Richard Courto created a two-week physical education unit plan focused on using cooperative games to teach sustainability. The unit aims to have students relate the games to real-life scenarios and think critically about diversity, culture and sustainability. Students will play games that simulate real-life problems to find cooperative solutions. They will be assessed through journals, discussions, and essays connecting the games to the real world. The final lesson is a survival challenge bringing the lessons of cooperation and diversity to the whole community. The unit may be limited by some students' reluctance to cooperate and sensitivity around topics discussed.

1. Physical Education Sustainability Mini-
Unit Plan:
Cooperative Games
By Richard Courto
Grades 6-8

2. Overview of the philosophy of Cooperative Games in
connection with teaching sustainability:
I want to teach sustainability through connecting physical education cooperative
games to real life scenarios, using discussion, play, and critical thinking
I hope to have my students relate their real life experiences regarding their roles
in the school, community, society, and the world. I hope that through theses
cooperative games, my students are able to learn a little more about who they
are and how they view our culture and society.
My goal for my students is that they find a way to practice real life scenarios that
will give them a broader outlook on how to treat people from all different
backgrounds to reach a common goal

3. Overview of the pedagogy of Cooperative Games in
connection with teaching sustainability:
Using cooperative games, the students will use physical skills to connect better
ways to deal with people in situations that relate to sustainability, culture, and
diversity.
This unit plan, focusing on cooperative games, will be a much more authentic
way for my students to approach the complex ideas that go along with
sustainability.
Rather than using discussion and lectures to teach sustainability, this unit puts
the issues into simple, real-life scenarios for the students to solve together.

4. National Standards and Assessments For the Two Week Unit Plan
National Standards that will be used:
Standard 1 - The physically literate individual demonstrates competency in a variety of motor skills and
movement patterns.
Standard 2 - The physically literate individual applies knowledge of concepts, principles, strategies and
tactics related to movement and performance.
Standard 3 - The physically literate individual demonstrates the knowledge and skills to achieve and
maintain a health-enhancing level of physical activity and fitness.
Standard 4 - The physically literate individual exhibits responsible personal and social behavior that
respects self and others.
Standard 5 - The physically literate individual recognizes the value of physical activity for health,
enjoyment, challenge, self-expression and/or social interaction.
Major Assessments:
Lesson 1,2,4,5,7,8 will all be assessed based on journal reflections done outside of class. Lessons 3 and 5
will be assessed by teacher observation of class discussion and lesson 9 and 10 will be assessed by formal
essay.

5. Lesson Plan 1: (123 Go)
Lesson Topic: Using cooperative games to help students connect to ideas of systems thinking by understanding how to
manage their personal and community resources.
Essential Question: How important is listening to your systems thinking and how important is non-verbal cues for
understanding?
Student Objectives:
1: Students will be able to examine and demonstrate effective listening skills towards multiple versions of different cues
shouted about by the teacher.
2: Students will be able to differentiate and demonstrate non-verbal forms of communication when ask upon.
3: Students will be able to make multiple meanings of and demonstrate it to classmates for a one word response.
Structure of Lesson:
Students will gather within a close space and form a shape of their choice. Once they are in formation they are to use their
systems thinkings and listen to the teacher's cue when they say “123 Go”. Once they hear this cue the students are to clap
once, and after each round the teacher will change the statement to force the students to use their systems and critical
thinking and then try to then distinguish the saying when there is non-verbal communication used. After this is done, have a
conversation for roughly five minutes about how they felt when using different ways of thinking and how might that be
helpful in creating a better society based solely on the lesson of using systems thinking.

