TOPIC AREAS: Problem Solving, Working Together
CONCEPT: Being able to work as part of a team to solve problems is one of the employee
characteristics that our large and small companies alike are screaming for. The challenges in today’s workplace call for combining knowledge with common sense in an effort to increase productivity. Workers who lack the ability to look at a problem from more than one angle or who are locked into simply following someone else’s instructions are not going to advance. We need to allow our students opportunities to experience solving problems that have no easy or right solution.
METHOD: Classroom activity
TIME NEEDED: 40 minutes and discussion time MATERIALS NEEDED:
Twenty feet of thin rope for each team of 4-6 3 tennis balls per team
4 blindfolds per team 1 roll of masking tape
ACTIVITY: This activity is set up by using masking tape to create the edges of the river. The lines
need to be set ten feet apart. If you have multiple teams, you can either make a number of rivers all around the room or just make one long river and space them out along it. On one side of the river you place two blindfolds and the rope. On the other side you place two blindfolds and three tennis balls. Divide your group into teams of four to six people. Have them sit in their groups and read the following story to them.
YOUR SPECIAL MISSION
An environmental team has been sent to an island to dispose of three radioactive containers. The team’s helicopter has crash landed next to a molten lava river that no one can get across. Part of the team has landed on one side of the river and the rest of the team landed on the other side. All three containers landed on one side of the river. Everything burned during the crash except for four pieces of cloth, a length of rope and the clothes that you are wearing. The radioactive containers are emitting a radioactive light that can’t be seen, but is deadly to the human eye. Therefore, anytime anyone touches the containers or the rope, he/she must be blindfolded.
Your job is to transport the three containers from one side of the river to the other so they can be moved to a safer location. The containers must not be subjected to quick movements or they will explode. Since the containers might explode, they must be moved across the river one at a time. Nothing can be used from the surrounding area to help you transport the containers because the area is infected with a jungle virus that is spread by touching. If during the transporting of the containers any part of the rope, the containers or the bodies of the team members touch the river, then all three containers must be returned (by the river guardian) to the side of the river from which they came.
Good Luck and Be Safe!
After you read the story to the students, allow three minutes of planning time for each team to discuss strategies among themselves. At the end of the planning time, they must divide themselves up on the two sides of the river with whatever number on each side they feel will work best and begin to move the containers. Once the division is made, they must remain on that side of the river. They may still talk as they work on the problem. As the river guardian, you are protected from the heat of the river and can freely move back and forth across the river.
Be sure to watch to make sure they obey the restriction that anyone who touches the rope or containers is blindfolded. If you would like, you may place a time limit on how long they have to accomplish this task. Calling out the time left in the activity can help create tension. If you see them ready to swing, fling or throw the containers across, remind them that quick movements will cause the containers to explode. If any of these restrictions make the activity too hard or too easy for your group, simply make changes to accommodate the abilities of your group.
Solution ideas: They will be able to just throw the rope across. The hard part will be doing it blindfolded. Figuring out the containers is a little harder. One solution is to use the blindfolds to transport the containers across the river. They can tie a tennis ball up in a blindfold. Then they tie the blindfold around the rope and slide it across the river. If you wish to make the activity harder, eliminate this as an option or allow it to be used for the first container only. Other possible solutions include using a shoe, shirt or other article of clothing to transport the containers across the river using the rope. To accomplish this, one person holds the rope up high on one side of the river and another person holds it done low on the other side of the river. Then you tie whatever you are using (for example, a shoe) to transport the containers over the rope and use it as a “zip line” to slide items across the river. There are other solutions; let the kids show them to you.
DISCUSSION IDEAS:
What was your first reaction to the activity?
What did your team do during the planning time before the activity started? How were the plans made? Was your original plan successful?
What changes did you have to make during the activity?
Who was your leader during the activity? How was this person chosen? Did the leader change during the activity? Why or why not?
Which person would you rather be: the leader or follower? Why? Was your team successful in completing the assignment?
If you were to do this activity again, what would you do differently? Why?
How many people did you put on each side? Why? Would you do it differently next time? What can we learn from this activity?
Where in our daily lives can you apply the lessons you learned during this activity? How does this activity compare with being in the workplace?