Article Title
Unspoken Rules: Using the Game of Mao to Teach Sensemaking and Cultural Approaches to Communication
Abstract
This interactive classroom activity invites students to interrogate their common sense and taken-for-granted communication practices and assumptions. In the course of playing a “concealed rules” game, students enact the ritual view of communication and the process of sensemaking. The activity provides an experiential model for clarifying complex themes as well as for actively constructing student understanding of the theories. The activity directly challenges norms of classroom communication and interaction and promotes thoughtful and engaged classroom discussion and reflection. Instructors are provided clear instructions, recommended student readings and sample discussion questions. The activity and debrief usually require about one hour of instructional time. Recommendations for ways the activity can be tailored to suit instructor needs allow this dynamic and engaging activity to be effectively adapted.