Give your students a survival scenario, such as a plane or boat crash. You only have a limited amount of time and space with which to remove survival items from the plane and you have many different items to choose from. Have the group discuss which items are the most necessary and have them narrow it down to 10 to 15 items from a list of 50. The learning aspect of the game is not so much what they choose, but how they work together to determine which items are important. Only let them put an item down on the list if everybody agrees on the item.
Place two chairs at the front of the classroom. There should be two students sitting in the chairs at any given time having a conversation about a topic of your choosing. The topics can be health care-related or they can be about anything at all. When another student wishes to come in and talk or ask a question they tag out a player by tapping him on the shoulder. This student then joins the conversation. This game is good for getting to know their classmates and to show the importance of listening. Most important, however, is for the students to realize that everybody has his or her own life philosophy, which factors into how the group functions.
Download the Sexual Orientation Identification sheet from the Environmental Health & Safety website (Reference 1) and print out copies for all of your students. This sheet is a questionnaire that asks questions about what behaviors determine what sexual orientation someone is. Have the students go down the list and ask them to say their answers out loud. The first few questions will have similar answers, but as the questions get more ambiguous, different students will have different answers. This activity is extremely important as sexual orientation is becoming a major factor to deal with in the health industry. This activity helps students learn that different people have different opinions about sexual orientation. It shows that when sexual orientation is an issue, a team must work together to find the appropriate viewpoint.
This game works best when students have been working together for several months. One student goes to the front of the classroom or in the middle of a circle. The other students go one by one giving genuine compliments to that person. In most cases, almost all the students will be able to think of something extremely warm and complimentary. This promotes a fantastic energy within the classroom and it shows the group how positivity is a factor in how groups work together.