Manaiakalani Class OnAir Lesson 6 - The game with no rules

Link to Manaiakalani Class OnAir to see the whole team.

Direct Instruction

The students are given very minimal instructions about how to play a game and no questions are answered. They are not told what we are doing or why we are doing it. They have to slowly evolve the rules of the game over time by either adding a rule or changing one that is there. Each run of the game is 2 minutes before a change is made.

These are the brief instructions given at the start of the activity. You may want to turn your sound down as the rain on the shelter we were under is really loud. I have put subtitles on the video.

This shows a couple of examples of when the rules were added to or changed during the progress of the game.

This shows how the game evolved over time with the rule changes and additions.


This video shows the teacher instruction at the start of the second lesson of this activity where we were reflecting on what happened during the game the previous day.

Class Site Content

This is the rules and game play that the students came up with during the process.

This is the equipment that we had ready to use - not all of it was used as it depended on the rules and game play that the students came up with.

Learner Generated Content

This padlet is the feedback that I received from the questions :-

• How did you feel when I wouldn't tell you why we were doing the activity?
• How did it make you feel when you did not know all the rules before you started?
• What did you think when I would not answer any of your questions?
• How did you feel when you did not agree with the rules that others were making?
• How did you feel when you had a great idea for a rule but your name did not come out of the bag?
• How do you feel when we do Design development? Is there anything that is the same as how you felt yesterday?

Student Feedback





Link to lesson plan document here

Lesson Topic :- Switch or Adapt Game / The Game with no Rules
Year Group :-  Year 11
Learning Outcome	To make the students think about their feelings while playing this game with no rules and compare that to how they feel when they do design developments.
Success Criteria Using SOLO	Uni structural Multi structural Relational Extended abstract Students follow the instructions given by the rest of their team and the other teams. Students can start to combine the game rules to play the game in a better way. Students can analyse what is going on in the game and use this information to change or make rules that solve problems. Students can reflect on what happened during the game and analyse their feelings. They can think about these feelings and predict how the design development process makes them feel in relation to this.
Links with the New Zealand Curriculum	NCEA Level 1 - Curriculum Level 6 Outcome development and evaluation Critically analyse their own and others’ outcomes to inform the development of ideas for feasible outcomes. Undertake ongoing experimentation and functional modelling, taking account of stakeholder feedback and trialling in the physical and social environments. Use the information gained to select, justify, and develop a final outcome. Evaluate this outcome’s fitness for purpose against the brief and justify the evaluation, using feedback from stakeholders.
Key Competencies	Thinking - coming up with rules for the game. Linking what they are doing to design development. Using language, symbols, and texts - writing out their game rules for the rest of the class to see. Managing self - focussing on the activity as it has no set structure. Participating and contributing - following rules made by other people. Relating to others - working as a team.
Prior knowledge	The students have started the design development process for their chair design project. They have also done a little design development in the previous poster project.
Lesson Sequence	Session Outline The students slowly build a game over time using small steps. They then think about how they were feeling during this process and try and relate it to the design development process. Student Activity Teacher Activity Listen to the teacher instructions. Listen to each other’s ideas. Listen and use the rules of the other teams. Give the first part of the small instructions. Give the rest of the instructions in small amounts as needed. Split into 3 teams The game must use a ball Each team must write a game rule of one of the wipe clean boards. Time the game rotations to two minutes each time. Encourage teamwork. Don’t answer any questions. Use the rules that are being decided on by the teams to slowly build a game that has teams and a ball, plus any other equipment that they want to use. Play the game as a team against the other teams. Think about how they felt during the process of the game and not knowing what they were doing beforehand. Make a shared padlet with their thoughts. Share their thoughts / answers to the set questions about how they felt and how they can compare how they felt doing the game with how they feel doing design development. Read everyone else’s responses.
Resources	Small wipe on / off boards. Dry wipe pens Game ball Team colours Hockey sticks Counters Hoops Cones Timing device (stop watch, mobile phone ...)
Next Steps	Next Lesson Continue with the design development that they are on with and reflect back on what they were feeling while playing the game. Further in this project Design development is a big part of any project, so I want them to think about how they are feeling during the process to see why they are getting upset and frustrated with it when they have to come up with more ideas and change the ideas they already have.
Reflection and Analysis
	What went well. Lesson Content :- There was definitely enough for the students to do as it took nearly the whole double period. The double period gave them enough time to discuss things as a team and together and work things out without being rushed. Student Understanding :- The best question came at the end of the game session. “Miss, what was the point of playing a game with no rules?”. They made a good start on understanding why we did this in the second session where we were analysing their feelings and linking it to design development. Student Outcomes :- The answers on the padlet were great. I wanted them to be frustrated with the process and most of them were. It was a really interesting insight into how they approach things. It ranged from :- Frustrated for the whole time Being confused but going with it Loving the challenge of not knowing What still needs work. Lesson Delivery :- I need to book / sort out the venue in a more organised way before the lesson and check the weather! Student Understanding :- Should  have thought about groupings myself and not let the students do it? I noticed that students who thought in similar ways put themselves together. Could a more inclusive outcome have happened if I had placed stronger and weaker students together in teams ? How would I work this out? Other Comments. What came out of this activity was a really interesting insight in how the students think away from the subject. I need to think about how I can use this information in more ways in the lesson as well as design development,