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Buying and transporting ingredients

Curriculum links

English National Curriculum:
Geography: 2c, 3b, 3g
Approximate time required: 60-90 mins

Resources needed

Per group:

Poster game board (contact CIEC for additional copies)
Game instructions
Playing cards
Price lists
Score sheets
Certificate
Die

Note: The playing cards are best printed on card and laminated for durability. Either colour print, or use different colours of card to differentiate between the ingredient and mover cards.

Suggested organisation

Mixed ability groups of 3-6 children play the game.

Carrying out the activity

The aim of this cooperative game is to game is to bring 'ingredients' for making a colour (pigment) from around the world to the industrial site in England. Each group chooses a company name before play. There should be a role for each child, with all players being encouraged to suggest ideas and listen to the views of others.

Each group is given the game board, die and playing cards (4 ingredient cards, 4 mover cards and 10 crisis cards). The teacher then talks them through the instructions (LINK) as they play their first game (groups can have reference copies, if desired). The following questions are then asked to encourage groups to analyse their scores and work out how they can influence the outcome of another game:

• Which group has the 'BEST BATCH!' so far?
• What is your score and how did you get it?
• How did you choose where to buy each ingredient?
• Do you think cheapest is always best? Why/why not?
• How might you improve the score as you play another batch game?

Children may begin to realise that it can be cheaper to buy at a higher price closer to home and that there is often risk involved in obtaining materials from any part of the world, which is accepted by the manufacturing companies.

Note on crisis cards: They may be hit by crises along the way. The crises are intended to be realistic, and can be natural or political in nature. These crises affect the price and availability of ingredients. There may be children who complain of the unfairness of crises affecting their scores, when they feel they have planned their strategy well. It should be explained to them that this is a realistic scenario and that a company will be chiefly interested in the result at the site, not necessarily the difficulties of acquiring the materials. Unfair as this seems, it is the way companies have to cope with world economics and politics while doing their best to keep production prices down. The lower the cost of production, the better the chance of making a profit from the product as it is sold on to their customers.

Plenary

Collate all the groups' best results on the blackboard or flipchart. Questions asked previously in discussion can be asked again now. The group producing the 'best batch' can receive a certificate (LINK) from the managing director (teacher or head teacher).

Background information

Ingredients can be transported by road, rail, ship or aeroplane, but the cost of the transport has to be considered carefully. If the materials are not needed urgently then a company is likely to choose transport by sea and road, as these are the least expensive, but this can take a longer time. For the purposes of the game the ingredients are transported by sea and overland to the industrial site, so that the children have the opportunity to manipulate the outcome. If materials are lost en route, insurance will cover the loss, and so in the game there is no score penalty.