How to Make Team-Building Activities for Middle School Science
- 1). Use fun games to engage all team members to work together. Playing classroom games where teams compete can promote communication between students. Teachers must consider the ability levels and personalities of students to create teams with the best chance of working well together by placing students with complementary skills together. For example, matching a highly verbal student with a quieter, highly organized student would be a better combination than placing two very verbal students together.
- 2). Plan fun, science-based investigations that teams solve together. Teach basic concepts such as scientific method by engaging students in fun problem-solving. For example, create a mystery or crime that must be solved with specific clues and allow teams to work together to collect evidence. Activities like this tend to arouse student interest and are more likely to engage all group members. Full participation has a positive effect on team-building because everyone in the group takes part in the process and contributes to the final product.
- 3). Encourage groups to form structure roles and have team members rotate the roles. When you're engaging students in team-building activities, prompt them to select team roles before starting the activity or project. One student may be the record keeper, while another is the equipment manager. Groups are effective when everyone in the group has a specific job with clear responsibilities.
- 4). Provide time for groups to evaluate their teamwork and progress. Have students complete a self-evaluation when teams or groups complete a team-building activity. Ask students to rate their own participation in the activity as well as the group's performance. These self-evaluations offer middle school students an opportunity to identify strengths and weaknesses and develop effective communication skills that will be used in more advanced science education settings.
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