I came up with this activity while watching the famous TV show, Dragons' Den. And here are the details...
Level: Elementary and
above
Materials Needed: None
Preparation: None
Interaction Patterns: Group
work
Time: 15 minutes
Procedure:
- Start a discussion on the TV program Dragons’ Den by asking
students if they watch it and what kind of a show it is:
For
those of you who may not be familiar with this TV program:
Dragons'
Den is a series of reality television programmes featuring entrepreneurs
pitching their business ideas in order to secure investment finance from a
panel of venture capitalists. The contestants are usually product designers or
service operators who have what they consider to be a viable and potentially
very profitable business idea, but who lack funding and direction. They pitch
their idea to five rich entrepreneurial businesspeople, the eponymous
"dragons", to attract them.
- Tell the class that
they will all attend Dragons’ Den but note that it will be a bit different from
the original format since they will not be free to come up with their own
invention. Give the rule of the game: “In this invention contest, students will
invent something new out of two commonly used objects.”
- Now, choose three
students and call them the “jury”for this activity.
- Students work in
groups of four.
- Before the groups
start work, explain what they will do in detail by giving an example yourself.
Write on the board two concepts or objects (e.g. TV and a printer) and show
your students how to combine these two concepts / objects in a novel way.
o E.g. The TV that
has a printer attached to take snapshots from films or TV series
- Give groups a new set
of objects / concepts. See the sample list below:
Pencil
Computer
Hair-dryer
Paper
Eraser
Grass
Perfume
Mobile Phone
- Students, in groups,
try to combine them in 5 minutes.
- During the group
work, the jury visit each group and check if all students speak in English (or
they might be asked to give ideas to the groups).
- After all groups come
up with an invention, they present it in front of the class. They explain in
detail why their idea deserves to be the best by giving reasons for their way
of combining them.
- The jury asks
questions if they need clarification.
- The jury decides on
the best combination, gives 1 point to that group and justify their choice.
- Give another set of
objects to the groups.
Personal Comment:
- As students may sometimes
tend to give points to their best friends, it is a good idea to select the
students for the jury carefully. Students who are not good friends with a
specific group of students, but with the whole class are best candidates for
this role.
- Students enjoy
participating in this activity because it is a great problem-solving game which
requires creative thinking. Even the normally quiet students may contribute to
the activity by combining the objects in a novel way, which increases the
motivation level of the class.
If you can think of possible variations of this activity, please comment
on this post...
Enjoy!
p.s. This activity is taken from my activity book, The Activist.
p.s. This activity is taken from my activity book, The Activist.
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