UOI - From plantation to shop

Today the class played the banana split game. The class was divided into 3 groups of 5.

Each child was given a role in the processing of a banana from growing, transporting and selling a banana. They then had to divide up the money deciding between them who gets what amount in the line. They have to decide which role is more important in the process and who they felt should be given more money based on the expenses incurred along the way.





It was really interesting listening to the children argue their point in why they felt they should get more money over another person in the process. Which role was more important and deserved more money -  picking the banana, importing & exporting it, shipping it and getting it to the shop.

There were some really vocal discussion on how unfair some felt it was for the worker who did all the work and received the least amount of money.
Especially if they were the worker.

The twist in the activity was when they had to decide on how much they should sell a single banana for.
The more money they felt they could sell the product for, meant more money they could divide up between themselves. Some sold their banana for $1, another 50c and finally 45c.

The children then reshuffled their jobs in the group they were in and were told the banana would now only sell for 30c. They then had to redistribute the money.


The change in their thinking when they took on another role was incredible. Where before they felt as the worker they deserved this amount, now they were not the worker  they felt that their new role was more important and their previous, so the worker should receive less.



It was interesting that each group paid the plantation owner the most money each time with the importer receiving the next highest amount.



One group event felt that maybe workers wages should be set to not go below a certain point so they can not be dictated by the plantation owner. This is an example of the minimum wage which is set in some countries. The minimum amount that they feel you can live on so people can get out of poverty.

An interesting concept and a good life lesson maybe that we need to treat everyone equally.

The class were amazed to find out that the actually slit of the 30c sent like this
Banana worker = 1c

Plantation owner = 5c
Shipper = 4c
Shop or supermarket = 13c
Importer = 7c

Do you think it fair?