In the Christian Base Communities of the Liberation Theology movement, participants carried out a popular education process that included taking action in the society as part of the learning process. In order to become aware of the process itself, this game asks participants to create and carry out a very small task that must happen outside the classroom, then come back and share their results.
Adapted from "The triangle tool" in Educating for a Change.
Summary:
Using a simple analytic tool, this activity helps people become aware of the different factors -- structure, culture and participation -- that combine to make a union more or less democratic. It also emphasizes the role of the rank-and-file as well as the officers and staff.
Good for:
[img_assist|nid=136|title=The Spiral Model|desc=The Spiral Model as it appears in Educating for a Change.|link=none|align=left|width=450|height=341]
The spiral model illustrates several important principles of popular education:
By Matt Noyes. Adapted from "See, Hear, Feel" in Educating for Change
Objectives:
To generate a concrete definition of union democracy that is meaningful to people; to get past easy, abstract generalizations about democracy that block the definition of real, achievable, measurable goals; to hear from each individual and also create a group definition of union democracy; to flush out any "hotspots" -- points of intense interest, disagreement or controversy.
Summary:
By Matt Noyes. Adapted from Educating for a Change.
Talking about what we don't want can be the quickest, most concrete path to defining our goals. This activity challenges people to clarify and express their goals in a creative way.
Summary:
Brainstorming what it would look like if, instead of your goals, your worst nightmares were realized.
Materials/Prep: flip chart or blackboard, markers, chalk
Number of People: Flexible, probably not more than 30 or so.
