Life Skills and Leadership Manual - Peace Corps

Life Skills & Leadership: Unit 3, Session 4: Setting Priorities, Managing Time | Page 51 of 68

Instructional Sequence

I. Motivation ( 15 minutes)
Materials:
Rocks about half the size of a fist
Dry, clean sand
Water
Liter-sized containers (3) if doing the demonstration
Drinking-cup sized containers (4) for each group of participants if doing the experiment
Newspaper or plastic sheets to protect the learning space

A. Full to Overflowing – Demonstration

Participants are able to describe a helpful analogy for thinking about how they use their time.

Note: This Motivation activity is described here as a demonstration that the facilitator would do while all the participants

watch. If you have the supplies, space, and a little additional time, you can set this up so that participants do their own

experimenting with the materials. Instructions for this alternative method are found below, beginning at “C. Full to

Overflowing – Experiment.”

1. Before participants arrive, spread a table or the floor with protective paper or plastic sheets. Place
   on this surface a pile of rocks and an empty container. Behind you or off to the side, out of
   participants’ direct line of sight, place a container of sand and a container of water. Hold up the
   empty container and say:

“I have here an empty liter container. Watch closely and tell me when it is full.”

2. Put rocks in the container one at a time, stopping when participants tell you. Say:

“So now my container is full, right? But is it really? Watch!”

3. Bring out the liter container of sand. Slowly pour or scoop the sand into the container with the
   rocks. Gently shake and tap the container so the sand can sift down and around the rocks. You will
   probably be able to fit more than half of the container of sand into the container of rocks. When
   you have put as much sand in as possible, show it to the participants and ask:

“Ok, I added sand to the container that you told me was full. Is it full now?”

4. Bring out the liter container of water. Slowly pour it into the container of sand and rocks. Tap the
   sides so that the air bubbles out and the water seeps in. You can probably empty half or more of a
   liter of water into the rocks and sand. Then ask:

“Is the container full now?” (Pause for answers.) “Yes, now it’s full. But twice before you told me

this container was full and each time I was able to put more sand or water into it. How do you

explain this? (Possible answers: There was empty space around the bigger rocks. You shook and

tapped the container to shift the contents so the smaller sand and water particles could get around

the big rocks.)