Brain Breaks: 27JAN25 - 31JAN25

Brain Breaks -  Monday

Stand up if ...

• You can eat really spicy food

• You enjoy spicy food

• You drink at least five glasses of water a day

Would you rather …

• Have to sing instead of speak or dance instead of walk?

• Have the ability to fly but only at walking speed, or be able to teleport anywhere but only once a day?

Game: Golden Balls

We’re going to play a game called Golden Balls, which is based on a version of the classic Prisoner’s Dilemma. Here’s how it works:

You and your partner are each given the choice to either share or steal a prize. The prize is a sum of money (in our case fake money), and your choices will determine how it gets divided.

Before revealing your decision, you can have a brief discussion with your partner, but once you’re ready, you’ll write your choice on a piece of paper in secret.

The possible outcomes are:

• If both of you choose "share", you will each receive half of the prize.

• If one of you chooses "steal" and the other chooses "share", the person who chose steal will win the entire prize, while the one who chose "share" gets nothing.

• If both of you choose "steal", neither of you wins anything, and you both lose the prize.

The challenge is to figure out what to do. Should you trust your partner and share, or is it better to steal and try to win it all for yourself?

Brain Breaks - Tuesday

Stand up if ...

• You can name an African Country

• You think the school day is too long

• You think humans are getting lazier and lazier with each generation and vice versa

Would you rather …

• Be really cool or be really competent?

• Have stairs in your house or an elevator?

Game: Mary’s Room

We’re going to play a thought experiment game based on a classic philosophy puzzle called Mary’s Room. Here’s how it works:

• Imagine Mary lives in a completely black-and-white room. She only has access to black-and-white books, black-and-white screens, and all the knowledge she learns about colour comes from reading about it in books and studying it through black-and-white images. She knows everything there is to know about the science of colour vision in physics and biology.

• One day, her computer screen breaks and suddenly shows the colour red. For the first time, Mary actually sees colour!

Now, the big question is: Does Mary learn anything new when she sees red for the first time, despite already knowing all the scientific facts about colour?

The discussion here is about a philosophical concept called qualia—the individual, subjective experiences of consciousness, like how we each perceive colour or pain. 

Brain Breaks - Wednesday

Stand up if ...

• You have been to the circus

• You can do a circus trick

• You would like to live interstate/overseas at some point in your life

Would you rather …

• Live in the North Pole or the South Pole?

• Live on the equator or on one of the Poles?

Game: Toe Tapping

We’re going to play a game called Toe Tapping with a partner! Here’s how it works: You and your partner will tap your feet in a specific sequence. The pattern goes like this:

• Once with the right foot

• Three times with the left foot

• Twice with the right foot

The sequence looks like this: 1-3-2. 

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0uiA6UITDw

Brain Breaks - Thursday

Stand up if ...

• You think a brain could ever understand itself

• You can name a state or province of Canada

• You have a sports trophy at home

Would you rather …

• Own a blimp or a hot air balloon? 

• Have a boring career that pays amazing or a remarkable career that pays poorly

Game: Simon Says

We’re going to play a game called Simon Says. Here’s how it works: I will give you a series of instructions, but you should only follow the instructions that start with "Simon says." If I give an instruction without saying, "Simon says," you should not do it. If you follow an instruction when I didn’t say "Simon says," you’re out! The goal is to stay in the game by only following the "Simon says" commands. Ready? Let’s go!

Brain Breaks - Friday

Stand up if ...

• You think that there is a planet that looks exactly like ours, but the humans all have blue hair. 

• You hate the smell of hand sanitiser

• You get scared when it is a full moon

Would you rather …

• Have only salty or sweet foods?

• Spend more money on clothes or on food?

Game: Timed chatter

We’re going to play a game called Timed Chatter. Here’s how it works: I’ll set a timer, and during that time, you have to talk nonstop about any topic! The goal is to keep the conversation going without pausing, getting stuck, or repeating yourselves.