Team Building Lesson Plan

Topic
Team Building

Overview and Purpose

The Center for Children and Technology, in their Adventures in Supercomputing 1993-1994 Evaluation, found that "the size of the group a student worked in, and the sex of the students in that group, are important factors in the type of project work a student is able to accomplish in AiS."  Furthermore, "groups of two or three students, and particularly all-female or mixed-sex groups, were most likely to achieve the integration of content understanding and mastery of computational strategies…."

This module provides the participants with methods to help their students develop the interpersonal skills necessary for successful team membership.

Requirements

Class Time
Total time for activity -- 45-60 minutes
Presentation to group -- 20 minutes
Lab time -- 20-40 minutes

Materials
Instructor's station with computer and projector
Computer lab for online activities
Handouts for activities
Personality Types
Characteristics of a penny
Sub-arctic survival
Or other team building activities

Objectives
Upon completion of this lesson a participant will be able to:

• Explain the benefits of multiple perspectives and diverse skills in solving real world problems;
• Explain the benefits of teamwork as well as the problems of teamwork;
• Teach students conflict resolution techniques;
• Teach students to divide work among themselves;
• Teach students the reasons to be responsible and constructive ways to hold each other accountable;
• Motivate students to work collaboratively.

Background Material and Resources
Vocabulary:

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) - a detailed test to measure psychological type developed by Katharine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers.

Myers-Briggs Four Dimensions of Personality Type:
Extraversion (E) -----|----- Introversion (I)
Sensing (S)         -----|----- Intuition (N)
Thinking (T)       -----|----- Feeling (F)
 Judging (J)          -----|----- Perceiving (P)
Yields 16 personality types (all the possible combinations of the four dimensions)
• Extraverts -- focus their attention and energy on the world outside of themselves; need to experience world to understand it
• Introverts -- focus their attention and energy on the world inside of themselves; need to understand world before experiencing it
• Sensors -- concentrate on what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled and tasted; focus on what is real and concrete
• Intuitives -- interested in meanings, relationships, and possibilities based on facts; focus on implications and inferences
• Thinkers -- prefer decisions that  make sense logically; make decisions by analyzing and weighing the evidence
• Feelers -- make decisions on how much they care or what they feel is right; view themselves as empathetic and compassionate
• Judgers -- seek to regulate and control life; like to have issues resolved
• Perceivers -- seek to understand life rather than controlling it; like to stay open to all kinds of possibilities

Conflict Resolution:  According to The Team Book by Peter R. Scholtes, Brian L. Joiner and Barbara Streibel), people or teams try to deal with conflict in the following manner:

• Avoiding Conflict – you must avoid both the issues likely to lead to conflict and the people with whom you are likely to conflict with.  Based on a belief that easier to avoid conflict than face it.
• Smooth the conflict – minimizing conflict so that group relationships aren’t strained.  Belief that discussing conflicts damages relationships rather than strengthens them.  Sacrifices personal opinions and goals out of fear of losing the relationship.  Tactics include:
• Denying that there is a problem
• Smoothing over the issue or problem
• Changing the topic or focus
• Ignoring the feelings that you have about the issue or problem
• Forcing the conflict – attempts to overpower others and force them to accept your position.  Personal opinions and goals are very important and relationships with others are less important.  Competitive win-lose approach
• Tactics include:
• Attacking others’ ideas
• Using expertise, position or experience to overpower others
• Compromising – tries to get others to give up some of what they want in exchange for giving up some of what you want.  Everyone gives up something and everyone gains something.  Can be lose-lose strategy because no one achieves their goals.  Underlying assumption:  everyone should accept less than they want because that is the best that they can hope for.  (Should be tried after problem solving hasn’t worked)
• Problem Solving – Win-win approach.  Personal goals and group relationships are highly valued.  Purpose to find a path forward that meets everyone’s goals and preserves group relationships.

Resources
On line Textbook, Unit 3 Team Development
Scholtes, Peter R., Joiner, Brian L., Streibel, Barbara J., The Team Handbook, Oriel Incorporated, Madison, Wisconsin, August 1999, pp 6-1-7-23.
Tieger, Paul D. & Barron-Tieger, Barbara, Do What You Are,  Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 1995, pp 3-30.
http://www.trainingplus.com/team.html
http://www.keirsey.com/cgi-bin/keirsey/newkts.cgi
http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/covington/group.htm

Activities/Procedures

• Participants complete one of the teambuilding activities such as "Characteristics of a Penny" or the Sub-Arctic Survival to illustrate why teams are important
• Guided Discussion with PowerPoint slides and student project video to explain concepts and provide human interest stories as illustrative examples (teambuilding.ppt)
• Time permitting, participants take an online personality test such as the Keirsey Temperment Sorter at http://keirsey.com/cgi-bin/keirsey/newkts.cgi.  Discussion in the PowerPoint presentation following this test should focus on the different attitudes, perspectives and skills that individuals bring to a team environment.
• Participants role play representative conflict situations & Discuss (Coordinator role plays teacher intervention)

Resources/References
Scholtes, Peter R., Joiner, Brian L., Streibel, Barbara J., The Team Handbook, Oriel Incorporated, Madison, Wisconsin, August 1999, pp 6-1-7-23.
Tieger, Paul D. & Barron-Tieger, Barbara, Do What You Are,  Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 1995, pp 3-30.
The AiS Online Textbook, Unit 3, Team Development, http://www.krellinst.org/AiS/textbook/unit3/teamdev3.1.html

Teaching Strategies
Guide Discussion focusing on:

• Team life cycle (forming, storming, norming, performing) with specific appropriate examples;
• Elements of successful teams (relate to Project Development lesson plan);
• Definition of team problems and intervention strategies;

Participation in teambuilding exercises

Thought provoking questions (and answers)
What problems would you anticipate with student teamwork in your school? (discuss and post before giving “answers from other groups.”)

How can you recognize poor teamwork early?

How can a poor team sometimes produce good technical results?

Why would you want to avoid that?

National Math and/or Science Standards Met
Professional Development Standards

NSES:  Professional Development Standard D:  Teachers of science communities of science learners that reflect the intellectual rigor of scientific inquiry and the attitudes and social values conducive to science learning.  In doing this teachers:
 
 
 

Component	How it is addressed and met
Nurture collaboration among students	Activities are designed to give participants the skills need to work together Role playing activities will help participates develop the skills needed to deal with situations that arise while working in teams, such as conflict resolution
Structure and facilitate ongoing formal and informal discussion based on a shared understanding of rules of scientific discourse	Team building activities will be selected to highlight the need for constructive communication between team members

Cross Curricular Connections
Language Arts - Communication Skills
Social Studies - Team Building

Assessment/Evaluation Techniques
Objective Evaluation Method
 

Objective	Evaluation Method
Explain the benefits of multiple perspectives and diverse skills in solving real world problems	Ask them to discuss several case studies of AiS projects
Explain the problems of teamwork and the inevitability of conflict	Discussion responses (could be done in a written test)
Teach students conflict resolution techniques	Role playing performance and subsequent discussion
Teach students to divide work among themselves	Develop scoring rubrics for group projects that identify individual contributions to the final project
Teach students the reasons to be responsible and constructive ways to hold each other accountable	Develop individual scoring rubrics for group projects that let the students assess their contributions to the group
Evaluate and diagnose team performance separate from individual performance	See above
Motivate students to work collaboratively

Extensions/Follow-Up
Visit schools and talk to members of the student teams
Talk to students at Expo and focus questions on gathering information about their team experience

Analysis of Lesson and Plan
After the lesson has been taught you may have suggestions or questions.  This section provides a place to voice the questions, additions, and suggestions.  Nothing will go here until reflection after teaching the lesson.  Then the suggestions and additions may be added to the lesson plan.