Basic Information:
- Grade Level: 4-12
- Subject: All
- Number of Participants: 8 or more people
- Relationship to Environmental Education: Opportunity to discuss competitive nature between species and its positive and negative effects.
Instructions:
- Everyone plays each other at rock paper scissors (rock beats scissors; scissors beat paper; paper beats rock).
- If you lose, you are now the biggest fan of the person who just beat you and you have to cheer them on until they lose. If they lose you are now the biggest fans of the person who just beat them and so on.
- Eventually there will be two people left with big cheering squads. The last person left is the winner.
- Concerns: If players and “cheering sections” become too aggressive they may need to be reminded of the purpose to have fun. If the cheering sections are not enthusiastic enough, they can lose interest and that could lead to some engagement problems
Critical Reflection:
I included this game because it simultaneously combats and encourages our competitive nature. Participants will feel the pressure to win their match of Rock-Paper-Scissors, but if they lose they can learn how to encourage their opponent and be satisfied with not always being the winner. With proper instruction and conversation after the game, an educator may be able to use this game to discuss our competitive human nature and how that affects our relationship with one another and our surrounding. Does our competitive nature always work for good or bad? Does it ever hurt those we play with or our environment we live in? How? These are all questions that can be used after the game, depending on the maturity of the group. Although, I believe many younger classes can deal with controversial material that we often shun from them.
An Educator's Toolkit 