This brief dyadic game demonstrates the power of debriefing. It incorporates a short walking experience to show how different people react in different ways to the same activity.
Synopsis
Two participants take a short walk to the same destination. Later, they talk turns responding to a set of debriefing questions about the walk.
Purpose
To demonstrate how different participants have different perceptions and insights from the same experience.
Participants
Minimum: 2
Maximum: Any number, organized into pairs
Time
15 to 30 minutes
Handout
Debriefing Questions
Supplies
Timer
Whistle
Flow
Brief the partners. Explain that this activity involves completing a parallel experience and discussing your reactions.
Choose a destination. Ask the partners to select a suitable destination that could be reached in about a couple of minutes’ walk from your current location. This destination should be clear and specific and both partners should agree about it.
Walk to the destination. The partners should walk to the destination either side by side or in a single file. During the walk, they should not talk to each other.
Walk back. When they reach the destination, the partners should silently and immediately turn around and walk back to their original starting location.
Review the list of debriefing questions. When they are back at the starting point, the partners should review the list of debriefing questions. They should quickly scan the list of 20 questions.
Take turns to choose a question. One of the partners selects a question that promises to provoke an interesting discussion. They read this question aloud.
Discuss the question. Both partners discuss the question in a normal conversational style. They refer back to their mutual walk and to other previous experiences.
Repeat questions and answer. After discussing a question, the other partner chooses the next question. The partner discuss selected questions one at a time.
Conclude the questions and answer. The partners discuss the selected question until they run out of a pre-set period or questions. This concludes the activity that results in a better understanding of the similarities and differences among the perceptions of the partners.
Debriefing Questions
How did you feel during and at the end of the activity?
What did you learn from the activity?
Different people perceive the same experience in different ways. How does this activity support this principle?
What if the walk lasted 15 minutes? How would the experience and learning from it have differed?
What if you walked alone by yourself?
What if you were permitted to talk to each other during the walk? What would you have talked about?
What was the most interesting part of this activity?
What was the most boring part of the activity?
What did the debriefing discussion reveal to be major difference in your reaction to the same experience?
Major similarities did you notice in your perceptions to the same experience?
How did the presence of a fellow walker affect your experience?
How does the experience compare with other joint experiences with a partner?
What single word captures the feeling related to the entire experience ?
What other activity could have been used instead of walking?
How did you choose the common destination for the walk? What factors influenced your choice?
How did the original walk to the destination differ from the walk back?
What if you had time to discuss just three debriefing questions. Which three would you select?
What if you discussed your experience without having a list of debriefing questions?
What other questions would you add to the list of debriefing questions?