A Lesson in Sustainability

(Sustainability Bowls)

                                                                                                                                                                                    A while back when I was in grad school I was writing a paper on teaching sustainability and I found myself struggling with activities to teach the concept of sustainability in an experiential manner. Then I found The Nuts Game by Julain Edney. It is a really fun activity and I am sure it can be adapted in many many ways. Regardless of who you work with, teambuilding or environmental education groups, this activity can be useful. 

         Teaching sustainability can be a challenge for any facilitator. Sustainability can be a tough topic to talk about because of so many definitions and uses of the word in such a wide variety of situations. Sustainability, or sustainable development is often defined in roughly the following way by Lester Brown; “Sustainable Development meets the needs of the present without diminishing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” While this is a fairly straight forward definition, it also is somewhat vague enough to allow a great deal of individual interpretation.

            Sustainability also can be applied to numerous topics. You can talk about sustainable economics, food production, energy, population, building, business models, etc. You can also delve into group decision making and group think topics. Enjoy!

           

Overview:

            To give participants an opportunity to experience sustainable behavior.

Resources:

            Several small non-breakable bowls or containers-Frisbees work well. They should be about 12” in diameter. 10 small objects in each bowl to begin with. I have used pennies, black rocks, nuts-metal not the eating kind, and marbles. In addition to the objects in the bowls to begin the activity, you will need a bunch more to refill the containers as the activity progresses. You will also need a watch or other time keeping device that can measure seconds.

Set up:

            You will need an area where your group can divide into smaller groups and where the containers can remain upright during the activity.

Outline:

            Have your group divide themselves into small groups 3-4 people in each small group. Have each small group sit around their container that has 10 of the objects inside. Explain to the groups that the goal of the activity when it starts is for player’s to get as many of the objects from the bowl as possible until the end of a round.

            Players can take objects at any time and in any quantities after the start of the activity. Also let the groups know that after about 10 seconds, the amount of objects left in the bowl will be doubled by you. This cycle will continue for several rounds. If one group empties their bowl, they are “out” of the game for now until you stop the game. Let several rounds happen before stopping the activity.

            Once the activity begins, participants are asked to remain silent. After you have let several rounds go by, a typical game lasts only about 2 minutes for several rounds. Get the scores from each player, each group, and the overall number of items harvested from all the bowls.

            That is the first game. For the second game allow each small group to spend 5 minutes or so developing a plan so that every person and each small group gets as many points as possible. Groups are free to create any guidelines or rules for themselves. The original rules of the game still are in effect, and groups can create or add anything else they want to as long as it is safe. One rule that applies through out the entire activity is that one group or individual cannot take objects from another group’s container. You can provide each group with resources to write down their new rules.

            After the 5 minute planning period, play another game with each group following their new rules. Then record the same information as you did in the first game and compare the results. Then have the groups look at and compare the data results.

Safety:

            Make sure that your containers are non-breakable and that each group has enough space to sit comfortably. I find that wooden bowls or frisbees work well. Keep and eye and an ear out for disputes that may occur in the small groups that could get out of hand.

Facilitation/debriefing notes:

            This activity is a good frontloading activity for discussions on resource management, conservation, and sustainability. After doing this activity allowing the groups to talk about the plans they made, and how they worked. Also talk about what are some real world situations where sustainability is an issue and what they think might be some solutions.

Well that's it for this posting. Enjoy the Nuts Game and keep providing great learning spaces for your participants!

As always, feel free to leave a comment here or email me at:

asinglefootstep@gmail.com