6. Lesson Plan 2: (Team Canyoneering)
Lesson Topic: Learning how to complete a task using minimal questions and having to use problem solving and trial and
error to complete a task in a group setting.
Essential Question: How can we use each other to solve a problem but without going over the number of question
allotted, which was one each, without having one or two people in a group take over and using everyone ideas and solutions
equally?
Student Objectives:
1: Students will be able to collectively work together to formulate a solution to a problem while minimizing questioning to
each other.
2: Students will be able to use critical thinking and their effective listening skills to create ideas and solutions only for solving
problems in a group atmosphere.
3: Students will be able to use nonverbal communication as a form of solving problems with each other.
Structure of Lesson:
Organize the class into groups of 4 to 5 students each (try to make its even number of boys and girls and if you know your
class well, organize the groups with people that they normally do not socialize with). Once everyone is in their groups, given
each group a packet to them, consisting of numbers and instructions. Once they each group has the packet the teacher will
then read the directions to the class and instruct the groups that they have one minute to think quietly and then once that is
up, they are only allowed to ask one question to their group each and then they have to complete the packets without asking
another question again.

7. Lesson Plan 3: (My own Puzzle)
Lesson Topic: How to work together and take criticism and suggestions about yourself and your property to complete a
task in building a puzzle with your own beliefs and belongings
Essential Questions: How did we handle taking ideas, suggestions, and criticisms from other people about your decision
making of where to put your puzzle piece (your belonging) in this group work setting (society)? And how did you feel when
there were disagreements and what ways did you come up with to solve the differences in opinion?
Student Objectives:
1: Students will be able to use decision making skills based on their own beliefs and also taking considerations from others
on how to strategically place their puzzle piece in the right place.
2: Students will be able to discuss and formulate corrective ways to provide suggestions without offending, hurting or
disturbing someone's ideas and beliefs and solutions on where to place their puzzle piece in a group setting.
3: Students will be able to discuss and reflect on their own feelings and thoughts on how this activity made them feel and
how their feelings need to be understood and cared for by others when working in an environment like this.
Structure of Lesson:
After forming students into groups of 10, give each a puzzle piece. Each group's objective is to assemble their giant puzzle.
The one rule is that only the owner of each puzzle piece can place that piece where it belongs. Other group members may
make suggestions, but cannot place another student's piece in the puzzle.

8. Lesson Plan 4: (Crossing the river)
Lesson Topic: Taking systems thinking and finding creative and correct ways to connect to cooperative games by
working out differences and understanding and accepting everyone in group activities.
Essential Questions: How can we mitigate not understanding different opinions and how did your group members come
together when the activity was at its most frustrating part? How might this game be helpful in the real world when times are
seeming like their is no hope?
Student Objectives:
1: Students will be able to use teamwork and system thinking to collectively work together to get every group member across
the fake river.
2: Students will be able to use nonverbal communication and use effective listening skills to work together on finding a
common agreement for each step in crossing the fake river.
3: Students will be able to understand and be cognitive of other feelings when discussion solutions and respectfully listening
to everyones thoughts and ideas.
Structure of Lesson:
Organize the class into group of 5 and make sure to mix the groups so that they are not all boys and all girls. Once they are
in their groups instruct them that they will have 5 carpet squares given to them. They are to use these squares as their only
way in crossing the river (gym floor). Their objective to to cross the river using only the 5 carpet squares as the place that
they can stand on. Once the entire group crosses the river, they are now instructed to cross it again but they cannot use
verbal communication and only 2 feet can be on one carpet square at a time. If at any time when crossing a group members
steps in the river they have to start over again from the beginning.

9. Lesson Plan 5: (Building a tower in an unfair world)
Lesson Topic: How to work together when there are lack of resources.
Essential Questions: How did you feel when your group was feeling that the lack of resources are forcing your thought
processes to think that there is no soliton in completing this task of building a tall tower. When and where did you see others
encouraging and if not explain why no one did anything to build up the team comradery to finish? Where in life have we seen
things like this and what are your ways to solving issues in getting through problems with lack of resources.
Student Objectives:
1: Students will be able to build a tower using minimal resources while working with other and using positive feedback as a
tool of motivation to finish.
2: Students will be able to use rational thinking and have to learn creative and innovative ideas due to the lack of resources
they have for building materials.
3: Students will be able to understand in conserving and saving materials and not to waste in order to get the most out of
their building.
Structure of Lesson:
Organize the class into a mix group of 4 to 5 students. The groups will be given the task to build a tower but unfortunately
they have limited resources and materials to build the tower. Only give the students 15 pieces of paper and instruct that they
are only allowed to use just the paper in constructing a building. They are to compete and see who can make the tallest
building using just 15 pieces of paper and they only have 10 minutes to build the building.

