The Human Knot- Activity 1:
Students were divided into two groups of their own making, and each group was instructed to reach their hands into the centre of the circle, grab hands with one or more individuals across the circle from them, and then without letting go of any hands, untangle themselves.
Students were divided into two groups of their own making, and each group was instructed to reach their hands into the centre of the circle, grab hands with one or more individuals across the circle from them, and then without letting go of any hands, untangle themselves.
Observations:
This was the first team building activity completed by the students, which was made obvious by the student's behaviour during the activity. Of the two groups, one group refused to hold hands with their classmates, screamed at one another, broke hands to solve the knot, and had students laying down in the middle of the circle rather than working with their teammates. Once having 'solved' their knot, this group refused to try again, and instead spent the rest of the period watching the second group successfully solve their knot.
Featured above is the second group, who saw much more success with this activity. These students quickly understood that they would need to be moving around, reaching above and below, turning, and listening to one another in order to become untangled. As such, this group took twice as long as the first group, and celebrated together once they had completed the task.
This was the first team building activity completed by the students, which was made obvious by the student's behaviour during the activity. Of the two groups, one group refused to hold hands with their classmates, screamed at one another, broke hands to solve the knot, and had students laying down in the middle of the circle rather than working with their teammates. Once having 'solved' their knot, this group refused to try again, and instead spent the rest of the period watching the second group successfully solve their knot.
Featured above is the second group, who saw much more success with this activity. These students quickly understood that they would need to be moving around, reaching above and below, turning, and listening to one another in order to become untangled. As such, this group took twice as long as the first group, and celebrated together once they had completed the task.
Put yourself in our classroom with audio from the activity: