If you are absent, Google Form.
Today's Lesson: Let's go on vacation!
_______________ 1. Sailor Jones: It is somewhat questionable how I was able to get from my assigned position below deck to the lifeboat when no other sailor assigned to the lower decks managed to escape from the ship. I am in excellent health. Not married, and no close relatives.
_______________2. Ship’s Officer O’Malley: I was the only high ranking officer aboard the ship that was able to get to the lifeboat. It is the boat that I was assigned to in all of the emergency practice drills. I was a capable leader on the boat, has navigational skills, and was well-liked by passenger and crew members aboard the ship. Excellent health.
_______________3. Quarter Master MacDonald: Little is known about me. I did serve in the regular navy. When the ship sank, I suffered injuries to both of my wrists. At the present time, I cannot use either hand. I am married and has four children in the U.S.
_______________4. Self-Made Millionaire Douglas: I own and manage one of the U.S.’s largest garment industrial complexes, which employs hundreds of factory workers. I have dedicated so much time to making the business successful that I am out of shape due to lack of exercise.
_______________5. College Student Parsons: I am a college student who has been on a limited budget European vacation. I am a grand mal epileptic. Unfortunately, while abandoning the ship, all of my medication was left behind. I am single—age 22.
_______________6. Nobel Prize Winner in Literature, Dr. Lightfoot: I am a minority race and questions have been raised whether the Nobel Prize was awarded to me due to my race or my ability. Dr. Lightfoot is 48 years old and is in good health. I am married, with two daughters who have families of their own.
_______________7. Nobel Prize Winner in Physics, Dr. Singleton: It has been said that I am about to release information to the world that will essentially bring about the solution to the world’s ecology problem. I am 62 years old and is in excellent health. I was born and raised in a small town in Arkansas. I come from a very wealthy family and have remained single.
_______________8. Football Player, Mr Small and
_______________9.Cheerleader, Mrs. Small: We are in our late twenties. Mr Small was a star football player at Ohio State. Mrs. Small, who also attended Ohio State, was the Homecoming Queen. Mr. Small now a running back for a semi-pro football team in New York. Mrs. Small is eight and one-half months pregnant. The couple is interracial; Mr. Small is a minority race and Mrs, Small is not.
_______________10. Army Captain Thomas: I was recently decorated for bravery and valor above and beyond the call of duty. I am on the way to the U.S. to personally receive the Medal of Honor from the President. I am married, with two children, and am about 35yrs old. While engaged in the action, which resulted in receiving the Medal of Honor, Captain Thomas lost a right leg. Other than this condition which I recovered from, I am in good health.
_______________11. Draft Evader Samuels: I left the United States two years ago in order to avoid the military draft. I then spent two years in Sweden, from which I was recently deported for dealing in illegal drugs. I am in my early twenties and in good health. Single.
_______________12. Peace Corps Volunteer Davidson: I am a Peace Corps Volunteer who has recently completed 2 years of work in India. I have a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering and am on the way back to Boston where Davidson is to be married in two months. I am 27yrs old and in excellent health.
_______________13. Med Student Ryan: I am a medical student who has been vacationing in France. I am 26 years old, single, and in excellent health.
_______________14. Elderly man, Mr. Eldridge and
_______________15.Elderly woman, Mrs. Eldridge: We are an elderly couple, both in our late 60’s and on our way back to our native New Jersey after a one month tour of Spain. Mr. Eldridge is suffering severely from arthritis and is not capable of walking without the aid of a cane. We will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary next week. We have 8 children and 29 grandchildren and are all living in New Jersey.
_______________16. Traveling Poet Carpenter: I am a 30-year-old traveling poet in excellent health. I have never had a permanent home since running away from a New York orphanage 15 years ago. I spent 4 years in the Navy and acquired a taste for sailing and since leaving the Navy has made several solo sailing voyages in the Caribbean. I have been divorced three times and am currently separated from my 4th spouse who resides in Paris.
This overcrowded lifeboat will not survive unless 7 people get life preservers and are set adrift from the lifeboat. Your job is to choose who stays and who goes. You must choose 7 people to be set adrift and save the other 9 people. Mark your choices on the packet.
Part 2:
If you do not have a role, then you are a qualitative sociologist. Try to record as much as possible about what each person says and does on the boat. Use the space below to record as many notes about the simulation as possible.
If you had a role, please answer honestly about why you were saved or rejected. Was there something about the role you had (your character) that affected the decision? Was there something about you personally or how you played your role that may have affected the decision?
Your Individual Choices: Decide on your own who should stay and who should go. Briefly give your reasoning for saving/rejecting each person (one word is fine).
In the real-life incident, all of those aboard turned to the highest-ranking person (ship’s officer) to take command. He had a sidearm on him. When the sea got too rough, he called everyone’s attention and he chose who would go/stay. He kept only the strong, able-bodied who were strong enough to survive a long row. On the last day, they were rescued and the captain was put on trial for murder. He was declared guilty, but received a minimum sentence of only 6 months in prison because of the unique circumstances.
I have been doing this activity since 1999, which means students have done this more than 70 times.
6. Were your individual choices different than who the class chose (or what really happened)? If so, how and why? What criteria did you use to make the choices that were different?
Once you have finished answering 1-6, click on the data analysis of this lesson here.
