Activity: The Fish Game

Video Demonstration:

Lesson Description:

In this lesson, students catch fish in the classroom lake, first, when the fish are owned in common, and then, when fish are owned privately.  They experience first-hand a tragedy of the commons and examine the incentives at play with different types of property rights.

Time required:

10-15 minutes

Materials:

• 2 large sheets of chart or butcher paper OR 2 overhead transparencies
• Leave one chart/overhead  blank
• Using a large marker, divide the other into 6-8 sections with irregular shapes and sizes
• 15 – 20 goldfish crackers
• quarters – 4 times the number of crackers

Concepts:

property rights
the tragedy of the commons
market approaches to conservation