From the 9th until the 12th of May we organized several outdoor activities for classe of the Tangen College. For those four days we had prepared eight activities in the fields of bush crafting, orienteering, climbing, canoeing, first aid and group dynamics. Each activity would take about 20-30 minutes and was supervised by two to three of our students. To increase the motivation the groups could gain points at each activity and an overall winner would be determined. It offered a great chance to practice our skills in leading groups within our areas and witness group dynamic progress.

The daily routine at the camp was always the same for the four days. At around five o’clock a class would arrive and set up their campsite. As soon as they are ready we would welcome them and give them a short introduction of what our plans for the evening and the following morning were. Then the eight groups of the classes (, which had already been assigned before the trip) would start with their first activity. In total they had 45 minutes time to finish the activity and find the next station. All activities were designed to be completed in a circle, meaning that there was a definite rotation scheme. Two activities took place in the evening and the following six were scheduled for the following morning. The group should be ready by twelve and would leave after that.

We always organized one activity in groups of two to three students and implemented the activity that we organized. However to gain experiences in multiple games and activities we also created a rotation scheme that would allow the guides to change the station.

Richard and I organized a group dynamic game called the amazing maze. The challenge for the pupil was to find a way through a predesigned maze without talking. It was interesting to see how the different groups approached the problem and how they solved it. During this problem points could be gained for creativity, speed and prevention of mistakes. If time allowed it, the groups had the chance to gain extra point in additional game called acid lake. In aim of this game was to recover an item from a marked area without touching it. To do so the pupil received several items.

During the next day I would guide the groups during the navigation tasks and the abseiling task. At the navigation station the group received several maps with marks on them at the marked locations they had to find a picture. In total there were 15 pictures hidden in the forest. It was quite interesting to see how different the groups approached the problem. Some groups just took of and tried to find them, whereas others split the pictures between them. Also the outcome was quite different. Many groups came back and found just a few pictures and others came back and found all of them. As for the other tasks a key point at this station was communication and motivation. Many groups lacked communication and seemed rather unmotivated in finding the checkpoint. I found it quite hard to motivate the groups because they were spread out in the forest.

Another station I supervised was the abseiling station. On this station the students had the opportunity to abseil from a boulder, which was about eight meters high. This was an interesting station. We had already practiced to set up abseiling routes within the course. However we did not practice to do so with real groups. It was interesting to see that many students were outside of their comfort zone and had to overcome their own limits. Furthermore they motivated and comforted each other. However there were also a few that did not want to try it.

During the whole week we could witness different group dynamic aspects; how groups motivated each other, how they communicated or how they made decisions. Usually we could distinguish between groups were the whole group was motivated and then other groups were no one seemed to be keen for the activities. Also the classes differed quite strongly in their motivation. Even though they were from the same school and in the same age their interest in the outdoor activities was very divers. I think that the general attitude from individuals in the group strongly affected the whole group atmosphere.

Another problem we were confronted with was the language barrier. Although the English skills of the pupil were mainly really good they kept talking in Norwegian.

Overall it was a great experience and a good chance to practice our skills in leading groups and supervising group activities.