Page 251 - The Creative Training Idea Book Inspired Tips and Techniques for Engaging and Effective Learning

lucas chap 07 11/20/02 12:29 PM Page 240
240 The Creative Training Idea Book
GENERAL ENERGIZERS
Building quick energizing activities of 5 minutes or less into your programs can help
increase participant alertness and enhance learning because the blood will start pumping
and ultimately stimulate the brain. Many brain researchers have discovered that giving
learners a break every 60–90 minutes can help invigorate and rejuvenate energy levels.
When you see energy levels and enthusiasm dropping in your session, or directly
following a break, take a few minutes to move people around in the room. Even if it is
just to have everyone stand and do some deep breathing or stretching, get learners ac-
tive. Doing so is important because even though the brain is about 3 percent of total
body weight, it consumes about 20 percent of the oxygen taken in by the body. Deep
breathing and exercises can help produce a more efficient exchange of oxygen through
the blood, thus reinvigorating the brain.
The following activities can be used to energize participants and add a short diver-
sion to the training routine.

Moving On

After you have been in a session for 90 minutes or so, you should give learners a quick
break for refreshments, restroom use, and so forth. On their return to the room, try this
activity to stimulate them. It is also good for regrouping people and breaking up small
gatherings of friends and co-workers who inevitably sit together in a session. By regroup-
ing people you can encourage networking and communication while also reducing
the amount of side conversations that occur when participants who know one another
well sit together. For this and other activities, keep in mind what you read in an earlier
chapter regarding allowing people with disabilities to remain in chosen seats that best
accommodate their disabilities.
To conduct this activity as participants return from a break, simply have them gather
all their belongings and move to a new location that is at least 10–15 feet from where
they are currently seated and not next to someone who is beside them at present. As
this is taking place, put on some lively music (e.g., an Irish jig or other upbeat melody).
With participants in a new location, you can then continue, or possibly have them
participate in an activity that involves their new group in order to facilitate getting
acquainted.

Cross-Laterals

You read about the importance of movement in stimulating learning in an earlier
chapter. By getting learners up and active, you help the brain refresh itself and become
more efficient. You can accomplish this result by using Brain Gym 30 activities such as
cross-laterals that cause learners to use both hemispheres of the brain in coordination.
In doing such activities, the parts of one side of the body cross over the midpoint of the