Name: Kevin Buss Class/Subject: Sociology Date: November 6th 2013 Student Objectives/Student Outcomes:

- Students will understand how an individuals choice is influenced by their perceptions of possible outcomes. - Students will understand how rational decision-making in group situations with high stakes can lead many people/teams/firms/countries to act in ways that might seem selfish.
Content Standards: ISBE Standard 14.D.5 -- Interpret a variety of public policies and issues from the perspectives of different individuals and groups. ISBE Standard 18.A.5 -- Compare ways in which social systems are affected by political, environmental, economic and technological changes. Materials/Resources/Technology: - Candy (must be able to distribute individual pieces) - Note cards - Document reader or smart board (for payoff grid) Teachers Goals: - Teacher will clearly explain the rules of the game so students are not confused about the payoffs. - Teacher will effectively communicate the connection between responses in the game and real world applications. Time Start of Class:

5-7 minutes

- Has some authority figure ever tried to accuse you and a friend of doing something you werent supposed to be doing? o When you were caught, how did you and your partner-in-crime respond to the allegation/accusations? Did you confess or stay silent/lie? What did your partner do? o If you confessed, why? If you stayed silent/lied, why? Was your decision on whether or not to confess influenced by your trust in your partner? o Teachers will share stories/examples to class, in case students dont have any.
Lesson Instruction:

25-30 minutes

- Teacher will announce that the class will play the Prisoners Dilemma Game - Teacher will briefly explain the basis of Prisoners Dilemma to the class - Class will break into pairs, and each person will receive a note card. - Teacher will explain that each pair has been caught and the school authorities are trying to convict them of vandalizing the principals car. o Teacher will explain that each student must decide whether to cooperate (stay silent) or defect (confess) without communicating with their partner o Teacher explains the reward system for cooperating and defecting Both cooperate = 2 piece of candy each; 1 cooperate, 1 defect = 0,4 pieces of candy; Both defect = 1 pieces of candy o Students will write answer on note card and reveal them. Candy will be distributed accordingly. - Class will repeat non-communicative game, if time allows. - Class will play Prisoners Dilemma Game again, this time with different partners, while being allowed to communicate. o Students will write answers on note cards and reveal them. - Class will repeat communicative game, if time allows. - Class will play final version of the game, where students can volunteer as a random pair to play in front of the class, with their backs turned to each other.
Assessments/Checks for Understanding:

5-7 minutes

Discussion: Teachers will offer example of large-scale, real world application of Prisoners Dilemma and ask students to explain how this exemplifies the theory (Countries/Firms and environmental pollutions) o Teacher asks class for other examples similar to this. (Sports teams and steroids, Cold War and stockpiling arms, politics- making concessions/ comprises but fearing the other party will not do so )
Closure/Wrap-Up/Review: Discussion: Teacher will ask students a few critical thinking questions about the game and its real-life applications. - Were you surprised by the way your partners reacted? Why or why not? - Did being able to communicate with your partners help? Think about the real life examples- do you think communicating would help in those situations? - Considering the welfare of the individual, what is the best strategy to use in this game? Considering the welfare of the group?

5-7 minutes

Kevin Buss CI 403 November 8th, 2013

Individual Lesson Reflection

Max and I taught our individual lessons this Wednesday in Mr. Woods 2nd and 4th hour sociology classes, respectively. Mr. Woods told us that we could pretty much choose whatever topic we want, so long as it had something to do with group influence on individual behavior. He needed both classes to be on the same page, so we both came up with a lesson on the Prisoners Dilemma. The sociology classes had been exploring the influence of groups on the decisionmaking process of individuals, so we wanted to continue with this theme. Game theory is a relatively simple model for understanding social interactions, and both Max and I have been a part of several enjoyable simulations modeling the Prisoners Dilemma, so we thought a game would be a good way to get the students engaged and thinking about the subject. In my opinion, games and simulations are some of the best tools an educator has at his/her disposal, and I have had good success with them in previous field placements. Just by their very nature, games/simulations force students to actively engage in a subject, which requires some level of thinking about it. But Ive learned that, to be most effective, teachers must make sure to explicitly link the activity with its theoretical or real-world applications; otherwise, its just a meaningless but fun diversion from the normal hum-drum of the classroom. I was keeping this in mind going into the lesson on Wednesday morning. Max had taught his version during second hour, and I while I was evaluating him I made sure to note things that worked and things that I could improve on when it was my turn. He did a great job, in my opinion, especially when he was talking with the groups to find out why they acted how they did (stay silent vs. betray). But I think he may have struggled a bit with making the connection between the game and the real-world applications of it, so I made sure to leave a good amount of time at the end of my lesson to focus on that. He also used up almost all the candy we had to share between us, so we had to make an emergency trip to Wal-Greens during third hour to replenish the supply before my lesson. Overall, I feel that my lesson went very well. I deliberately started with the story-sharing discussion to help the students warm up to me (because I am rarely in the classroom for fourth hour), but also so they could begin making the necessary associations in their minds. They were definitely eager to share stories of when they got in trouble, though there were some problems with everyone trying to share at the same time. Once they were in the relevant mind-frame, I started explaining the Prisoners Dilemma itself, with the hope that they would already be thinking about how they might respond in a similar situation while we described it. Because I had learned from Maxs mistake, I made sure to walk them through the process step by step, which definitely worked. Playing the game itself was therefore pretty straightforward, and I didnt have to reexplain the rules or expectations very much. I decided to let them play the communicative version of the game with partners of their choice first, and I was not too surprised that most of them cooperated with one another and stayed silent. Getting them to quiet down and refocus after that round was somewhat difficult, because while I was going around distributing candy, the groups who had already received their candy were talking loudly. They did quiet down, however, and I was able to make up for the lost time by utilizing notecards I had numbered and

distributed before class for assigning random partners (for the non-communicative version of the game. Though it went relatively quickly, I felt I was wasting five minutes locating the 2s, 3s, 4s etc. When the results for this second version were revealed, I was surprised how many random partners still trusted one another and stayed silent, and I made sure to remark as much to the class (you are all very trusting, good-hearted people!) By the time round two was finished, the class was getting rowdy, so it took a little while to bring them back together for the crucial discussion linking the game with real-world applications. I had no trouble getting students to volunteer ideas and examples, and while the first few were somewhat off the mark, after I gave an example of my own, the class seemed to get it, and the rest of the examples were spot-on. I personally believe I may have not given the students enough time to come up with ideas on their own before I dropped a hint, however. This is one of my weaknesses Ive been trying to address throughout my time in the secondary education program, and though I believe I have made good progress, I still need to work on it. Perhaps it was because of this that I finished the lesson eight minutes early. This was the opposite of Max and Is co-taught lesson, where we could have used two more minutes but got cut-off by the bell. When I asked Mr. Woods what I could have done differently he agreed that I might have been able to stretch out the discussion time a little more, but reminded me that fourth hour was actually eight minutes longer than second hour, so I technically took just as much time as Max did. Either way, I think the students really got the point of the lesson, and Im happy with how it turned out.