Grade 8 Pudong’s Great Escape
By Fay Leong
Last Wednesday, September 26, 110 students from Grade 8 enjoyed a day of fun, adventure and team building at Gongxing Park in Puxi. This trip was developed to create an adventure learning experience that would both enhance and support the Grade 8 leadership program. Gongxing Park was chosen, in part, as a destination because of its ropes course. What is a ropes course, you ask? Ropes Challenge Courses have become increasingly popular over the last 20 years. They were first developed in the UK in the 1940s as part of a group called Outward Bound and spread to the US in the 1960s, becoming part of Project Adventure in the 1970s. These courses, both for adults and children, provide the opportunity to push the limits of ‘comfort’ zones, to build trust between groups and to develop physical, emotional, social and problem solving senses. Team work and leadership does not simply spring fully formed into being. Through engaging in team building activities throughout the whole year, and being provided with training and leadership opportunities, we hope that 8th Graders will develop a greater sense of self, and of responsibility, confidence and risk-taking; all part of the EAGLES principle of empowerment.
Essentially, the course consists of a series of ‘obstacle courses’; poles, rope and metal strung together to provide a constructed climbing experience. In teams of 9 or 10, Grade 8 students were given a scenario and a time limit and required to make their way across each obstacle as a group, leaving no one behind. To increase the level of difficulty, some students were blindfolded or asked to pretend they had a broken arm or leg. Matthew Jardine commented that ‘it helped us trust the people we were with…if you have imagination you could see how these experiences could happen in real life… (and) see how you could help people without leaving them behind’. Students climbed structures they would not normally have climbed, and by the end were eager to take risks they might not normally have taken, from riding the zipline to getting dirty! Teachers on the trip reported that ‘the kids really focused on working together and supporting each other as a whole team’.
The day was also about getting to know each other. Wes Pantoja and Julian Thornbury ran soccer games at lunchtime; students enjoyed free time and the chance to explore the park a little further, joining in the games or inventing new games of their own. Who can forget the sight of Joey, Larissa, Kimber and Megan running ‘piggy back’ races? Or Fatiha and Lulu climbing trees? Students were also given the opportunity to choose to go on some of the many rides in the park. They enjoyed the luge and the rollercoaster (where they were joined by Dr Rosen and Dr Roukema), and many found it hard to tear themselves away from the go-karts. Kristian Agergaard commented the next day that ‘it was fun… I met lots of new people’. Teachers agreed, reporting that ‘students seemed to take advantage of the opportunity to connect with students that they didn’t previously know’.
As Wilson and Horch reported in their article on the ‘Implications of Brain Research for Teaching Young Adolescents’ (Middle School Journal, Sept 2002, Vol 34/1. pp 57-61), physical challenges such as ropes courses ‘build collaboration … (and) involve the mind and body in learning and team building’, helping with attention and memory skills. We certainly saw the proof of this last Wednesday. We also saw our students having fun, enjoying each other’s company and most of all, being kind to each other. We must thank all the parents who helped us on the day: Rula Msays, Grace Chang, Selina Leung and Ewa Lewandowski. Thanks must also go to Jennifer Lewis who organized the day and to all the teachers who helped out on the trip. It was truly a team effort.
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