It's basically an equipment race. I believe my university lecturer likened it to a formula 1 race. The idea being you start with too much equipment and over the course of a number of trials you slim your equipment down into a fast oiled machine; you're basically starting with a bus and ending with a F1 racing car. In addition whilst you are trialing your machine, your group is developing into a tight team of experts, taking on roles to make the machine move as quickly and efficiently as possible.
I would divide a class of 20 students into 4 groups of 5. The equipment could be anything, but this time I went for 3 gymnastics mats, 3 poly spots and a hula hoop.
The objective being they race down the gym without touching the floor. If they touch they all have to sit and give themselves a slow count of 10 seconds. For the trials I let the students referee themselves with the warning that if they cheat and don't sit for a count of 10, I'll put them back to the beginning again :). In addition I make it clear that they can not leave equipment behind - everything has to be carried with them.
I usually have them start on the folded gym mats pushed up against the wall, and tell them they have to finish mirror imaged on the other side, again mats pushed up against the wall.
Once they have gone once, I announce that they can now get into discussions with their team and decide if they need to get rid of any unwanted equipment.
Again we race. Again I give them the opportunity to get rid of any equipment or do they think they need any back?
We have trials a total of 3 times, where students gradually trim down their equipment and develop their roles and team work skills.
Finally we're at the championship race, where hopefully they've become experts in getting their now super slimmed down equipment across the gym.
I now take back control of the penalty 10 second count, just to make sure the final isn't filled with controversy.
I believe this is a great lesson that develops team work, critical thinking, problem solving, discussion, negotiation etc. etc. as well as giving them a great upper body workout :)
Of course the whole distance could be done with just 2 mats, but the students rarely see it like that!
PS. I love this lesson because over the course of the trials it's the team that comes last or close to last each time wins the championship! They are the team that experiments most with their equipment - it's brilliant :)
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| 10 second penalty count |
