Learning: The Magic of Making Training FUN

I found this article from Thiagi www.thiagi.com very useful While reviewing a training game on team formation, I came across this question: What are the four stages of team development? You probably know the answer: forming, storming, norming, and performing. If you answered the question correctly, what does it prove? Sure, you can recall the four stages of team development. But does this mean that you understand the principles and can apply them to real-world teams? Compare the original question with these questions: What is an example of effective facilitation behavior during the norming stage? What is an example of effective team-member behavior during the storming stage? Which team-development stage is the most critical one? Why do you think so? What additional stages would you add to the four team-development stages? I am sure that you noticed the difference between the original question and the latter questions. The latter questions require more thinking. They reflect the type o...

Prof Thiagi outlines what you can do to make your managers have faith in the value of games in learning. Some exctacts from his article: The Intelligent Choice When trainers challenge me with "Why should I use games and experiential activities?", Thiagi lists impressive research findings from cognitive sciences. These findings suggest that traditional training is severely limited -- and interactive, experiential techniques have great potential. Here are some specific details: YOU ARE OF TWO MINDS. Professor Seymour Epstein at the University of Massachusetts has a ground-breaking theory of intelligence called Cognitive Experiential Self Theory (CEST), which suggests that we have an experiential mind and a rational mind. Our experiential mind learns directly, thinks quickly, pays attention to the outcome, and forgets slowly. Our rational mind learns indirectly, thinks deliberately, pays attention to the process, and forgets rapidly. Epstein's contention is that you need b...