the arctic and pretended that we were stuck in the arctic during a white out storm. Each student was given a sheet with 12 items on it. Some of the items were a bag of peanuts, empty canteen, butane lighter, foam seat cushions, hockey stick, etc. The students had to rank these items from most important for survival in the arctic (1) to least important for survival in the arctic (12).
Once this was done we reviewed how to effectively reach a consensus and then the students worked in groups to try to collectively rank the 12 items again. It was interesting to see how long it took for the groups to reach a consensus when they had to back up their opinions with well thought out and concrete reasons. Students were not allowed to vote, give in, or use the majority rules method to make the decision.
Once this was done I read them the correct ranking of each item, which came from the U.S. Army survival manual, and they had to see how well they did. In each class we were able to determine the individual student and the group that would be most likely to survive in the arctic!
Throughout life everyone has times that they feel they may need to "survive" and the students are no exception. Many of them felt that 8th grade was something to survive!
