Newspaper Bridge:
Form small groups comprising not more than 5-7 people. The room should have sufficient space to facilitate movement.
Lots of newspapers, tape, a gallon jug of water and a plastic dishpan are required. A cassette with music would also be ideal.
Activity Directions:
The teams have to build a bridge using only just the newspaper and masking tape. The newspaper bridge must be strong enough to hold a bottle. You can show everyone the said bottle so that they can feel its weight.
The second criterion is that the bridge must be tall enough for the pan to pass beneath it. The bridge must also be free-standing. It should not be attached to the wall.
Once the groups are lined up for the activity, they cannot talk at all. They have to line up based on the birth months starting with January.
Each person has to state the month and date of birth. If any person turns to be out of sequence in the line, the groups have to pooh pooh saying "unh-hah".
Time Slot
The teams are provided 7 minutes to plan and 8 minutes to build their newspaper bridge. No talking is allowed during the 8 minutes. At the end of the said time, the groups can talk for 30 seconds. Then they have another 3 minutes to complete the bridge in silence. During the silent sessions, music can be played to liven the atmosphere.
Call time so that one group at a time can present their bridge in turn using a spokesperson. After this, the spokesperson needs to place the jug on top of the bridge. Then everyone will count to 10 seconds.
Discussion questions:
How did you feel while working as a group?
Which part of the activity seemed most challenging and why?
Did everyone in your group participate in a contributive way?
Did you feel as though your contribution had been significant?
Did you feel as if you were an integral part of the team?
Was there any particular person in the team who played the most significant role?
Were there individuals who were complacent? Did their behavior affect performance? How
How was their complacence interpreted by rest of the team?
What factors influenced the type of bridge that was built by each of the groups?
Why do you think no two newspaper bridges were alike?
How did communication or lack of communication affect the work of the group?
What characteristics of teamwork seemed most evident during this exercise?