The square
By facing a problem together, students must negotiate and communicate to be successful. By working together as a class, students can feel connected to each other and identify the steps they need to take to achieve a common goal.
Year level
7-10
Duration
5 minutes
Type
In class activity
Online learning
SEL Competencies
Self-awareness
Self-management
Social awareness
Learning intention
Students learn the importance of working together to build relationships and connections.
Key outcomes
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
work together to reach a common goal
recognise effective group work strategies.
Materials needed
A long piece of rope (10–20 metres).
An open space where students can stand in a large circle and move around comfortably.
Blindfolds for each student (optional). (You can ask students to close their eyes as an alternative.)
Mapped to
Australian Curriculum: General Capabilities
Personal and Social Capability:
Social awareness
Social management
Self-awareness
Self-management
Activity 1
Instructions
5 minutes
Explain to students that this activity involves learning how to work as a team.
Place the rope on the floor in a loose circle and ask students to stand around the outside of the circle. Then ask students to put on their blindfolds (or close their eyes), bend down and pick up the piece of rope.
Ask the students to form the rope into a square shape, still without looking at what they are doing or speaking with one another. After they have spent one minute trying to make a square shape, ask them to lower the rope to the ground, take a step back and then remove their blindfolds or open their eyes to see the shape they made.
It’s likely that the shape won’t be a square, as the students had no way of knowing who was going where. Explain that they now have some time to talk tactics and work as a group. They can choose four people to be the square corners, or they may use a different tactic. The idea is to get the students working together.
Once they have come up with a plan, ask them to put their blindfolds back on, or close their eyes, and have another attempt at making the square.
Students may need another session to work out a plan before they can successfully make a square shape with the rope.
Once they have successfully made a square shape with the rope while blindfolded, they can try for other shapes as well.
