On Wednesday, we dove into our first team challenge of the year. The Make it Move Challenge— can you move a matchbox car across a table without using your body to propel it and without lifting the table? How will you do it using only the materials provided?
(We encourage you to look at the presentation we used in class {linked above} as it will give you an insight into the process we take the kids through.)
The kids were asked to work in groups for the first time this year. We purposefully didn’t give many directions or go over teamwork expectations. Are we crazy? Maybe! But, it all worked out how we wanted it to!
The kids got started. As expected, a few groups had come up with quick solutions that ended up failing. They didn’t meet the requirements, or their plan didn’t work out. What did the kids do? They planned again! They tested again and again until they were successful, or ran out of time!
At the end of class, we reflected together. Many students expressed that there were a wide range of emotions felt in class- excitement to get started, frustration with themselves of others, annoyance with materials, and the one we heard over and over- aggravation for not getting more direction.
This led us to the most perfect conversation. Our intent. EtC is a low stakes class, with unlimited potential, where students will be able to develop teamwork skills, showcase creativity and innovation, and most importantly, fail over and over again. We explained that if we had given TOO many directions or parameters, it would have limited their thinking and willingness to experiment. Instead, we had 5 groups all trying out different plans. We had groups communicating beautifully and other teams struggling to share responsibility. It was sensational. And, it was the perfect segue, as next week we will start examining our teamwork rubric and practicing teamwork expectations in class. We can’t wait!
Check out the pictures and videos below that show the different stages of the challenge!
Gev. Kimmel, Gev. McAdams & Gev. Noorlander
Individual Planning
Team Sharing/Planning
Creating/Executing Plans
Testing
Video 2
Video 1