Using Games Theory to explain benefits of Forgiveness

(This page is a work in progress - I will be updating it after the event for which it was created has actually occurred).
I'm planning an outreach activity for the Local Methodist Church's Messy Church family event. It involves showing how a branch of mathematics (Game Theory) can demonstrate the benefits of forgiveness in a game.
I'm using the classic Peace-War game.
The cards and the activities text for the game are downloadable from Dropbox, just follow the links. These are both in Adobe PDF format so you will need to install the free Acrobat Reader software if it is not already on your computer. I printed them, used a laminator and then cut the cards up. Despite printing a pattern on the other side, the cards came out a little transparent for my liking. I'd suggest printing on some lightweight coloured card rather than white paper.

Another 'Messy Church' event

Two saturdays ago, I did another of these events.
Being Pentecost there was a loose theme on wind, fire and speaking in tongues. A quick head-count of the families attending indicated over fifty people on the the night.

I provided two science engagement activities ( one for outdoors and one for indoors if the weather let us down). These were the Stomp Rockets and one based on the Stroop Effect (to demonstrate how an experiment is designed and statistical analysis of the results). The latter didn't get much attention (It would probably work better at a science fair type venue). The rockets did much better. One thing that was almost as good as the children enjoying launching their creations was the parents reactions. They seemed to think that the rockets wouldn't go very high or far when propelled by my pipe and 2-litre bottle launchers. This notion was quickly abused by the first few flights :-). I think that there may still be a couple of the rockets stuck on the church roof (sorry about that....).

A compliment much appreciated...

Looking through my Google Analytics data, I found that this site had found my blog and upon further investigation found this rather nice compliment about the heart outreach activity I did for a 'Messy Church' event in February :-) Thanks for the kind words!

Messy Church Science activity

Kudos to the organisers. They had over 100 people attending as families on this Valentines/Heart/Love themed evening. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves which bodes well for their next planned event at the end of March. I'd like to thank the organisers for the opportunity to engage the public with some of the Institute's science.

I probably had about a third of the families have a go at my heart activity (There were craft, cooking and face-painting activities going on as well at the same time) in the one hour slot. Dee & Dawn (our Communications contacts) provided me with some orange IFR wrist-straps which went down very well with the children (they had to attempt the quiz to get a band).
The activity included calculating a mean and explaining averages and how they are sometimes mis-represented in the popular press, the physiology of the heart, finding and measuring their pulse Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (British Heart Foundation's Vinnie Jone's Hard & Fast CPR and the Red Cross's free Android & Iphone First Aid App) and research findings linking nutrition and cardiovascular health.


The answers to the quiz that I ran are:
Q1. Which is the largest artery in the body?   Aorta  

Q2. Measure your pulses and record them here (and please also put them on the big form for analysis). How do you compare to the average

What is the mean (average) family pulse rate? (i.e. add up all the rates and divide by the number of people) (This was obviously specific to the team)

 

Q3. Name the four main chambers of the heart. Right & Left Atrium (Atria),

Right & Left Ventricle(s).

Q4.If you find someone who is unconscious and not breathing, what are the three steps of hands-only CPR?

Dial 999, Push down on the heart, do it to the beat of ‘Staying Alive’

Q5. What gas is transported from the lungs to the cells and what waste gas is carried back? Oxygen(O₂) & Carbon Dioxide (CO₂)

Q6. What is the name of the device used to restore heart rhythm in heart attacks? Defibrillator

Q7. What are phytochemicals and how could they affect heart health?
Naturally-occurring plant chemicals(reduce chance of narrowed or blocked arteries, keep them flexible & healthy)

Q8. Complete these heart-healthy nutrients: Omega-3 . Fatty acids   .  and Beta-. Carotene .

Q9. Is LDL “good” or “bad” Cholesterol?  “Bad”

Q10. What are the three major types of blood vessel? (and can you say how they differ from each other?) Artery, Capillary & Vein A=elastic & stretches, C= narrow and thin & V=has valves to help return of blood back.

Q11. The study of the heart and it’s disorders is called what?Cardiology 

Update: If you want additional interesting heart information visit this Royal Institution blog post
Update: Excellent Google Doodle (animated) forValentine's Day