
3. Cooperation and competition
Themes in the suggested curriculum: The individual in a small group. Interpersonal relations. Communication with peers. Why interpersonal conflicts arise.
Themes in the suggested curriculum: The individual in a small group. Interpersonal relations. Communication with peers. Why interpersonal conflicts arise.
Themes in the suggested curriculum: The individual in a small group. Interpersonal relations. Communication with peers. Why interpersonal conflicts arise.
Aims:
- Development of communicative competence: the ability to analyse situations of communicative conflict, and to seek out positive solutions to conflicts
- Introduction to the concept of 'conflict,' behavioural strategies in a conflict
- Development of communicative tolerance
Target group: school years 6-7
Duration — 1 hour 20 minutes
Short description
At the start of the lesson, the pupils answer a questionnaire via individual i-pads, whose results are automatically processed by the database. The results of the questionnaire are discussed, during which the them of conflict is actualised. The participants come to the conclusion that conflict doesn't only carry negative emotions, but can also have the potential for the emergence of common interests, with the kids understanding the need to look into what behaviour is effective in conflicts.
A warm-up takes place to immerse them into the them, whose results will later be discussed at the stage of examining the behavioural strategies for conflicts.
The schoolchildren watch three video-fragments that serve as communicative tasks about conflict between teenagers. After each story, the viewers answer the question “How should the protagonist act in this situation?” via i-pad. The aim of this exercise is to understand the the behavioral strategies in conflicts that the students already employ.
After this, the participants are introduced, in mini-lectures, to the basic strategies in conflict (according to Thomas Kilmann). In an interactive discussion, the pluses and minuses of using each strategy are considered. The statistical breakdown of the students' answers for each film and the warm-up are examined. The conclusion is made about which strategy is most widespread among the class and how many students are willing to use cooperation to solve conflicts.
The next stage of the lesson concerns the practical reworking of the theoretical material. The class is divided into three small groups, with each looking at the solution of one of the three case studies previously encountered in the videos. As a result, the schoolchildren receive experience in the analysis and simulation of communicative situations, seeing the spectrum of actions facilitating the positive solution of conflict.
At the concluding stage of the lesson, with the help of the exercise and didactic test “Master of Conflict Resolution,” the pupils can form an impression of the qualities of personality needed in effective conflict behaviour, and evaluate the presence of these qualities in themselves. This allows them to note the personal qualities whose development they ought to give some special attention.
The final questionnaire and synthesis of the results is intended to consolidate the experiences the kids have had, motivating them to develop the qualities of a communicatively competent individual.