In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex Lesson Plan

Lost at Sea

Kind of Activity:

Group Work

Objective:

To examine social interaction and leadership in a mock-crisis situation

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1.B, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1.C

Structure:

Students will play a variation of the Lost at Sea survival game by Grahame Knox (https://insight.typepad.co.uk/lost_at_sea.pdf). Provide the students with Knox’s list of items they must rank in order of importance in a survival situation. Each student can rank the items individually on their own paper; then, they should split into medium-sized groups (5-7 students) to discuss their ranking choices. Their goal: They have only 5 minutes to agree upon a...