e-zine August 2009, Volume 1, Issue 5

Team Building Exercise Puts SUN Staff in Students' Shoes

Most instructors will agree that learning can be enhanced by building teams of "learning cohorts".

Networks of learners bring a broad brush of ideas and skill sets that can truly enrich the adult education experience for all. At a recent SUN workshop held in Denver, several SUN instructors and staff took part in a "Helium Hula-Hoop Experiment" conducted by Durango Adult Education SUN Navigator, Tim Birchard.

Designed to devleop cirtical thinking skills, improve collaboration and group communication skills, the hula-hoop experiment did more than simply encourage individuals to complete a task as a group. It reminded participants that team members come in a variety of packages. Volunteers were selected randomly from the workshop group and asked to place an ordinary hula-hoop on the tops of their extended index fingers, balancing it as best they could.

Next, the group was asked to lower the hula-hoop to the floor collectively, without dropping it and keeping it as level as possible. Participants were permitted to communicate instructions to each other, but under no circumstances could they remove their fingers from the hula-hoop.

Sounds easy enough right?

Not really.

What the group discovered was that members became confused with more than one person directing the operation. In addition, simple differences in the members' physical attributes such as height differences posed complications as well. Participants improved their ability to identify challenges, improved their troubleshooting techniques and ability to identify strategies for success and apply them to other goal-driven processes such as succeeding in college.

Activity Download:

Team Building Activities for Developing Learning Communities PDF download »