Building Communications

_Goal:
  • To explore teamwork, communication and creative problem-solving

Procedures:
  • This activity is designed for face-to-face environments.
  • Split group into two to four subgroups and give each group the same exact building supplies.  Tinker Toys work well for this.  Take the groups to separate locations so they have no visual or direct verbal access to one another.
  • Ask the group to assign a communicator, someone who communicates with the other groups using his or her mobile device.  
  • Give them the instruction that they are to create three structures that look exactly alike and to do so, they need to communicate to the other groups via their mobile devices.  This can be done either through voice or texting but no images can be sent.  The communicator can only convey instructions received from the other teams, but cannot be involved in the actual hands-on building of the structure
  • Once the groups believe that they have completed the task, tell them that they can send pictures of their structure to the other groups for a final confirmation.
  • Bring the groups back together to have them compare their structures.