TEACHING WITH TEQ DECK


Find the Connection

 

Each card in the TEQ Deck connects to other cards in the deck in meaningful ways. For instance, online schoolwork and eco v tech are both explicitly about tradeoffs. The first concerns weighing students’ rights to privacy against benefits of online education; the second concerns how to weigh the potential benefits of new technologies against potential harms to local ecosystems and the planet. Online schoolwork is also connected to sharing DNA, in that both are about privacy, but eco v tech is not.

The activity described below is a game based on finding connections among the various cards with respect to philosophical, ethical, technological or other dimensions along which they relate. The goal is to collect six cards that can be linked in a chain, with each pair connected by one of ten conceptual Connectors. For instance, if a player has both the eco v tech and online schoolwork cards in their hand, they could place them next to one another, using the Tradeoff connector (below). The person who is the first to make a successful chain with their cards wins.

Teachers have latitude to construct the connectors they will use, according to the themes of the course and the concepts they wish their students to be working with. For easy adoption, here is a default set:       

          Tradeoffs (e.g., coding ethics and eco v tech)

          Language (e.g., space & language and ‘ethics’)

          Privacy (e.g., posing for pictures and mind-reading)

          Evidence & likelihood (e.g., echo chambers and uncertainty)

          Social equity (e.g., work photos and android appearance)

          Genomics & gene-editing (e.g., NBA and sharing DNA)

          Life & death (e.g., living on and grandpa proxy)

          Methodology (e.g., Pandora’s Box and speculative fiction)

          Consciousness (e.g., hitting pause and uncertainty)

          Earth & animals (e.g., synthetic meat and eco v tech)

“Find the Connection” is best suited for courses in ethics and technology (broadly construed), as it is conceptually more demanding than activities like Gallery Walk.


Materials

  • TEQ Decks (enough for each group of 4 students);
  • List of 8-10 Connectors, to be made accessible to students digitally, via whiteboard, or on printed paper (one sheet per group).

Preparation 

1. Introduction

  • Begin by introducing the notion of a Connector to the class and the ten Connectors you’ll be using in the game;
  • Then explain the goal and rules of the game (as below);

2. Divide the students into groups of 3 or 4;

3. Distribute a TEQ deck to each group;

4. Provide students with access to the 10 Connectors (digitally, via whiteboard, or on one printed paper per group).

To Start

The dealer, to be selected by the group, begins by dealing six cards to each player. The dealer then turns the next two cards face up and places the rest of the deck (the draw pile) next to them.

Players might take a minute or two to look at their cards, thinking about which could be connected.

The person to the dealer’s left takes the first turn. Turns will continue clockwise.

A Player’s Turn

A player does one of two things on their turn: If they want either of the two cards that are facing up, they can pick it up and replace it with one of the cards in their hand. Alternatively, they can take the card from the top of the draw pile, giving them seven cards. They then discard one card (this can be the card they drew) and place it face up on top of one of the two piles facing up, thereby covering the top card and rendering it inaccessible.

Winning the Game 

When a player believes that they can string all six of their cards together using Connectors, they will, on their next turn, announce that to the other players. They then walk through their chain of cards explaining each connection. (The Connectors need not all be different.) The other players then discuss whether the Connectors adequately connect the cards. If half or more than half of the other players judge it to be successful, the player wins. If fewer than half give a positive verdict, the player loses their turn, and the game continues with the player to their left.

 

* Designed by Jon Ellis & Emily Robertson, inspired by the game 10 Days in the USA.