Zoom

Overview

The Why

Reinforced Values
Be Principled
Knowledge
Win-Win

Zoom illustrates the costs and barriers to exchanging needed knowledge and information in a fun, interactive way. When students complete this activity, they will have an understanding that sharing knowledge and seeking information is costly, but essential when trying to solve challenges. They should also be able to identify barriers to sharing knowledge and information and brainstorm potential ways to remove those barriers. Additionally, this activity will provide students an opportunity to consider the importance of sharing knowledge and information with others.

Intro

Suggested Activity Introduction: Welcome to Zoom! This activity has two distinct parts. The first is an activity and second part is a reflection on the activity. Let’s jump in! 

• Walk through the instructions with your students before having them open the envelope you mailed/delivered to each of them. Tell students that there is an incentive and what they must do to earn it. This could be getting the order of pages correct or getting them correct in a specified amount of time. Do not show them your copy of the book or any of its pages.

Social and Emotional Skills

1. In this activity, students will practice Relationship Skills as they are attempting to communicate with their peers and work together to put the pages of the story in the correct order. Seeking and sharing knowledge are central to this activity if students are to be successful, as they must clearly communicate the details on their page, while also listening to what other students have on their pages. At times, there may be conflict that must be negotiated, as students will likely have different ideas about what order the pages should go in.
2. Students will also practice Responsible Decision-Making as they analyze how to put the pages of the story in order. As different ideas are presented, students will be faced with evaluating which one is most likely to work. Together as a team they must determine how to collectively move forward from the chaos and lack of knowledge that presents itself in the beginning of the activity. Will they select one leader or idea? Will they try multiple, different solutions? Additionally, you will notice students needing to tap into their self-management skills during this activity because it can feel frustrating, confusing, chaotic, and stressful when the activity starts. The time constraint adds another layer of complexity and potential stress as students must manage themselves while simultaneously working together to solve the puzzle in a limited amount of time.

Preparation

• Determine how you will share the pages with your students. 
• If you do not have enough students to do all the pages of the book, you can choose which pages to leave out. 
• If you have a class with 10 students or fewer, you can choose to break the book into sections. Challenge students to complete each section before asking them to open the next section from the package you mailed/delivered. Example: With a class of 6 students, break the book into 5 sections, giving students pages from one section at a time. When they have completed that section, ask them to open the next set of pages. 
  • Protip: If breaking the book into sections for rounds, be sure to notate which pictures go in each round prior to sending the pages to the students. 
• Set up an online timer that students can see on their screens. 
• Review the entire activity guide.
• Determine how you will engage students in the debrief following the activity.

Directions

• Instructions: You each have received a page from a book that you may not show to anyone else. You may describe it however you wish but cannot show it to anyone. The goal is to put the pieces of the story portrayed on each page in order. If you complete the activity in the allotted time, an incentive will be available. Be sure to tell me when you think you are finished. What questions do you have before we begin?
• Expect the following questions: 
  • Q: Can we read the text? A: There is no text. 
  • Q: Is there a right order? A: There is, it’s just like the book. Do not show the students the individual pages of the book or let them remove the page(s) from the mailing envelope until you tell them to do so. 
  • Q: What time do we have to beat? A: 5 – 8 minutes (If it is a larger group 8 minutes is sufficient. For groups smaller than ten, 5 minutes is a good time limit.) 
• “Remember, you MAY NOT show anyone else your page. Take a minute to examine your page and ensure you have your microphone unmuted. On my start, you may each begin describing your page, but remember you MAY NOT show your page to anyone.” 
  • Protip: If conducting this activity virtually with a large group of students, it will sound and feel very chaotic as students are trying to share and seek knowledge all at once. It may be helpful to split the book into rounds of smaller sections for larger classes. With this approach you may only have 5-10 students participating during each round while the rest of the class is observing. But keep in mind that no matter what transpires, this activity is meant to be chaotic and to bring about spontaneous order.
  • EdTech tip: Consider utilizing Padlet to give students the option to simultaneously type out the descriptions of their pages within virtual post-it notes as opposed to verbally sharing via Zoom or other videoconferencing platforms.
• While students are doing the activity, make note of when they reach a turning point and when the level of centralization versus decentralization begins to occur. 
  • Sometimes groups will centralize by having a single person coordinate or be completely decentralized by not having a leader (or anywhere between the two). 
• Students can usually tell when they have the correct order, but they don’t necessarily know whether the story should zoom in or zoom out. 

Options: 

• You can do Zoom in more than one round if they are not successful in the first round or if they want to try to get a faster time. 
• After an unsuccessful first round, ask the students why they were unsuccessful. Why was it challenging? They will probably say it was because they don’t know what the book was about or if they were zooming in or out. They may tell you they didn’t have enough information. 
• Ask them if it would help to have more information. They will more than likely say yes. 
• At this point you might show them the first and last page of the book. Then, give them another 5 to 8 minutes to put the pages in order.

At the close of the activity, ask students to delete the pages you posted on the classroom platform or to mail the pages back to you in the stamped self-return envelope you provided so that you can use them again with future classes. Be sure to incentivize students individually using virtual currency for returning their pages. You could also choose to incentivize the entire class should they all return their pages.

Debrief

Students can complete the debrief in several ways. Some options include on paper, in a group setting via any virtual call platform, or by recording their feedback using EdTech tools and sharing with their classmates.

When everyone has settled down ask: 

• What problems did you face achieving your goal? 
  • Lack of context, different methods of communication, different ideas of what was important in the picture, lots of people and need to repeat oneself. 
  • There is always a cost to gaining knowledge and sharing information. Drive this point home by bringing up economic concepts like opportunity cost (time spent gathering information is not free). 
• Ask about times they have experienced similar problems to those just discussed. 
  • How do you know it is a knowledge problem and not a vision problem? 
  • Make sure your students understand what you mean by knowledge problem and vision problem. Now may be a good time to define them as a class and give examples. 
    • Looking back, what were some early signs of the knowledge problem? 
    • What was the magnitude of the problem? 
• What problems or costs are associated with sharing knowledge? 
  • What might happen to the outcome of this activity if you all shared knowledge about it with students outside the class?
• What assumptions did you have entering the activity? 
  • Some probable answers: The book was a chronological story, there would be text, expected one page was text with a matching page of a picture, they thought the theme of the book is something about cars, etc. 
• Why is it important to consider assumptions when dealing with a knowledge problem like the one in this activity? 
  • If they had started the activity without such assumptions, perhaps they would have finished faster. 
  • What would you do differently next time? 
• If you were the facilitator, how would you start the activity? 
• Did you feel the team demonstrated respect as you encountered communications challenges? 
• While collaborating as a team on this activity, how important was integrity to accomplishing your goal? 
• While collaborating as a team, did your team face any challenges in the areas of respect or toleration that prevented you from reaching your goal? 
• What are ways that acting with integrity, respect and toleration add value when collaborating with others? 
• How would you rate the level of cooperation in this activity? 
• What behaviors did the team demonstrate that helped improve cooperation towards the goal? Hindered cooperation towards the goal? 
• Does cooperation add value and increase efficiency when trying to accomplish common goals?