Training Games ARE fun!
"Reflections" A New Training Game?
In the same context it occurred to me that we could also incorporate a "Reflections" button for the trainer after they have finished expounding on the question or topic. Drawing again from Sallie's article, the trainer might move to a slide that challenged their learners to relate this new learning to a personal experience, or ask questions like "What do you believe about this topic?, What did you learn?", or "In what ways can you foresee using this learning?" In essence this game could create a flow that would initially grab attention, then use this attentive learning state to expand on learning ideas, and finally "cement" the learning by asking the learner to reflect on it or relate it to their personal experiences. We've started development of the game (Reflections) but I thought it might be good to ask our readers their opinion of the general idea. As always, I'll look forward to hearing from you ([email protected]).
Famous Quotes
Sydney J. Harris — "The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows."
Wayne Gretzsky — "100% of the shots you don't take don't go in."
Free TGI Icebreaker Game
Classroom Introduction Icebreaker – Some fun with introductions!
We've included a free TGI PowerPoint or Excel based Ice Breaker Game in this newsletter and promise to send you a free game with each and every issue! These games are great fun, and will make your meetings, presentations and training sessions more interactive and engaging. The download link is only active in newsletters sent out to TGI subscribers. We apologize for any inconvenience, but we are unable to send the free icebreaker offer in alternative file formats.
The Presentation Game 4.0
Single User Annual License just $99.99 - More information or purchase now
Products From TGI
Contact [email protected] or call 602-750-7223
Passive versus Active Reflection
The importance of reflective learning segments in Adult and Continuing Education venues is very important, however, we do need to make a distinction for teachers, trainers, etc., I believe — as to further specifying the difference between "active reflection" and "passive reflection" as it relates to adult learning culture needs. There are indeed both types, and they deliver very different outcomes. "Active reflection" for a learner occurs when you not only present something [a concept, an idea, etc] — but also challenge the learner at the time of delivery to better elaborate or re-define in their own terms the exact implications or long term impacts of what has been addressed. You do so in a direct, timely and focused manner-- and you thereby engage the learner's higher learning abilities, etc. and this indeed, truly "forms the active glue" that makes such ideas, constructs, to be lasting and filled with relative potential for instant recall, rediscovery and manipulation for future use.
"Passive reflection", on the other hand, is the kind that occurs -- say after you've watched a PBS special on poverty -- and there is no one to discuss it with. You will perhaps do a bit of reflection, or "musing" — but no one is around to challenge, address, or otherwise engage you to better elaborate its direct implications in your thinking, etc. So this kind of experience will have a general but non-defined, non-specific long term impact. Adults will retain in those instances some such information for a period of time, and IF it is somehow engaged within a reasonable timeframe [say, a friend and she get together the next day for coffee and they both happen to have watched the same special and then talk further about it] — there will be some benefit recouped, but again not as much as if the reflection/ discussion/ clarifications occur nearer to the actual delivery of such information.
Not all trainers, teachers, etc. understand this distinction, and not all even know how to implement it — I've found. Asking adult learners, "So, did you learn anything?"— is a weak stab at active learning, but falls far short, etc. But, that is grist for another day. Hope this brief soliloquy gives another side perspective for your considerations.
Dale A. Werth, Sr. Consultant
[email protected]
Dale Werth has over fifteen years of experience as a Sr. Consultant in Training and OD, and is a proven Project Manager, Trainer and Sr. Technical Writer. His work has occurred in varied projects or programs delivered from both field and centralized headquarters positions. He has served as a team or project lead, senior project manager, instructor, senior consultant, curriculum designer, and technical writer. He has also worked successfully with a wide spectrum of enterprises - including small and large businesses, national organizations, global companies, governmental agencies, education, and non-profit organizations. His varied training and project roles have encompassed work in some 40 US states – as well as travels to the UK, France, Canada, Puerto Rico and Switzerland to date. He continues his role as Sr. Consultant, Project Manager and Sr. Technical Writer. He also continues to write and speak on innovative topics within a variety of today's current organization and productivity challenges. He holds undergraduate degrees from Washburn University and University of Kansas, and holds a M.S. degree in Human Resources and Creative Studies from State University College at Buffalo. He has been a Certified College Adjunct Instructor and has taught at a number of institutions [Westwood College (Arlington, VA); Graduate School, USDA (Washington, DC); etc.]. He teaches courses in social sciences, communications, and personal/professional productivity areas. He currently resides in Northern Virginia.