10. Lesson Plan 6: (Community Maze)
Lesson Topic: Learning how to work in a group with a leader while also having to use different forms of communication and critical
thinking to come together as one to get around a maze one at a time.
Essential Questions: How did the planning process go when having a designated leader and were their any discussions or
thoughts of going against the leaders ideas? How did you use your groups members when you were not able to use verbal
communication? How did you come up witht eh line of group members to travel through the maze and did anyone attempt or feel the
temptation to leave cues bend even though you're not allowed. How can this activity relate to people working and living in a world that
has to conform to a leader and ultimately do what you're told all the time while feeling like you have no voice to speak out?
Student Objectives:
1: Students will be able to explain directions and goals while also working with a higher power without turning on one another.
2: Students will be able to demonstrate effective nonverbal communication and display fair play during times of frustration.
3: Students will be able to feel the frustration and confusion of working in an a confusion environment and understanding that they need
to use nonverbal cues to convey feelings to one another when completing this task.
Structure of Lesson:
Split the class into two mix groups. The groups will have one minute to pick a leader if they cannot come up with one then it's up to the
teacher based on random selection. Once everyone is in their groups, the groups are instructed that they have 2 minutes to organize
and talk order how they will get through the maze one by one. Once the planning time is up, they are no longer allowed to talk and they
are also instructed to not leave any cues within the maze for other group members to see. There will be four completion spots in the
maze, with the fourth one being the finish. If they do not go to the correct stage they are to go back and work with teammates using
nonverbal communication on how to solve the maze.

11. Lesson Plan 7: (Toothpick Teaser)
Lesson Topic: How can we think outside of the box and how can we encourage out of the box thinking to others.
Essential Question: How did you encourage your partner to think differently when you felt that their decisions might not
be the exact way to complete your task?
Student Objectives:
1: Students will be able to display positive feedback while also coaching their partner on when and how to think out of the
box to complete their task.
2: Students will be able to take constructive criticism and other ways of thinking as a good thing and learn how to control
emotions and convey respective dialogue if they feel they are not being treated fairly.
3: Students will be able to reflect on their feelings of working in a more intimate style of group work and relate their feelings
to learning new information.
Structure of Lesson:
Have students work with a partner that they normally do not work with (as long as there are no formal issues between the
two). Once they are in their pair, give each pair 6 toothpicks and instruct them that they have to create a four equal side
triangle with the toothpicks lying flat on the ground or table. They are also only allowed to place one toothpick at a time.

12. Lesson Plan 8: (Trust Walk)
Lesson Topic: Using limited resources (loss of sight) learn how to work with some else in building trust when blindfolded
to get through a course that has different opticals throughout.
Essential Questions: How did it feel to be blindfolded and having to be navigated by someone you do not know as well?
How might this be relative in the real world when you are forced to rely on a person say for your job or for transportation that
you do not know? How important then is forming a quick relationship and building trust in this regard to the task at hand and
for the question about a real world situation?
Student Objectives:
1: Students will be able to physical trust their partner to navigate and use all different forms of communication to walk
through a course blindfolded.
2: Students will be able to explain the feelings of difficulty, confusion, frustration, trust, tolerance and any other feelings that
stem from working with a partner by either being blindfolded or being the navigator
3: Students will be able to justify their feelings of how each situation felt throughout the course in their journal and in the
class discussion.
Structure of Lesson:
Using the same partner from lesson 7, each partner will have a chance to be blindfolded and also being the navigator. The
objective is to work together to a course that is set up in the gym and relate after each person has gone through each task
on how it felt to go through a task like this with a limited resource that deals with your physical self.

