Situation worksheet

You are on a flight from New York to Seoul South Korea on a business trip
in January. About 3 hours into the flight, the engines fail. The plane crashes
somewhere in an empty part of Canada in the middle of a forest. The pilot
and crew are all dead. Only 10 passengers survive, including you.

You find the following list of objects (and only the following objects) in the
plane. Everything else has been destroyed by the crash. You are dressed
in business clothes and it is very cold. You can’t see any buildings or
houses near you. Choose which objects are most important to survive and
explain why. Think of as many different ways to use an object as possible.

The objects you have with you are:

 A ball of string
 A large knife
 A loaded .45-caliber pistol
 A can of Crisco shortening
 Newspapers (one per person)
 Cigarette lighter, but no gas
 Extra shirt and pants for each survivor
 A 36-meter square piece of canvas
 A plastic air map
 One liter of vodka
 A compass
 One chocolate bar for each person
Warm Up 1
Ask students if they ever go camping or hiking. What are the dangers and what do they need to
survive those dangers? For example, how do they stay warm? How do they keep dangerous animals
away? How do they carry food with them? How do they know where they are?

Warm Up 2
Another good warm up is to ask students if they watch Survivor reality shows such as those on the
Discovery Channel. Discuss what is good and bad about these shows. Ask why people like to watch
these shows and why people volunteer to participate in these shows. Then ask if these shows teach
people anything useful. Do we need to know basic survival skills like how to make a fire, how to find
food, how to tell direction or how to keep warm? Ask if anyone knows how to do these things. Now
segue into the game by saying you are going to test how smart they are about surviving in the
wilderness.

The Game
Now put the students in small groups. If you have quite a few students who are experienced
outdoorsmen, break them up so that they are spread out in more than one group. Then hand out
the Situation Worksheet. Give students some time to understand the situation and ask questions. Make
sure they know all the words and try to emphasize that they have nothing else with them. If they ask,
tell them that cellphones don’t work and their wallet fell out of their pocket and burned up and so on.
Give them about 20 minutes to decide which objects are important and how each thing could be
used.
Then bring the class back together and go through the list of objects one by one, asking each group
how important it is and how it might be used to survive. Try to get them to be as creative as possible.

Some Possible Answers

Ball of String: Good to tie the canvas together to make a tent. Might be used to attach people
together so no one panics and runs off. Can also use it to hang food in trees so bears don’t get it.
Can be used as kindling for a fire.
Large Knife Can be used to cut firewood, to defend against animals, to cut up animals for food, to
dig a hole for a fire or for a toilet, to pry open the can of shortening. Dangerous if anyone goes crazy
however.
Pistol To defend against animals or to hunt for food, to start a fire, to make noise if they see a
rescue team. Dangerous if anyone goes crazy
can of shortening The shortening is good grease for a fire, it’s also fattening food or insulation
rubbed on the skin. The can lid can be used as a reflector to attract attention. The can itself can be
used to store water or food. Or as a cooking pot to cook or melt snow.
Newspapers To read if you get bored, to help start a fire, to put inside clothes for warmth, to sit on
to keep your clothes clean.
Cigarette Lighter Some students will think it is useless without gas, but it still makes a spark which
can be caught by the newspaper, the string, or some kindling
Extra shirt and pants Clothes to keep warm, fuel for a fire, material for a tent (cut it up with the
knife), maybe bright colors to signal a rescue team. Something to sleep on.
Canvas With the knife and string you can make a decent shelter or tent. You can sit on it to keep off
the cold snow.
Air map To sit on, as the wall of a tent. Trying to locate where you are would be almost impossible
since you don’t know the exact route of the plane and the air map will only show things clearly
visible from the air so small villages or buildings would be ignored.
Vodka Good to start a fire. In small amounts to calm people down. Dangerous if people get drunk
and crazy. Alcohol also lowers your body temperature.
Compass Reflects the sun. Again you don’t know where you are or where the nearest village is, so
using it to try to walk somewhere is probably dangerous.
Chocolate Bar Food, something to make sculptures with if you get bored.

Follow Up
Once you have gone over each group’s suggestions for how to use each item, remind them that in
this situation it is cold, they are in the middle of nowhere, and that when the plane doesn’t arrive, a
search team will be sent out to find them. Remind them also that they do not know where they are so
walking to civilization will be quite impossible and they would probably die trying. Experts agree that
the best thing to do after a plane crash or other emergency is to sit quietly and try to be visible for
rescue teams. Now ask them to pick the top 5 most important objects and why they chose those
items.