Deserted Island

NAME

Deserted Island

WHO

In-person, online, and concurrent participants. This will gauge peers’ likes and dislikes and synergize ideas.

DURATION

10 - 15 minutes

DIRECTIONS

Set the scenario: 

• You’re all on a sinking cruise ship. In a rush, you hastily must grab only one item before jumping into a lifeboat. Not once did you show your item or ask anyone what they grabbed. Once in the lifeboat, there is only a vast ocean and one deserted island in sight. The other survivors and you row to the island. Once on land, you realize it’s isolated. You also now meet your group and share the items they brought. Now with only your group and the items, you’ll need to devise a survival plan. The conditions and possibilities of your survival are entirely up to your group. (use your imagination)
• The only 3 rules are:
  • Your plan is not limited to the items brought, but must include all of them.
  • No one else is on the island
  • No outside contacts exist.

• Read the scenario.
• Ask each participant to write down their item. Note to not share!
• Create groups preferably 2 - 4 members. For large courses, consider creating bigger groups to save time.
  • For online students, create the breakout rooms at this point.
• Now groups turn to each other
  • Ask groups to take 3 minutes to share items and devise a plan for survival involving those items.
• Each group shares their survival plan to the whole class.

ADAPTATIONS/TIPS

• Change scenario to another isolated location requiring a collaborative survival plan (wilderness, jungle, mountains, Antarctica expedition, etc). You can also pick something relevant to the participants.
• Keep it simple and avoid trauma triggering details in the scenario.
• For online and concurrent students, consider sharing a google doc with the directions. This way students can refer back to the expectations in isolated breakout rooms.