This activity uses experiential problem-solving to explore how governments and societies organize. By playing out how to set up a community on a desert island, the students will begin to understand the founding of the State of Israel.
Click here for the downloadable pdf.
Goals:
- The students will internalize the benefits, as well as shortcomings, of organizing as a collective as opposed to individuals
- The students will understand the complexity of having power, dividing/sharing power, (and how power is managed)
- The students will learn about the life story of Rachel Bluwstein, and connect her story to their exercise
- Through Rachel’s story, the students will explore what it may have been like for the founding fathers and mother of Israel to build a new, historically unprecedented Jewish society
Outline:
- STAGE A: Desert Island Challenge
- Part 1: Individual vs. Collective: The group will be introduced to the desert island challenge and explore the notion of individual vs. Collective organization
- Part 2: division of responsibility and shared goals
- a. In this part of the activity, the students will divide up the island responsibilities and learn about the goals they can achieve together as a unit
- b. “Lehiyot Am Chofshi Be’artzeinu” (To be a free people in our land) – the students will learn about this concept, and the hierarchy of needs they need to address together
- STAGE B: Israel application: Rachel Bluwstein’s story – In this last part, the students will learn “Rachel the Poet’s” story, and discuss its relevance to the Desert Island challenge.
