Changes
→Directions
Begin by randomly dividing participants into small groups and organizing the groups in different areas of the room. Pass out one bag of supplies to each group.
You should then introduce them to the activity by simply saying "This is an activity to work on communication and collaboration, and the goal is work together to build the tallest free standing tower you can with the supplies you have each been given." There will be a prize prizes for the winners."
You should be careful to introduce it without giving too much context. Again the key here is that each group will have a different set of supplies but the facilitators should make sure this is not immediately obvious, and once it becomes more obvious, the facilitators should neither discourage or encourage collaboration and sharing. The vast majority of participants when divided up in groups, will assume they they should be competing against the other groups but you should not specifically say it is a competition. You will address this in the debrief questions based on the groups choice to collaborate or compete.
It is important to try to deflect... so if they ask, "How come they have so much more tape?" you might say "Sorry, I can't really answer any questions at this point, but it looks like you are making good progress."
As they start to see that other groups have different supplies, some will respond by questioning, some will try to beg, barter, or steal supplies, and some will just resign themselves to the fact that its not fair, and they will continue to focus on working with what they have.
===Debrief===
