Challenge games and cooperative games are in abundance. This is the lesson plans home page  for a wide range of challenge games that promote teamwork, cooperation, trust and communication. There are many links included in this page...

Get a boat across the river! Work on problem-solving with tumbling mats to represent the boat, and try to get a crew across the grass without any of the members touching the ground. This will take team work, cooperation, and...

Begin the school year with enthusiasm using the book entitled My Teacher Can Teach Anyone! In this reading for meaning lesson, primary readers listen to the story and discuss what is happening and why the boy in the story might be...

Triple Pin Soccer promises to be a fast paced, high action game, especially if there is more than one ball in play. The players have an opportunity to score in three different goals while protecting their own. Looks like it's going to be...

Nothing says 21st century learning skills like an Internet-based collaborative learning lesson plan focused on using technology to compile and synthesize information. An embedded video shows you what collaborative learning in high school...

Scholars examine codes, symbols, and other forms of communication. They discuss Morse Code. Next, they are given messages written in code, which they must decipher. 

A high-level introduction to fallacies of weak induction, including appeals to unqualified authority and ignorance, hasty generalizations, and weak analogies. Each fallacy is defined and shown with an example. For use mostly in college...

Students read and analyze original telegrams to learn about people involved in and process of building the world's first Ferris wheel, examine correspondence between inventor and engineer to understand planning necessary to build Ferris...

There are many ways to say, no. Secondary special needs high schoolers need to know when and how to say no when they feel they are in an uncomfortable situation. They sign, say, and role-play how to say no. Worksheets and role-playing...

Mild to moderately disabled secondary students practice asking for what they want. They discuss a scenario, list things they want, then practice asking for those things. Our special needs students need to know how to communicate...

Having social skills and being able to assert yourself in a positive way is so important. Students with mild to moderate disabilities engage in a series of activities to practice assertive communication and social skills. Perfect for a...

Pupils prepare for an participate in a debate. They watch instructional videos on how debates proceed. Pupils work in teams to research various topics, present their opinions on the issue, and respond to opposing viewpoints during a...

I used to hate filling out job applications when I was younger. Make a tedious task painless for your job-minded upper graders. They practice their written communication skills and get ready to search for employment by filling out...

Everyone needs help now and then, but asking for help may come more naturally for some than it does for others. Provide in-context communication practice for your verbal or non-verbal autistic learners. They are given a toy or puzzle...

Practice interpersonal communication with your young learners with autism. They play a game to practice asking appropriate questions. They each take turns asking, "What's in the bag?" Additionally, they discuss reasons for asking...

Students investigate the basic emotions that are experienced by human beings. They define and differentiate between the feelings of happiness, sadness, and anger. Students complete a feelings worksheet and look at images that represent...

Here is an effective way to have your charges practice and model important listening skills. After a short review of effective active listening concepts, such as using body language, summarizing what the other person said, and asking...

Students in this workshop strive to be reflective listeners as Master Teachers. They focus on communication skills necessary to deal with common family problems and community problems.

When water skiing or wake boarding, hand signals are the most effective way of communicating. Use this lesson plan on boat safety to ensure that your youngsters are using the proper precautions before engaging in water sports.

This challenge game activity focuses on not just following directions, but on active listening as the players receiving the directions are blindfolded. The players giving directions need to be clear and concise in telling the blindfolded...

Skywriters is an introductory challenge games from ropes course material. It focuses on communnication, team cooperation, trust, and problem solving. There is a link to several more challenge games.

This is the skeleton lesson of a cooperative challenge game. This lesson assumes the teacher is familiar with cooperative games. If you are familiar then you have probably already done an activity like this one.

Learning how to interact and work cooperatively in a team is an essential skill, both in school and the world beyond the classroom. Pupils use a self-check, group skills worksheet to evaluate their behavior in a recent group situation,...

This is an intermediate level challenge game that comes from a ropes course curriculum. As with most challenges for a ropes course, there is focus on communication, trust, decision making, and mostly, cooperation. There are links that...