Populations and Sustainability - What Did We Learn from 5th Graders?

Sometimes, we think we are instructing the students, and sometimes, they instruct us.

We played the fish bank game. Each group of students was a village. Each year, represented by one minute on the clock, the villagers each had to catch at least two fish to survive but could catch up to five fish. The villages started with six fish per student in the pond. At the end of the year, the number of fish in the pond would double. The villagers could not talk. We were to play the game for five years.

After two to three years, most of the villagers died, their ponds being exhausted of fish. Only a few villages survived.

When asked to reflect on the game, the students realized that they had overfished their ponds. When asked to explain why most of them took five fish when they only needed two to survive, they gave some insightful answers:

"We weren't thinking!"

"I was greedy."

"I wanted more fish than everybody else."

When given a second chance to play the game, they quickly determined that taking only what they needed to survive was a more sustainable solution.

One village invented their own resource management system, which allowed them to take more than they needed every once in a while, so their pond would not become overpopulated with fish. (The DNR is born!)

Of most interest, though, were the interactions between villagers, who, I should mention, were of different races, creeds, and ethnic backgrounds. A girl in one of the villages was not at all adept with the chopsticks. Of course, the other villagers thought that was funny but fished for her anyway while laughing with her. Another boy, beaming with pride, stated that he had decided to share what he caught with another villager, because he was better at using the chopsticks.

The seeds of unfiltered self reflection and joyful social responsibility (despite differences) are present in the hearts and minds of 5th graders - and so within us all.