TGI Presents Mac 6-Packs
1. TGI Mac 6–Pack PowerPoint Quiz Shows
2. TGI Mac 6–Pack PowerPoint Icebreakers
3. TGI Mac 6–Pack PowerPoint Team Builders
Limited Time Special Introductory Offer – Now save $25.00 when you purchase any of TGI's Mac 6-Pack Games using this Coupon Code - IntroOffer
More details or purchase Mac 6-Packs now
Ready Print Train! (NEW from TGI)
New reproducible training programs include the following:* Printable Participant Guide
* Easy-to-Use Facilitator Guide
* PowerPoint Presentation
* Quick Reference Cards (included with most programs)
Over 90 different professionally developed training programs. See the many different program offerings at: www.training-games.com/reproducible_training_programs.html
Contact [email protected] for discounted multi-pack "Ready Print Train" offers.
A terrific training value for you and your organization!
Become a TGI Affiliate
Brain Facts (About Baby Brains)
Talking to your infant helps them to learn. One study showed when moms frequently speak to their infants, the children learn about 300 more words by age two than other less engaged children. By the time babies reach their first birthday they will have learned all the sounds needed to speak their native language. The more words your kids hear, the better they will be able to talk! So parents, chat up those kids! In addition, kids who are read to during their early years are more likely to learn to read at the right time.
Furthermore, during the second half of a child's first year, the prefrontal cortex, which will be responsible for executive function (decision making and problem solving, as well as inculcating societies cultural mores - doing the harder thing) forms synapses at such a rate that it consumes twice as much energy as an adult brain. This ferocious energy consumption will carry through to the child's first ten years of life. Keep in mind, that the neurons in the prefrontal cortex are not fully myelinated (developed) until the mid to late twenties. (Myelination is a process of coating the neuron with a fatty sheath, that allows electrochemical messages to quickly move through the axon of neuronal cells.)
Your Facial Expression Is a Dead Give-Away
By David Stevens
Published August 22, 2007
Your face may not be your fortune, but your facial expression is as much a part of communication with others as is speaking. We all know and easily recognize the common expressions like fear, interest, sadness, shame, disgust, surprise, happiness, and anger. In fact, these facial expressions are universal. As evidenced in Evolutionary Psychology by David Buss, if you show photos or even drawings of people exhibiting these emotions to anyone in the world, no matter how remote, they will attribute the correct interpretation to every look without fail. Some cultures may interpret the intensity of the emotion differently. Asian people, in general, rate a less intense facial expression than would an American. In these cultures, displaying emotion too strongly is considered impolite and so there is a tendency to play down in the mind what may actually be present. One doesn't see what one doesn't want to see, so to speak, but facial expressions can be far more subtle than this.
For instance, almost everyone has met someone who is seemingly friendly and happy, but afterwards says, "I don't think he liked me" or "He didn't seem so happy underneath." That is because, although many expressions are voluntary, many more are beyond our control. They flit across a face, sometimes lasting only a microsecond, and even though we may not consciously perceive them in others, our sub-conscious is nevertheless taking in the information displayed. Reading facial expressions is something that goes back to the dawn of man. Those who were good at it tended to be able to tell friend from foe a little better and thus lived a little longer. Those who did not read facial expressions as well were disadvantaged and tended to have shorter lives.
