Feeding a Hungry World

"We had a whole unit about different countries negotiating land, food and money. I was the Chinese diplomat so I needed to listen to my teammates and talk confidently in front of two classes and do anything to help my country. I loved learning about negotiations because I love to debate and be a leader.

That unit was really fun to learn about because not only did we learn what real negotiations are like,

we’ve been part of them."

For the past several years, the 7th grade Social Studies program at ISB has adapted a simulation from Stanford University's Spice Program called Feeding a Hungry World. Each year we adapt it to better suit the needs of our students and to incorporate the opportunities that new technologies afford.

Despite an extraordinary amount of interruptions including student field trips, student illness, special events and activities, professional development days and a three-day weekend, we were able to organize a meaningful simulation of a diplomatic negotiation involving trade issues, food security issues, land use issues and resource equity.

We assigned students to represent major rice-producing and/or consuming nations in Asia. For the first part of the project, students learned some demographic terms and conducted demographic research about the country that they were going to represent in the simulation.

We also assigned students various roles within the simulation, such as farmers, diplomats, citizens, environmental scientists and government officials. We gave each student a list of specific questions to answer related to their roles.

After completing their research, students:

• answered higher-level thinking questions about the bigger issues involved in issues of food security and sustainable development.
• participated in a meeting with all country representatives to plan a strategy for the negotiation simulation.
• participated in negotiation sessions.

At the beginning of the negotiation session, we gave each country a packet containing pieces of paper that represented the area of land in each country, some international currency coupons that represented the GDP of each country and some rice seeds that represented the amount of rice produced in the country. The object of the simulation was for each country to have enough rice to feed its people by 2050.

One student, who is not particularly interested in Social Studies wrote, "Recently, we did a unit about different countries. I was named the farmer of China. I personally think that the farmer's role is the most important for the country's economy."

She felt upset at the beginning of the simulation when she realized how much work farmers do and how little they are appreciated and valued. She thought it was unfair that they often went without food but provided food for others.

Students were so excited between negotiation sessions that they stayed in for break to argue and discuss strategy. Many stayed after class to talk about how unfair it was that some countries had so much land, or so money or so much food. Students seemed to understand what we wanted them to understand and learned so much more than we anticipated this year.

The combination of technology and class discussion worked very well. Students researched the demographic information online and made mashup maps of their data. They got to look at photos, read news and write posts about what they had learned. At the same time, students benefited so much from our in-class discussions, from playing different roles, from participating in a simulation and from engaging in face to face dialogue with other students and with each other.

This project worked so well because students were able to get up to date information on the countries they represented and because they were able to participate in discussions, dialogues and negotiations with other students.

Simulations, discussions and internet research and data mapping worked well to produce a great unit. The unit went perfectly with our novel choice, Rice Without Rain, and our 3 day, 2 night trip to Korat.

"Learning is made out of stairs. Some with opportunities may jump, some who underestimate the opportunity, or have lacking opportunities stay. This semester was the most meaningful semester for me. I was a child and a student who did not thank anything she gained and only wanted more. Korat was absoloutely an incredulous scene. I have never imagined a place like the small village with 499 people. After I got back home I was ashamed of my attitude towards life. My life and environment already is an opportunity. Also, the unbelievable world hunger facts was stunning me. I felt that I neglected this serious issue up until now. This semester let me climb one stair towards my dream."