Lesson plan courtesy of Bruce Willis.
This is something I thought up years ago after watching Die Hard 3. In the movie the city of New York (why is it always NY. What's wrong with say, St Louis ?) is threatened by a psychotic blackmailer who threatens to set off a bomb in one of the schools.
Taking this as my starting point I created a blackmail note which says something to the effect that unless the ciy pays $10,000,000 a bomb will go off. Explain to the students (in bigger classes you'll need to divide them into groups of three or four) that you are they mayor and they are your advisors. Their job is to decide whether the city pays the money or no.
Depending on their answers I give them one of two possible answers. If the agree to pay the second note demands $20,000,000. If they refuse, the note makes it clear that the a bomb has indeed exploded killing many people and that they have only two hours to pay, otherwise a school will be next.
A little macabre perhaps but it does get them talking and discussing in new ways.
BTW I"ll post the actual notes as soon as I get them scanned.
For all you Echelon types out there, don't worry, it's just a lesson outline and none of my students have tried to put this plan into action
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