13. Lesson Plan 9 and 10: (Survivor Challenge)
Lesson Topic: Learning how to solve challenges in a diverse setting with a diverse group.
Essential Question: How did your team formulate duties amongst each other and when did you feel you had a allegiances to your
team by connecting it to creating a culture? How might this survival situation be helpful in your adult life without looking at it as if you are
standard on a island. Connect it with future life issues and situations.
Student Objectives:
1: Students will be able to take all their resources from lessons 1-8 and use them to create a healthy and successful environment.
2: Students will be able to explain how social views, cultural views, political views and even economical views can play a vital role in
completing this challenge.
3: Students will be able to connect feeling from the challenge to real world situations that were discussed in prior lessons through their 1
page essay.
Structure of Lesson:
Teacher will create four even team. Each team is given a flag and they are to create a name to place on it and each player is given a
bandana that represent their team culture stemming from their team name. The teams are “stranded” at different locations throughout
the gym and are given a few essential supplies including: 4 resource challenge cards, 1 raft (folding mat), 1 arrow (playground ball), 5 logs
(noodle pieces), 1 unassembled shelter (tent). The teams have 30 minutes for each day (lesson 9 and 10) to obtain the resources of
water, food, fire, and shelter. These resources are obtained by successfully completing the challenge listed on the resource challenge
cards. (Each team has a resource challenge card for water, food, fire, and shelter). The resources can be obtained in any order. At the
end of 30 minutes on day 2 (lesson 10), the teams are to reflect first with themselves as a team how they were successful or not
successful and write down individually their feelings of how they felt their team performed, how their teammates were respectful or not
respectful of one another, any conflict with other teams, and the overall feelings of working together in a so called “survival challenge”.
Once they have debrief, they are to connect with how this challenge is just like the real world in a one page essay.

14. Community Connections
The final lesson of this unit plan is a survival challenge, which I think would lend
itself perfectly to a school-wide, and eventually, community-wide event.
The community would benefit from this survival challenge because people can
learn more about the different people who live in the community; everyone
could really get to know the diverse cultures in the community through this
survival challenge.
I would have the students run the survival challenge for the community so that
they could have an opportunity to see how powerful their voice really is; they
would be given a chance to be seen as leaders in their community, which will
ultimately encourage them to return and continue this challenge in the future.

15. Limitations
Unfortunately, not every student will be open to these cooperative games at first.
Middle school students have a tendency to be mean to those that are different,
so I will have to really stress the importance of this unit, in connection with their
cooperation.
I will really have to work hard to build my student’s trust, since the topics we will
be covering can be sensitive; I will constantly have to watch out for my
students’ social and emotional well-being.

16. Possibilities
The ultimate goal is that the students connect to these topics so much so that
they return to the community after college, or career, to pass on the
knowledge that they gained.
I want them to see that these games tie into social, emotional, cultural, and
political issues that are present in the community today. These games may
seem fun on the surface, but they are ultimately giving students a “bag of
tricks” when it comes to dealing with difficult issues.
The students will learn to respect, listen, and become a cohesive group working
together to make this world a better place.

17. Reference Page
Zeiler, M. (2007, July 13). Challenge Unit 4-Day Mini Unit: Challenge & Systems Thinking 8th Grade Physical Education [Scholarly project].
InTigurl.org. Retrieved June 24, 2017, from http://www.tigurl.org/images/tiged/docs/activities/829.pdf
Krouscas, J. (2001, November 02). Giant Puzzles. Retrieved June 27, 2017, from
http://www.pecentral.org/lessonideas/ViewLesson.asp?ID=769#.WVLAzWjyvic
Reitnour, K. (2011, January 25). Survivor Houghton. Retrieved June 27, 2017, from
http://www.pecentral.org/lessonideas/ViewLesson.asp?ID=10301#.WVK9lmjyvic
National Standards for K-12 Physical Education Copyright 2013, SHAPE America –Society of Health and Physical Educators, 1900 Association Drive,
Reston, VA 20191, www.shapeamerica.org.