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LEADERSHIP, LEARNING, &  PErsonal Growth

PYP PE: Adventure Challenge Preassessment Task (Grade 4)

8/21/2011

14 Comments

 
If you are currently planning an Adventure Challenge unit, I hope that you may find this preassessment task useful. It seems as though it worked well with my students when we completed the task last week here at the Nanjing International School in China.

The central idea for the Adventure Challenge unit is:

Effectively solving problems requires communication, trust, and an open mind.

The activity that I planned for my group was called The Human Square. I have done versions of this activity many times before and it has generally worked very well.

Materials/equipment needed:
Blindfolds
paper
pencils

How to play:
Every student (with exception to two or three who will act as observers) will be blindfolded and spread out around the gym. Stressing safety as being most important, the students are instructed to carefully and gently make their way into the center of the gym (or there about) and meet. Once all students have met around the center, they must figure out how they can create a human square formation that requires everyone to lay on the ground/floor.  They are to remain blindfolded the entire time. Communication is emphasized as one of the keys to being successful in this challenge. It will no doubt take them a while to accomplish this task, but as teachers, we must let them figure out how to do this on their own and try our best not to get involved. If safety is at stake or total meltdown occurs, the teacher must step in to help. Otherwise, THEY CAN DO IT!!! (I have rarely had a class to be able to complete this task.

The role of the Observers
Choosing  observers is very important as well. The role of the observers is to watch thoughtfully and carefully, noting on paper both positive behaviors that help the team or negative actions that hurt the team. They are instructed to look for examples of trustful/non-trustful actions, positive and negative communication, and examples of people being open-minded during the activity. At the end of the activity, the observers provide feedback to the group based on what they had witnessed. However, the golden rule that I use for the observers is that they are not allowed to mention a student's name if they are feeding back anything negative. If the comments are positive, a student's name can be used, but not for negative comments.

Preassessment Task
Please see picture below of the preassessment task given. Essentially, the students must reflect on the activity and jot some notes down regarding how they think Trust, Communication, and an Open Mind played large roles in this activity.

In Action Photo
As always, I like to include action photos whenever possible on assessment sheets. As you can see by the photo on the right hand of the assessment sheet, the students were able to complete this task and did quite well. Although this assessment sheet was not completed in time, the students will see the picture next class that will serve as a tool to help them remember the activity.


14 Comments
Ben Landers
1/19/2012 09:19:16 pm

Cool idea, I'll try it out

Reply
Jerry
5/23/2012 06:17:13 am

I enjoyed looking at your cooperative games. I look forward to seeing more and trying them with my students. Thank you for sharing.

Reply
Shaista Javed link
9/25/2012 05:10:43 pm

sounds great ,worth trying

Reply
george lainakis
2/25/2013 03:34:10 pm

your idea is super.i' ll try it to my next lesson. stay well

Reply
Dan White
4/23/2013 06:54:18 pm

Mate loved this, Searching for ideas for my first ever adventure and challenge lesson plan, and this isnt exactly adventurery enough for me, (plus i want the idea to come from my brain).

BUT ABSOLUTELY GOT MY BRAIN RUNNING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, Would be so much fun to teach.

From
Dan "big fan" White

Reply
Hairil link
7/16/2013 04:31:07 pm

Andy, this is totally awesome. Been teaching PE close to 8 years and this site of yours I must say is the most comprehensive and reliable in terms of content for the effective teaching of PE. Kudos to you! I'm excited to learn more!

Reply
Hadya
2/9/2014 02:41:30 pm

This is quite interesting! I hope to use this challange in our program. Thank you for sharing your work!

Reply
assad el hajj
1/20/2015 07:27:44 pm

That's so nice and creative, would like to see more.
keep up the good work
thank you for sharing.

Reply
Kersi
2/18/2016 06:15:09 am

Awesome idea Andy

Reply
YE7 link
6/17/2024 05:40:29 am

Creating engaging and approachable writing is akin to extending a warm invitation and kindling interest effortlessly.

Reply
kaswerteye7 link
6/17/2024 05:40:50 am

Your appreciation means a lot! It's like putting together a puzzle—finding the perfect word is like finding that missing piece that completes the picture of your writing. Keep practicing, and you'll definitely see progress!

Reply
kaswerte link
6/17/2024 05:41:10 am

Your encouragement is like finding the perfect puzzle piece, making your writing better and helping you improve!

Reply
Ye7 link
6/17/2024 05:41:30 am

You make it look easy, and I admire how you've organized it. I can tell you've put a lot of effort into this.

Reply
best link
6/17/2024 05:41:52 am

Wow, what an insightful and thought-provoking blog post! I can’t wait to connect with you through my blog. I’d love for you to check it out here
https://www.ye7best.club/?r=zxm2937

Reply



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  • Welcome
  • All Things Teaching and Learning
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  • Consulting and Coaching Opportunities
  • My TED X Talk
  • My Leadership Blog
  • Run Your Life Podcast Series
  • How PYP PE with Andy Has Helped Others
  • Good Teaching is L.I.F.E
  • The Sportfolio
  • Example Assessment Tasks
  • PYP Attitude Posters (printable)
  • Publications