House of Cards

What can students learn from this?

Students will learn about leadership approaches and evaluate different alternatives. They learn the importance of working together, listening to co-workers and coming to unanimous decisions in favor of the challenge.

How can I do this in class?

Divide the class in groups of 3-4 students. In each group, appoint a leader/coordinator. Distribute a deck of cards to each group and blindfolds to  everyone, and assign a working space/table to each group.

RULES for teachers

• Explain the task to the students: They have to build a house of cards with at least 5 levels. They will have 2 rounds to do it in different ways.
• Explain the first scenario and allow the students 5-10 minutes to do the task.
  • Round #1: all members of the team will be blindfolded. The leader will be the only one that can see, but he/she is not allowed to touch the cards or other team members. The leader’s task is to give the team members voice commands to make them build the house of cards. All members must actively participate in the construction process.
• Once the students have finished or run out of time, ask them to remove the blindfolds, to check on their progress. Collect the cards to start from scratch and explain the second round (again 5-10 minutes for this round)
  • Round #2: This time, all members will be blindfolded, including the leader (teams can keep the same person as a leader or appoint someone else). The leader is not allowed to touch the cards or the other members. The leader’s task is to make them build the house of cards. All team members must actively participate in the construction process by following the leader’s instructions (and answering the leader’s questions).

RULES for students

• Listen to each other
• It is easy to get frustrated in this challenge, keep talking instead of giving up
• Don’t cheat, it will has a negative effect on the challenge’s aim
• Try to observe (despite the fact you are wearing a blindfold) the team’s process. Choose your leader carefully, who will be most suitable as a leader?

Once the challenge is over, reflect with your students.

Reflection tips

This challenge will state the importance of good communication and different leadership styles. Discuss the progress of the challenge in the group using the following questions;

• What was your first impression when you heard the rules?
• What is it now that you have completed the activity?
• Did you have a strategy as a team?
• How did you implement it? How were the decisions made?
• Who was leading the decision making?
• How did the leader(s) act at each stage?
• Identify challenging moments. How did the leader(s) intervene in the decisions?
• List differences in leadership between round #1 and round #2.
• What have you learnt from this activity?
• How would you do it differently next time?