On Wednesday of week 4 the class went on a field trip to Lough Derg in Killaloe where we spent the afternoon at the UL Activity Centre. We were split into three teams of eight or nine members each and were giving a choice of challenges to perform in which we would be competing against the other teams.
Our first challenge was to create a square from various pieces of wood, this challenge was more difficult than it first appeared, we were required to use all the pieces within a certain time limit. At first we were a bit disorganized as most of the people in our group wanted a go and had their own idea’s about how best to proceed but after a while we learned to how to work together and just allow one person at a time to try piece the square together whilst the rest of he group offered advice.
The next challenge involved two long planks of wood, one plank was attached to each members left foot whilst the other plank was attached to each members right foot and the idea was to walk in unison through a series of obstacles whilst not allowing any rope or foot to touch the ground. This particular challenge involved timing, coordination and cooperation. After an initial few slip ups we got the hang of it and completed the task on time, I felt this was a simple yet effective way of demonstrating the importance of teamwork, it required all team members working together because even if one person wasn’t working as a team the task would have been impossible.
We had a few more of these type of challenges which taught us about the importance of planning, co-operation, motivation, support and determination. We finished the day with the high ropes course which consists of a series of physical challenges which also tested teamwork skills.
Overall I taught it was an enjoyable day out and also demonstrated the importance of teamwork and how groups are particularly good at combining talents and providing solutions to unfamiliar problems, that the wide range of skill and knowledge of the group has an advantage over that of the individual, all of which is relevant to the role of teams in engineering
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