Dot Game



Objective(s) & Context

  1. Examine the notion of exclusion and inclusion from a lived experience.

 

Groups have been constructed and deconstructed since the beginning of time. Creating groups or territories based on interest (what you like to do), geography (where you live), and identity (who you are) have been necessary over history in order to advance the goals of particular social groups. Being a part of a group, like a family or a group of friends, is important in that it provides a sense of belonging and can also offer a strong network of support when needed. When groups form, they create boundaries, keeping some people in and some people out. Sometimes these boundaries are helpful and sometimes they can cause harm to those who have been excluded.

 

Duration

15–20 minutes

 

Age Group

9 +

 

Group Size

10–20

 

Skills

Communication and comprehension skills

 

Format(s) & Technique(s)

Game

 

Materials

Multicoloured small dot stickers (These can be purchased at an office supplies store.)

 

Facilitation Tips

  • This workshop might lead participants to discuss real experiences of exclusion that they have experienced. These may not always have been resolved satisfactorily.

  • Envision some way to support participants who might disclose such incidents.

  • This activity requires that you touch participants’ chins. Ensure that everyone in the group is comfortable with this.

 

Popular Education Prompts

  • This exercise begins with participants’ experiences and generates conversation that can be helpful in identifying common experiences and lead to strategizing for action.

 

Leading the Activity: Steps to Take

Preparation:

  1. Prepare the coloured stickers.

  2. The total number of stickers should equal the number of players.

  3. There should be at least different colours.

 

Workshop:

  1. Ask participants to form a circle with everyone facing the outside of (away from) the centre of the circle.

  2. Ask participants to close their eyes and tell them that you will be placing a coloured sticker on their chin. Every participant will know the colour of the other participants’ stickers but not their own.

  3. Ask participants to walk around the room and at your signal, tell them to group themselves with other participants with the same colour sticker. All of this has to be done without speaking. For example, if you have used three different colours, there should be three different groups formed.

  4. Now start the game over. This time put a new sticker on each participant’s chin.

  5. Ask participants to walk around the room and form groups where everyone has a different coloured sticker. Make sure every participant will be in a group.

  6. Repeat the game a third time.

  7. This time, place new stickers on participants’ chins.

  8. Form two colour groups of about the same size, this time giving one or two participants different coloured stickers from the rest and from each other. (For example, if there are two groups, one red and one green, give one participant a blue sticker and another a yellow sticker).

  9. Ask participants to get into the same colour groupings again. Remind them there is no speaking during the game. This time observe the reactions of the participants when the ones with the two different colours try to see if they are in either group.

  10. Start a discussion on exclusion. Use the suggested questions below to guide your discussion:

    1. How did you feel when you found a group you could join?

    2. How did you feel when you couldn’t find a group to join right away? Were you afraid there was no group for you?

    3. To the participants who were excluded in the final game: Did the other groups reject you from joining? How could you tell? (This question gets at micro-expressions of bullying, exclusion and violence). How did you feel when the groups rejected you from joining?

    4. Identifying common themes: To everyone: Have you ever had an experience of exclusion at school, at a camp, community centre, or with friends? How did that make you feel?

    5. Have you ever excluded anyone from joining your group? How did that make you feel?

    6. Strategizing for Action: What can be done to encourage inclusion in our groups or in our communities? What examples of projects, programs or actions do participants know about that encourage inclusion?

    7. What can rejection/exclusion lead to? Another way to ask this question: If this game were to continue in real life, where could it lead?

    8. What feeds the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in society? In the game, we there participants who took on a more leadership role in demarcating their group? Is this part of the human condition or is it harmful?

    9. Is it wrong to have groups that we belong to and do not belong to or is the point more that we should avoid creating exclusive boundaries at the cost of hurting others?

 

Debrief

  • Ask all the participants, in turn, to say one or two words to express their thoughts and feelings about the workshop.

 

 

Success Indicators

Participants are:

  • More aware of the meaning of inclusion/exclusion

  • Able to understand the feeling of being rejected

 

Source: Adapted from Equitas: International Centre for Human Rights Education, Play it Right Toolkit, Activity 20: “Inclusion…Exclusion…,”: www.equitas.org/toolkit/