Tangen project 23/04 – 27/04

In the week of the 23rd of April our class went to Paulen Gard to organise a week long activity programme with pupils from the Tangen school in Kristiansand. The objective of this project was for us to organise and lead multiple outdoor related activities. Each day around 5PM a group of (at least) 30 pupils would come in, set up their camp, as we would then run a rotation of three activities. After the rotations all the pupils would go back to their camp and cook. We had eight activities (thus eight rotations) in total, being: (1) Night Line, (2) Shelter Building, (3) Barefoot Path, (4) Fire Building, (5) Jungle Swing, (6) River Crossing, (7) Orienteering and (8) Slackline (more information on the different activities will be provided later). Depending on the size of the groups we would run the remaining five activities the next morning, after briefing the pupils. Before we came to Paulen Gard we were planning the activities in class. Len told us to think of outdoor games that would be fun, were good for teambuilding, and would challenge the pupils to a certain extent.

The activities

My group (Jo, Janna and me) was in charge of the Night line activity. The game itself is set up rather easily; we made a parkour following a rope through an obstacle course that we would set up ourselves. We used a climbing rope and lead it around a bunch of trees, around the corner, up the hill, through some branches up to a big tree crossing some loose planks where you had to balance on, and finished with making the pupils step over improvised “laser beams”. We would explain the game to the pupils by saying that they had to follow a rope through an obstacle course while being blindfolded. We would make the groups split up in pairs; one of them blindfolded, and his/her partner leading him/her through the obstacle course. Rules for this game included: (1) Speak English at ALL times, (2) Do not ‘touch’ your partner when guiding him/her through the obstacle course, (3) Never let go off the rope, and (4) Make sure to properly communicate as a team. We would run two round, the first round being “getting used to the course” (all rules as mentioned would apply). The second round would be more challenging as we added extra rules, being (1) You are not allowed to speak, you instead have to use noises/sounds to communicate, and (2) You can gain extra points for creativity (i.e. singing, dancing, doing the course backwards etc.). The pupils would then get points for creativity, how they communicated with each other and how they would work together as a group

Observations

Over the whole week a total of four different groups had come in. And I can start by saying that every group was distinctively different from the others in several ways. The first group arriving on Monday had a total of 30 pupils, and would split up in smaller groups consisting of four to six people. Our activity would have constant rotations each night shift. As this group was the first group to come in, we did not have other groups to compare them to. Yet comparing them now to the others it can be said that the first group came across as quite reserved, and less open than the other groups. This might have partly been caused by our group doing this for the first time , and thus still trying to figure out how to run the activities. Although, besides that, Nightline proved to be the perfect game for observing group dynamics and learn about how a group works together. Also, to spot the differences between all the groups that we had over the week. What I personally noticed was the difference between how the groups would communicate with each other. Some groups would communicate with each other, and explain each other how the game worked. Other groups would not even get the purpose of the game at all, and would just try to get to the other side of the parkour as fast as possible without thinking about the group as a whole. Yet the biggest differences could be spotted in terms of creativity. Some groups during the first rotations were able to think creatively, and make their way through the obstacle course in a fun way. A good example is a group of six that came in, who would collaboratively sing/dance/do the course backwards, without feeling any shame and showing off great group dynamics, whereas other groups would just not care at all as they seemed to be slightly ashamed of the task at hand. It is interesting to see these differences between a group of pupils of the same age; to see how they interact, communicate and show interest to each other and the game. What also surprised me was that the majority would never say how they could have improved their communication, or how to do the course differently if they had a second chance. Though some groups would mention it, and then would come up with great comments for improvement. Over the next few days as more groups came in , more differences could be spotted. Especially the third group (coming in on Wednesday) was quite reserved and distinctively unmotivated. We (Janna, Jo and me) would notice as many of them would not pay attention during our game briefing, resulting in us having to explain certain things multiple times. In addition, this was also the group that was least competent in speaking English. Considering this, it did make sense for them to be less enthusiastic and more introvert than the others. I noticed multiple times that the pupils would react surprised/shocked when we would tell them that they were only allowed the speak in English. So a correlation between less affluent English speakers and less enthusiasm could be found. It can be said that some groups did not know each other that well, what would equally result in less consistent communication. In addition to that, 90% of the time the boys would pair of with the boys, and the girls with the girls. From that we concluded that many pupils at that age can still be rather shy. Other than that, the whole outdoor related aspect of this week was a great success. When we would ask the different groups about it, they would always reply with saying how the activities were “great fun”, and “not dull as usual”. Every activity had its own unique quality, what the pupils appreciated the most. Considering the collaboration between Jo, Janna and me, it can be said that we worked really well together. One of us would always start of with introducing the game, and then go on to explaining the different rules and rounds. We would often change it up after every rotation, to keep it equal. After each rotation the three of us would come together and discuss the different groups so that we could distribute points among them. What we would also do was discuss what we thought of the pupils, how they communicated and how they worked together as a group.

