Transcript spain module 3x - Lessons From Nature

SPAIN’S MODULE 3:
Why do teams exist in Nature?
www.lessonsfromnature.org
PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES
SPAIN’S MODULE 3:
Why do teams exist in
Nature?
Lessons from Nature principles:
• Diversity gives strength
• Nature is adaptive
• Nature provides multiple benefits
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General objectives:
• Questioning the current paradigm of socio-economic
competition
• Considering behaviors as collaboration to face and solve
real problems
• Finding out about the benefits of having a pool of
diverse of people, resources, etc.
• Realisation about the power of nature as source of
inspiration
Why teams?
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KEY COMPETENCES
Physical skills
Teamwork
Analytical capacities
Oral communication
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
• Interest in sport
practice
• Understanding and
recognizing
individualistic and
cooperative behaviors
Teacher may carry out a basic activity based
on the practice of any popular team sport
(e.g., basketball, football, indoor football,
handball, hockey, etc.), using the following
modalities:
First, students can play following the normal
practice of the sport, passing the ball,
cooperating and attempting to play as a team
to win the game.
Second, students of each team must play
alone ignoring the rest of teammates (i.e, no
passing the ball), dribbling opponents, trying
to score and win the game.
After that, students may discuss about the
results of these two modalities. They can find
actual sport performances to support their
ideas.
Videos showing teamwork in sports:
Basketball: http://bit.ly/ICHTH
Football: http://goo.gl/0Kwqh
Living together: why teams?
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KEY COMPETENCES
Reflection
Creativity
Knowledge on natural
sciences
Teamwork
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
• Realization of the
multiple benefits of
collaborating
• Considering nature as
source of worthwhile
source of information.
• Acknowledge
diversity as source of
power and efficiency
This activity can start by proposing students
some challenging dilemmas in which they
must decide if cooperating or not:
• Candies: put in a box one candy (cakes,
toys, etc.) per student and offer them to
the students. They must decide the way to
distribute the candies.
• Assembling a puzzle: give students 4 o 5
non-assembled puzzle games. They must
assemble to gain some prize (good marks,
spare time, candies, etc.).
• Making a report: students will be
requested to write a report on some topic.
Teacher can give a number of points to
assign among students (e.g. 3 students, 10
points per student, would result in 30
points to assign). They should reach an
agreement.
Are there teams in nature?
We can follow this section with a brief set of
questions:
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How do you define the concept of team?
Why do teams exist?
It is exist in nature?
At this point, students will list the types of inter- and intraspecific relationship that one can find in nature (i.e., predation,
parasitism, symbiosis, mutualism, commensalism, altruism).
They could have access to books or other information sources
if necessary (some links to youtube.com videos are provided
as Supplementary resources). Finally, groups of students may
present a comparative between the pros and cons of each
type of relationship to discuss. The following questions me
help in the debate:
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Why there are negative (predation, parasitism) and positive
(symbiosis,
mutualism,
commensalism,
altruism)
relationships in nature?
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What types of relationships are frequently observed
between organisms belonging to the same species?
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Do all the species have the same features? Are they
diverse? In positive case, in what sense?
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Why would different species need to cooperate?
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What are the benefits for each species? Please, use
examples.
Supplementary Resources: Videos showing animal cooperation.
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Problem solving by cooperating:
http://youtu.be/xOrgOW9LnT4
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Cooperation and fairness: http://youtu.be/aAFQ5kUHPkY
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Dr Lee Dugating explains altruism in natural and human
systems: http://youtu.be/7m3yqCf4jGM
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Altruism in living beings: http://youtu.be/n4tiEnJ5yCs
Individual and collective thinking in the
real world
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KEY COMPETENCES
Critical thinking
Analytical capacities
Oral communication
Teamwork
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
• Realization about the
power of
collaboration to
improve the
performance of real
world activities
• Assessing the
consequences of
individual acts
• Looking for help and
collaboration to face
and solve problems
• Recognizing the value
of diversity as criteria
to make decisions and
configure systems
First, teacher will challenge students to design
a world that works based only on individual
decisions. They can choose the scale (global,
country, region, local, home, etc.) and the field
(livestock exploitation,
sports,
school,
pollution, business, governments, science,
etc.). Students should work individually.
Second, students will work in groups to
identify situations in real world (using the
same scale and field than in previous exercise)
where cooperation and collective thinking can
improve the individual performance in
different fields. Students may develop this
activity using role-play, simulating and
describing the pros and cons of the individual
and collective performances in each case to
reach a conclusion. Later, students may discuss
within each group about the outcomes of
individual and collective ways to organize
activities and societies.
Finally, teacher may propose a debate where students will
comment the conclusions about their experiences working
individually and grouped, together with the conclusions
obtained in each group. The following questions can help to
focus the debate:
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Is cooperation always necessary? When it would be
required? When it would be better?
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What do provide cooperation for individuals?
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Do cooperation increase diversity? Why does diversity
matter? Does diversity improve the performance of
activities?
With a little help from my friends
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KEY COMPETENCES
Creativity
Entrepreneurship
Autonomy
Math operations
Teamwork
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
• Considering
cooperation as a
valuable and efficient
option to face
complex and
multilateral situations
• Recognizing the
multiple benefits of
collaboration
• Finding out of the
consequences of
individual decisions
Students will solve a trade-off problem using
cooperation, if appropriate. In general,
students will be freedom to act as she/he
consider (i.e., arrange groups, negotiate
understandings,
increasing
exploitation,
interchanges about their rights or act
individually) following the rules of each game.
Each game should have a final prize, which
could be a better mark, more free time, a little
gift or any other thing that teacher consider
appropriate. If there would be more than one
winner, prize should be divided (in the case of
cooperation). In some cases, it is possible that
the whole classroom wins. Possible activities:
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Gymkhana: teacher can organize a
gymkhana where all students are challenge
to win the game.
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Market: each student has a certain amount
of raw material (e.g., copper, oil, etc.) and
certain technologies (e.g., car industries,
renewable energy). Teacher may distribute
among students random amounts of
materials and technology with the same
economical value. The can trade with
materials and technology to gain money.
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Fisheries. Teacher can distribute fishery allowances into the
students. Initially, each allowance includes a total amount
of fish and a maximum extraction right (fixed), both
measured in tons per year. When someone extracts its
maximum extraction allowance she/he and her/his
neighbors will have less production the next year. Teacher
may arrange the rules, considering fish population growth
(e.g., each year fish population grows the amount resulting
from calculating the 5% of the mean own plus neighbor
populations, until reach one maximum) and the production
decay in case of overexploitation (e.g., if someone extract
the maximum, next year this individual and its closer
neighbors will have a 10% less of the maximum resources).
The winner will be who have more money.
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Pollution: students may organize a CO2 market where they
can trade with emissions. They have maximum allowances
per year. In case of crossing the maximum threshold they
must pay a tax per ton. They can win money by producing
goods and services but producing CO2 emissions that affect
as own region as well the neighbors reducing all next year
benefits. Teacher may facilitate tools for investment in new
technologies, negotiate understandings and reaching
multilateral solutions.
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Strategy game: students can play to any popular strategy
game (Risk/Monopoly, whatever).
The stuff bank (to share)
Students are challenged to create a bank to share useful stuff
with a community. Students will choose the items
(videogames, books, clothes, etc.) to share and the rules
(rental periods, membership requirements, etc.).
Once the bank is working and optimized, it can be offered to
other persons outside the school to spread their results
among the community,