The Shark vs Dolphin Thinking program poses questions to students and asks them to answer based on the different perspectives of Dolphins and Sharks.
I was really intrigued by this concept and the more I thought about it the more I realised just how many areas it opens up for discussion - apart from the obvious ones regarding the place of both species in the food chain and in the ecology of our planet.
One example: if given the option I suspect an overwhelming majority of girls would choose to be ‘dolphins’ whereas for boys (particularly older boys). the split would probably be closer to 50/50. What does this tell us about the way girls and boys see themselves and the world around them?
Another example: sharks and dolphins are both predators – they eat other living creatures. Why then do humans generally see dolphins as kind and gentle and sharks as cruel and brutal? Is it because 1) dolphins, like us, are social animals, 2) because dolphins don’t eat us and 3) because dolphins are more intelligent (by human standards) than sharks.
