Before you start
- Print the puzzle pieces; each group of 4 or 5 needs one set
- You will need 20 envelopes (one for each type of puzzle piece). All the copies of puzzle piece 1 go into envelope 1, etc. Hide the 20 envelopes around the room/space
- A newspaper (optional)
- A3 paper (one piece per group of 4 or 5)
- Pens or pencils
- Colouring pens or pencils (optional)
What to do
Tell the participants that they are investigative journalists who want to find and publish information about an issue where the facts and details are often hidden – the trade of weapons and arms worldwide
Split the group into small news teams of four or five participants. Explain that with their team, they need to find information about the arms trade that is hidden around the space in envelopes. However, it’s not easy for journalists to get the full picture. Once they have found their pieces of information, they have to put them together like pieces of a puzzle in order to find out what is really going on
Ask the teams to start searching for the information in the envelopes and to put the pieces together. Each group should take just one printed copy of the information in each envelope, leaving the remaining copies for other news teams to find
Once the group has found all 20 pieces of information, ask them to prepare front pages of newspapers to explain and share their findings. They can combine different pieces of information, or think about news they have heard that they can connect to this information. They don’t have to write full articles – headlines, pictures and subtitles are enough. You can show them an example of a newspaper front page for inspiration. They should think about what information is the most important and will form the main headline, and how to present their articles
After 30 minutes, come back together to present the front pages to each other
Debriefing
• How do you feel about the information you found? What was new for you?
• How did you choose your main headline? Why was this the most important fact?
• Why do you think governments and people buy arms?
• Do arms make us safer?
• Why do you think arms suppliers fuel armed conflicts? Is it just for financial gain?
• What can be done to stop the arms trade?
• What role do you think media can play?
Tips for facilitators
Most the pieces of information given here are from Small Arms Survey (www.smallarmssurvey.org) and Amnesty International (https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/08/killer-facts-the-scale-of-the-global-arms- trade/) but they can be updated and adapted to make the activity relevant for your own group. You can use current news stories, images and statistics.
The activity could be done as a wide game with information hidden around an outside space. You could even get more creative and make video news reports.