Why are people hungry?

What do I want to find out?

What pupils know and think about the causes and consequences of hunger around the world and what can be done about it.

Nine opaque pots with lids, each with a hole big enough for a bean to pass through.
A bowl of beans.
A sheet to record the number of beans placed in each pot.
Nine cards showing possible reasons why people may be hungry. Choose from the following cards or create your own. You may prefer to use the terminology Majority World/poor countries, or Minority World/rich countries.

There are too many people	People can’t grow enough food because of wars
People in rich countries don’t give enough in aid or charity	The international trading system is unfair to poor countries
Food grown on the best farmland in poor countries is sold to rich countries	Climate change means floods or drought in poor countries
Corruption and bad government in poor countries	People are too poor to buy enough food
People in poor countries are not paid enough for what they grow	People in rich countries want to pay less for the things they buy, so wages in poor countries stay low
Many big companies don’t pay the taxes they should in poor countries	Farmers in poor countries don’t use new ways of growing more food
None of these	I don’t know

Arrange the nine cards beside the nine pots.
With the pupils in groups, give each of them three beans to vote for their preferred answers. Ask them why they think people are hungry.
Explain they can vote for three different reasons, putting one bean in each of three pots, or two and one, or put all three beans in one pot.
Read each label out and clarify what it means, this allows pupils time to consider how they want to vote.
When they have each decided pupils should vote, putting their beans into the pots at the same time, to minimise influencing each other.
Pupils count the beans in each pot and record the numbers.

Collate the results: add up the scores from the whole class and work out the percentage of votes for each reason.
Consider the explanations and comments. Is there a prevailing view?
To what extent are overpopulation, poverty and fall in charitable giving blamed as causes of hunger?
Is it assumed that hunger only exists in the Majority World? Is hunger in the UK and Europe viewed differently from hunger in Africa for example?

When you repeat the activity in exactly the same way at least a year later, pupils can compare the two sets of responses, look for change and think about what influenced that change.
Look for a decrease in responses blaming overpopulation, corruption and lack of aid.
Look for a corresponding increased awareness of interdependence e.g. the extent to which we depend on imported food and eat food grown in countries in the Majority World where people are malnourished.
To what extent do pupils show an understanding of the barriers to international trade in food, and appreciate that some Minority World countries subsidise their food exports, which makes it harder for Majority World countries to compete.