Lesson 4 - Causes of the American Revolution
Content:
Activity:
- Tax collection simulation
- Tell students they will be given skittles, but that they cannot eat them until the end of the activity
- Give each student 10 skittles
- Appoint roles (randomish selection on attendance list)
- Tell students they will be given skittles, but that they cannot eat them until the end of the activity
- The tax collector takes a skittle from each student who has:
- A smart phone
- Jewelery
- Glasses
- Running shoes
- Pens
- T shirts
- A Hat
- A smart phone
- After the tax collector collects the candy, he receives %10. The tax collector gives 50% of the collected “taxes”. After all the taxes have been collected, discuss how the students feel.
- Debrief
- How did you feel (ask people in all positions)
- Did it seem fair? Why? Why not?
- Are there services that the King or Parliament could provide to make it feel fair? Resolve disputes? Do your homework? Would it make your feel better if you got to partly decide what they did with the skittles? (No Taxation without representation)
- What if the King and Parliament kept it for when people were having a really bad day and then gave them some skittles to help make them feel better throughout the year? – Relate to healthcare/education, current tax system.
- Would it feel more fair it we collected skittles more based on who already had a lot of candy so that it helped equalize the candy distribution in the classroom? – Relate to income tax/panama papers.
- How did you feel (ask people in all positions)