In this activity, students reflect on group collaboration while completing a challenging task. This process reveals the dynamics within the group and encourages students to connect through their shared intentions for future teamwork. The activity serves as an excellent starting point for groups that will be working together on a larger project.
- Activity goal
- Get to know each other | Reflect
- When
- In class
- Where
- Offline
- Duration
- < 30 minutes| < 60 minutes
- Group size
- Small | Medium
- Materials
Materials needed for the chosen challenging task
Step-by-Step Plan
Step 1: Introduction
Explain to students that they will work in groups to attempt a challenging task and introduce the challenge. The task should be so difficult that it is essentially (almost) impossible to complete—but do not tell them this in advance. The goal is for students to experience how they operate as a team and to reflect on teamwork, but please note: you will only tell them this in Step 3.
Examples of challenging tasks:
- The Spaghetti Tower: Build the tallest possible tower using 20 spaghetti sticks, 1 meter of tape, and 1 meter of string. A marshmallow must sit on top without the tower collapsing. The tower must stand for 10 seconds without support.
- The Bridge: Construct a bridge from paper, straws, and string at least 1 meter long that can hold a full water bottle.
- The Paper Chain: Make a continuous paper chain at least 10 meters long using only one A4 sheet per person and a pair of scissors.
- The Egg Parachute: Build a structure from straws, tape, and paper that allows a raw egg to survive a 2-meter drop.
It is helpful to show the task instructions on a PowerPoint slide.
Step 2: Getting started
Give students 10–15 minutes to work on the task. Allow them to try solutions independently without intervening. If students ask questions, refer them back to the original instructions. You may clarify the task, but do not provide solutions.
Step 3: Reflection
Stop the activity and review each group’s results. Who succeeded?
Then explain that the task reveals group dynamics. Students reflect on teamwork within their group. You can use (a selection of) the following reflection questions for this:
- What role did you take during the task? Did you take the lead, or were you more passive? Did you feel overwhelmed or disengaged?
- Who took the lead spontaneously? Was the leader chosen or did it happen naturally — and did that work well?
- Which roles emerged naturally (planner, builder, critic, motivator)?
- Did everyone feel heard in the process of decision-making?
- Did the group spend most of the time talking, listening, building, or interrupting each other?
- Did you create a plan before starting? Was there room to adjust the plan during the task?
- How did you handle frustration or disagreements?
- How clearly did you communicate?
Finally, have the groups discuss what lessons they will take from this experience for their future collaboration.
- Which strengths of your teamwork became apparent?
- What pitfalls did you notice in your collaboration?
- What insights will you apply in future teamwork?
- What shared or personal intentions will you set for improving future collaboration?
Tip 1
You can add extra constraints to make the task even more challenging, for example: everyone may use only one hand, or talking is not allowed.
Tip 2
Change the rules halfway through the task—for example, the tower or bridge suddenly has to support something (a marshmallow or a bottle of water). You can also add an unexpected test, such as moving the tower or bridge without it collapsing.
