Examining small-group roles through team-building challenges

This original teaching idea uses an adaption of the STEM activity the Paper Tower Challenge to have students examine task and maintenance roles as well as non-functioning behaviors in small groups. While problem solving as a small group, students navigate conflict and frustration, assume various small-group roles, and then reflect on their own and their group members' performance. The activity includes the challenge, a set of reflection questions, a discussion procedure, and adaptations for virtual students and for diverse classrooms. Courses: Introduction to Public Speaking, Small Group Communication, and Oral and Interpersonal Communication. Objectives: Affective: Students will persevere through frustration and conflict in small-group team-building challenges. Behavioral: Students will perform various task roles, maintenance roles, and non-functional behaviors (see Appendix for descriptions) that affect the outcome of group work. Students will collaborate to solve a problem. Cognitive: Students will increase their knowledge by identifying and applying group roles and behaviors. Students will assess their own performance with a series of reflection questions.