Arranging squares
A task which depends on members of the group working
collaboratively to reach a single goal.
Age
11 to 18
Challenge level
Problem
This is one of a series of problems designed to develop learners' team working skills. Other tasks in the series can be found by going to this article.
Image
What are you aiming to do?
For the task:
The team has to recreate an arrangement of squares which matches all the information on their cards without showing each team member's information to anyone else.As a team:
- Allowing everyone to contribute
- Listening
- Asking questions and finding out what others think
- Sharing knowledge and reasoning
- Reflecting and making use of what has been said
- Coming to a consensus
Getting started
You will be working in a
team of four. Ensure that you have plenty of red, green, yellow and
blue squares. You cannot use paper or pencil to help you because
you need to listen to what others have to say.
Discuss how you will work
together and share your ideas.
Put the pile of 16 cards
face down in the centre of the table.
Tackling the problem
Each member of the team takes a card from the pile in turn (enough for four cards each).Rules
- Team members cannot show their cards to anyone else on the team.
- A team member can describe what is on each of their cards.
- Team members can ask questions to help them make sense of what is on their cards, or on someone else's cards.
- The task is complete when everyone agrees that the arrangement they have made matches everything that is on their cards.
- Check that no one reveals their cards or writes anything down.
- Identify points where team members share knowledge and reasoning and listen to each other.
- Identify points where team members make decisions together.
- Note whether all members of the team are involved.
Student Solutions
Here is a solution:
Image
Teachers' Resources
Why do this problem?
This task
encourages the development of team working skills such as
listening, asking questions, finding out what others think,
reflecting and making sense of what has been said, and eventually
coming to a consensus. If you wish to learn more about these skills
and find other team-building tasks look at this article.
In addition learners are
expected to use precision in describing an arrangement of
objects.
Possible approach
The task is based on a
team of four plus an observer.
You will need a
collection of red, green, yellow and blue squares or the
equivalent.
Explain the rules before
any equipment is handed out as it is important that teams do not
look at each other's cards or make notes to help them remember what
has been said. This emphasises the idea that everyone has a part to
play and reduces the chance of one person taking over the problem
and leaving others with nothing to do.
It is good to have an
observer in this task but, if this is not possible, the observer
check list might make a good starting point for you to use for
feedback.
The cards can be found here.
When teams have finished
working on the task it is important to spend time asking them to
discuss in groups, and then as a whole class, how well they worked
as a team, what they have learned from the experience and what they
would do differently next time. Your own observations, as well as
those of observers, might inform the discussions.
Key questions
- Has anyone got a card that they think has useful piece of information to start with? Can you expain why this is a useful card?
- Have you used all the information you have been given?
- How well did you listen to others in your group?
- How easy was it to share what you knew?
Possible extension
Learners may like to try
one of the other 'All for one' tasks. Other team-building tasks can
be found by going to this article.
Possible support
Learners can reveal one
(or more) of their cards at a time. Other team-building tasks can
be found by going to this article.