Group Exercise in Distractions

With teens back to school, they now have even more things going on in life to cause distractions. As instructors, your job is to educate the students on what types of distractions are out there for them to combat.

Needed items:

• 1 blank 3 x 5 card  for each student


• 1 pen/pencil for each student


• 3 brown paper lunch bags

Preparations: 

• Label each bag with one of the following titles


• Mental


• Physical


• Visual

Delivery:

• Break your class into small groups of five to seven people per group.


• Give each group a small stack (5 to 7) of 3 x 5 cards


• Have the each individual group select a group leader and scribe


• Instruct the students to discuss potential types driving distractions and have the scribe put one agreed-upon distraction on each card


• The group leader will then read the cards back to their group and decide if each is a mental, physical or visual distraction.


• Once the cards are separated, the group leader will place the cards in their respective labeled paper bags at the front of the room.


• As the instructor, go through each bag reading back the student selections for distractions and be sure to place them in front of their proper bag


• The majority if not all will end up in the mental pile. It is important to note that these types are not mutually exclusive. That is, while some distractions may take your eyes off the road or remove your hands from the steering wheel, they also encompass taking your mind off the driving task because you are focused on performing a different task. To quickly summarize, no matter what you do, in the end, it’s all a potential mental distraction, which could affect any or all of the steps involved in driving:
  
  
  
  • Perceiving what’s in the driving environment
  
  
  • Making decisions on what you perceive
  
  
  • Taking any actions based on your decisions