The skill is still variable, however people have an innate ability that enables them to read the main emotion signifiers; it is the micro-expression that slips by many of us. If we accept that such facial expressions are universal, there must be a set of rules governing their manifestation.So thought anthropologist Paul Ekman in the late 1960s. He had shown that all cultures read facial expressions in much the same way and wanted to know what the mechanisms were that caused the expressions. Ekman, a professor at the University of California in San Francisco, put together a substantial videotape library of people's face expressions and studied them, sometimes in slow motion, until he could pick up a flicker of emotion that might last no more than a small fraction of a second. He and a collaborator then decided that they needed to list all possible variations of expressions. To do this they had to study the underlying muscles and look at what controlled them in the brain. This was no easy task.
The muscles in the face can adjust themselves into 10,000 different configurations. An eyebrow lifted just a fraction, the eyes opened more than usual, or the lips turned down a smidgen, can produce an expression entirely different from that where the muscles pull the individual components into only a marginally different configuration. By working through every combination, he isolated 3,000 expressions that carried meaning. These were identified as the facial indicators for the entire gamut of human emotions. Ekman compiled the mechanics of all these combinations and the rules for reading and interpreting them into what he called, the Facial Action Coding System or FACS. So precise are the mechanics and rules that digital animation movie studios such as Pixar and Dreamworks used them to help properly animate the faces in Toy Soldier and Shrek.
It takes some study to be proficient at recognizing so many combinations of facial expression and their meaning. It takes even longer to be able to create those expressions at will on your own face. In an interview with the New Yorker magazine Ekman demonstrated his skills. He told how he was watching Bill Clinton on TV during the 1992 Democratic primaries and said, "I was watching his facial expressions and said to my wife, 'This is Peck's Bad Boy.' This is a guy who wants to be caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and have us love him for it anyway. There was this expression that's one of his favorites. It's that hand-in-the-cookie-jar, love-me-Mommy-because-I'm-a-rascal look." Ekman then began to assemble the look on his own face. He started with a classic smile, but tugged down the corners of the lips. He raised the chin, slightly pressed his lips together, and rolled his eyes. It was amazing. It was as if Bill Clinton had suddenly appeared in the room.
The recognition of facial expressions, particularly micro-expressions that come and go so swiftly is a skill much sought after in law-enforcement organizations. Ekman and ex-ATF agent J.J. Newbury put together a program to train officers of police forces around the world in interviewing techniques and lie detection. They also assist the CIA, FBI and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in counter-terrorism training.
A training tool they use is a tape of an interview with the famous "third man" in a soviet spy scandal in Britain during the Cold War. On the tape, Kim Philby, a high-ranking figure in British Intelligence appears to convincingly deny any wrongdoing; however, when played in slow motion, it is a different story. When asked if he has committed treason, a smirk of pure smugness, too brief to see normally, flits across his face. Ekman calls it "duping delight," the thrill of fooling other people.
Police Sergeant Bob Harms is another expert face reader. He has always been able to read peoples' facial expressions and body language, and one rainy night in West Hollywood, it saved his and his partner's lives. They spotted a man all bundled up in a large coat and called him over to the squad car to check him out. They asked him what he was doing and he told them he was just out for a walk but had "something to show them." While he was reaching beneath his coat, Harms shot him. Harms' partner couldn't believe it, but when they checked the body, they found a makeshift flamethrower with which the man was going to incinerate them. The follow-up investigation also discovered that the man was unstable and had just attempted suicide.
These are the geniuses of facial expression recognition, but everyone does it to some degree. Paul Ekman says it is not that hard to do it better. Close observation and being aware of what you are looking for can quickly improve your ability to judge what the other person is really thinking. Always remember: Your thoughts are written on your face for all to read.
Gary Trotta, CEO
4545 East Hedgehog Place
Cave Creek, Arizona 85331
602-750-7223
[email protected]
www.training-games.com
Download the TGI Catalog
If you wish to cancel your newsletter subscription click here.
Over time some of the links within our newsletters may become disabled. If you have interest in a particular URL or download please contact us at [email protected]