Other activities

1. Barefoot path

Here a group of pupils would have to walk over a path of various natural materials, including wood, leaves, pine cones, snow, straw etc. whilst being blindfolded. The aim of the activity was to distinguish the different materials, and try to remember them in order to be communicated back  to the group later.

• Challenges included: trust, communication skills, team building, logical thinking.

2. Fire building

During this activity the pupil had to build a fire with the minimal help. All they got were kindle, cotton and hand sanitizer to make lighting the fire a bit easier. The first step then would be to burn a low-hanging string. As soon as they  would burn the string down, a second (higher) rope had to be burned down. For the really competent fire-builders a third rope was hung up.

• Challenges included: communication skills, intelligence, logical thinking, effort, persistence, enthusiasm

3. Orienteering

For this activity a group of pupils were send into the forest with a map and coordinates to retrieve cardboards with clues/pinpoints on it. Time would be measured for the fastest group.

• Challenges included: Proper communication, intelligence, group dynamics, time management

4. Shelter building

The group coming to this activity would have to build an improvised shelter with the equipment as provided. The goal was to build a shelter that the pupils would consider to keep them warm, dry and sheltered from the wind. The most creative shelter builders would get extra points.

• Challenges included: communication, group dynamics, logical thinking, shared knowledge

5. River crossing

Here a group of pupils had to cross a “river” by walking over planks from island to island. without falling in. Important for this game was to work well together as there could always only walk one person over the plank. The goal was to cross the river as fast as possible, yet extra points could be retrieved  by bypassing the main route and collecting extra equipment to help cross the last “island”.

• Challenges included: persistence, communication, group dynamics, logical thinking, balance

6. Jungle swing

The goal of this game was for the group to swing to the other side of the “water” (i.e. circular shaped rope on the ground) with a rope, to eventually get everyone to the other side. Extra points were given for creativity (i.e. getting to the other side in a creative manner).

• Challenges included: communication, creativity, group dynamics

7. Slackline

The aim for this activity was for the group to balance on an elastic rope, and get everyone to the other side. The first round the group would cross one by one, for later round the pupils had to pair up in order to cross the rope.

• Challenges included: communication, balance, group dynamics

Learning outcomes

Overall I consider the Tangen project a big learning outcome in general. We learned how to organise a week long project where we had to guide multiple groups of 19 year-olds, how to keep them motivated and get them excited for the activities at hand. In the beginning I was a bit doubtful since it was the first time for many of us to organise such a project. Yet it all ran smoothly and in the end we received very positive feedback from both the teachers and the pupils. Other than that, living in hammocks for an entire week taught me how accessible and fun it is to build your own camp and ‘survive’ in the woods for multiple days. We had different campsites were we all hang up our hammocks, but had one general sitting area were we would all come together at night to cook/have a fire/chat with each other. Another skill I acquired during this week was ‘how to climb into the top hammock of a bunk bed situation’. Every night I would have to use a dead tree trunk to climb in, and every time is was having just so much fun because of the struggle. I can say that this week has brought me so much, it was incredibly fun to spend so much time with our group, and have the best time learning these pupils how to have fun doing outdoor activities.