MULTICULTURAL HUMAN BINGO

Directions: 1. You have 10 minutes to find the people who fit the description on the BINGO board

2.   Have each person initial the square that describes them

3.   When the 10 minutes are up, we will see who has filled in the most squares

4.   You must ask each question individually, don’t ask, “Which one describes you?”

5.   You can only have each person’s name on your sheet once.

THE GREAT TEXAS LIZARD EGG

Equipment: 1 bowling ball, one 3 to 5 foot rope per participant, a milk crate or bowling ball carrying bag

Objective: To move the bowling ball across a space and into the crate (bag).

Activity Instructions: "You have found yourselves in the middle of a crisis. An egg from a giant Texas  lizard has rolled from its nest and needs to be replaced before the mother returns. Unfortunately, the shell of the lizard egg has properties of the adult lizard's tail: it emits a sweet odor but is highly toxic. Fortunately for you, a game warden has left some specially treated ropes nearby for just such an incident. The ropes have been treated with radiation to eliminate the possibility of a premature hatching. The radiation is at tolerable levels; however, over-exposure causes instant and terrible side-effects such as blindness, muteness or confusion. I once saw several team members develop a 'death grip' on each of their ropes when they were over-exposed. Over-exposure occurs when a person touches his own rope with more than one hand. Somehow you must discover a way to move the egg, without breaking it, back into its nest before the mother returns. Be sure not to contact the egg with anything but the treated ropes. Don't over-expose yourselves ... and don't even try moving that nest. Giant Texas lizards are especially sensitive to movement of their nests. I understand the mother lizards grow to 300 pounds and can strike faster than a snake when they are protecting their young. Good luck!"

Facilitator Notes: As facilitator, you will have several choices to make based upon your group's level of skill/development and your learning objectives:

Distance from the "egg" to the "nest": further is obviously more (sometimes exponentially more) difficult. When is a dropped egg a "cracked egg" or failure? From what height? How closely will you monitor "over-exposure?" Will you ask the group to monitor themselves and inform you, or will you watch like a hawk? What is the penalty for "over-exposure?"

MAGIC MAZE

Equipment: Begin by either laying out stepping blocks or anything that can be used to make a grid.  The grid used for the following mazes is 6 across by 8 tall.   You can make up your own "maze" configuration also. 

Directions: 1. For your team, there is only one correct path through the maze.

2. Once a person has placed both feet in a square, the facilitator will provide feedback on whether this location is on the correct path or not.

3. Only one person from the team may be in the maze at any time.

4. The correct path requires only moves to adjacent squares (forwards, sideways, backwards, diagonally), but does not include any jumps or skipping over any squares.

5. The remaining team members cannot verbally communicate to their team member when they are inside the maze.

6. Only one person from each team may be in the maze at the same time.

7. Give the team planning time before the activity.

Variations: Have two groups start from opposite sides of the maze. Notice whether the two groups compete or work together to find the path.

Discussion: This activity is excellent for exploring competitive environments and how this directs thinking. Also with the requirement that they can’t talk, communication strategies and limitations are often brought up.

CREATIVE CONNECTIONS

Set Up:  Position the buckets as in the diagram below.  Areas for groups should be marked off using boundary markers.

Group A

Group B

Group D

Group C

C

B

D

A

C

A

DC

B

1.   Label two container, front and back, with the color of each of the four teams’ balls, e.g. two buckets marked red, two blue, etc.

2.   Distribute one dozen balls per team of no more than 15 people; each team’s balls will be a different color (or marked somehow to identify with one sub-team).  For safety, use foam or fleece balls.

3.   The closer container for each sub-team is positioned 4 – 6’ from its team’s throwing area; the farther container can be 15 – 20 ‘ away.

Directions:  Say to students, “Each of the four groups represents a different position on a team.  Your primary goal is to maximize the performance of your position.  Your group will accomplish this by getting as many balls of your color into one of your buckets in the allotted time.  You will need to be creative to be successful.  By achieving the highest score for your position, you contribute the maximum value to the overall team.  And the overall goad of the activity is to achieve the highest score for the whole team.  You will have three rounds to achieve the highest score.”

Procedure: 

Round One:

·        The goal is for the whole team to achieve the highest number of points.  The closer container is easier but has a lower score (10 points); the other container is farther away but has a higher score (20 points).

·        Each position or sub-team is responsible for ensuring that all of its balls end up in a container that matches the color of the balls.

·        The team will have at least three rounds to achieve their best score.  Each round lasts 90 seconds or until all balls are in the containers.

·        All balls must start each round behind the boundary line where they are currently located.  (Position A’s balls must always start in Position A’s area)  If the balls are in a bag to start, the bag may not be used as part of the solution.

·        Each small position or sub-team divides itself into Throwers and Retrievers; the roles are permanent for that round.  The sub-team decides how many people are in each role.

·        Retrievers are only allowed to retrieve balls that are on the floor and roll them back to the Throwers.  Retrievers may not do anything to assist getting a thrown ball into a container.  Retrievers can roam anywhere in the area where the containers are.  If a Retriever intentionally directs a ball into a container, the score for that container is nullified for that round.

·        Throwers must remain behind the boundary marker at all times.

·        When using nerf-type balls, to count, each one must bounce at least once on the floor before landing in a container.

·        The boundary markers and the containers may not be moved.

Round Two:  Additional Rules (STAY ON ROUND 1 IF NECESSARY TO ENSURE GROUP SAFETY)

Say to the students, “Due to the success of our first cycle, the team is investing in a new training program.  We are creating a third job role:  Backboard.  Each group must now allocate its people into one of three roles.”

·        Backboard may use their bodies to assist balls into a container.  Backboards may not use their arms from shoulder to hands; they may only use their torso and lets.

·        Each role is permanent for this round.

Round Three:  Additional Rules (STAY ON ROUND 1 OR 2 IF NECESSARY TO ENSURE GROUP SAFETY)

·        For this round, all three roles are present and they are interchangeable.  People can change roles at any time during the round.

Discussion: 

·        What did the team do in order to raise its score from the first to the final round?

·        What factors contributed either to the overall team’s success or to its inability to achieve a satisfactory score?

·        What was the focus of each group during the activity?  Did that focus change or stay the same?  Why?

·        What did it take for the class to be really creative in how they did this activity?

·        What factors are necessary for students to be creative and to be this collaborative in school?

Tips & Comments

It is generally helpful to move into Round One as quickly as possible with a minimal amount of planning and discussion.  Typically, groups will assume they are competing with the other groups to produce the highest score.  Allowing too much time for discussion at the outset may allow the teams to identify and organize a collaborative strategy.

If you hear such discussion, you may want to move into the action as quickly as possible.  It’s not that you want to prevent the teams from uniting behind a collaborative strategy, but the power of collaboration becomes even more evident and valuable if the first round evolves in a more chaotic, individualistic pattern.

Have a flip chart set up and record the scores for each round and for each sub-team on that chart.  It also helps to total each round’s scores so that the class begins to see that the total for the larger team is important.

To explore leadership issues and dynamics more deeply, ask for one or two leaders from each of the four groups at the outset of the activity.  Tell the leaders in a separate briefing, prior to the start of the action, that they may call a strategic planning session twice during the activity.  There are only two planning sessions for the entire team and each lasts three minutes.  Whenever a planning session is called, all activity stops for three minutes.  In the discussion, focus some questions on the actions of the leaders and the impact they had on the group’s performance.

In general, four people on a sub-team are the minimum in order for there to be sufficient numbers to fill all three roles.  If necessary, make smaller sub-teams, positioning the higher point container closer to another team.