Moon Task

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Goal

Task

Your spaceship has just crashed on the moon. You were scheduled to rendezvous with a mother ship 200 miles away on the lighted surface of the moon, but the rough landing has ruined your ship and destroyed all the equipment on board except for the 15 items listed below. Your crew’s survival depends on reaching the mother ship, so you must choose the most critical items available for the 200-mile trip.

Your task is to rank the 15 items in terms of their importance for survival. Place a number 1 by the most important item, number 2 by the second most important, and so on, through number 15, the least important.

  • Box of matches
  • Food concentrate
  • 50 feet of nylon rope
  • Parachute silk
  • Solar-powered portable heating unit
  • Two .45caliber pistols
  • One case of dehydrated milk
  • Two 100-pound tanks of oxygen
  • Stellar map (of the moon’s constellations)
  • Self-inflating life raft
  • Magnetic compass
  • 5 gallons of water
  • Signal flares
  • First-aid kit containing injection needles
  • Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter

Correct answers:

ITEM Reasoning NASA’s Rank
Box of matches No oxygen to sustain flame, virtually worthless 15
Food concentrate Efficient means of supplying energy requirements 4
Fifty feet of nylon rope Useful in scaling cliffs, tying injured together 6
Parachute silk Protection from sun’s rays 8
Solar-powered portable heating unit Not needed unless on dark side 13
Two .45 caliber pistols Possible means of self-propulsion 11
One case of Pet milk Bulkier duplication of food concentrate 12
Two 100-pound tanks of oxygen Most pressing survival need 1
Stellar map (of the moon’s constellations) Primary means of navigation 3
Self-inflating life raft CO2 bottle in military raft may be used for propulsion 9
Magnetic compass Magnetic field on moon is not polarized; worthless for navigation 14
5 gallons of water Replacement for tremendous liquid loss on lighted side 2
Signal flares Distress signal when mother ship is sighted 10
First-aid kit injection needles Needles for vitamins, medicines, etc., will fit special aperture in NASA space suits 7
Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter For communication with mother ship; but FM requires line-of-sight transmission and short ranges 5

Structure

  1. Have students do the task individually in 5 minutes.
  2. Have students re-do it reaching a group decision. Groups of 4-5 are ideal, groups of 10 are more illustrative.
  3. Stop after 10-15 minutes

  4. Scoring. Calculate error for each item, for individual rankings and group rankings

    • Error = Absolute value of ranking – NASA’s ranking, i.e. how far off group rank is from NASA’s rank, ignoring direction of the difference. For example, if NASA ranks an item as 5 and the group said it was 7, the error is 2.
    • Add up the error scores for the individual items
    • Calculate a total error score for both the group rankings and the individual rankings

  5. Have groups put summary statistics on board:

    • Average of individual scores (i.e., the available resources within group)
    • Team error score
    • Gain score (Average of Individual scores – Team Score)
    • Best individual score (lowest)
    • Worst individual score (highest)
    • The number of people in the group who did better when they were alone

Optional:

  • Distribute the LOTM handout to students a few days beforehand. Have students do the task by themselves and come to class with their rankings
  • At some points introduce time limits to stress the group. E.g. after one minute say - you HAVE to agree on positions 1-5 in 30s.

Discussion

Winners and Losers. Ask the class:

  1. Who is the “winner”? Why?
  2. Which group(s) is the “loser”? Why?
  3. Students may look at Team score or may complain that they had a weak team member.

Process Gain: is when the groups outperform even their best member:

  1. Called Group synergy (Hall, 1971). These groups are the winners!

  2. According to Hall (1971) synergy occurs when:

    • group searches for good solutions for the group rather than¨compromises or bargains or good solutions for themselves as individuals
    • group relies on the person with the most expertise

  3. According to Hall (1971) groups can foster synergy by:

    • avoid arguing for own way —– think!
    • don’t think “win-lose” think acceptable for all, or integrative solutions
    • do not change mind for sake of harmony
    • disagreements mean a range of ideas – seek them out, all contributions are valuable

Process Loss: when the raw resources of the group (what the individuals bring to bear on the task) is loss due to problems in the functioning of the group. These groups are the losers! (Ok, that might be a bit harsh)

Examples of group dynamics that prevent groups from doing their best. (Discuss any or all, making reference to students’ experience from the task):

  1. Lack of communication, not sharing unique information, etc.
  2. Groupthink
  3. Conformity (e.g., age, gender, status, camping experience, etc.) including informational social infl

Followup

  • MoonProblem.pdf (20 ko)
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