Exercises/Reflection and Learning

Purpose

Reflection and Learning Exercises: Choose a Format

Compare six formats for reviewing shared work, checking understanding, recording appreciation or learning from an experience. Each links to its current instructions, timing and materials.

Choose a format below, then check its complete run sheet.

Start with the learning task

Choose from the task participants need to do. A recall check revisits recent material. A debrief examines a shared activity. A project review looks for changes in how people work. Harvest creates a new experience to examine.

One Minute Note

5 minutes; 4 to 24 people. After a short teaching or reading segment, collect one minute of written or sketched recall and clarify a few responses.

Check before you choose: Use for immediate recall, not a full project retrospective. Offer writing, sketching or a voice memo and optional speaking. If notes will be collected, say so before writing.

Rose Debrief

10 minutes; 3 to 24 people. Gather a highlight and a challenge, then invite a few common patterns across the group.

Check before you choose: With exactly five people, use the stated 45-second turns; otherwise follow the small-group plan. Participants may pass on either prompt. This is not private conflict mediation.

Proud and Sorry

15 minutes; 4 to 24 people. Compare one accomplishment and one disappointment from shared work, then agree one practical adjustment per small group.

Check before you choose: Use with people who share relevant work history. Keep personal notes private unless their authors choose otherwise; passing is allowed. Hybrid delivery needs individual audio equipment and separated speaking positions.

Gratitude Jar

15 minutes; 4 to 24 people. Write concrete accomplishments or appreciated actions on slips and keep them in a personal container.

Check before you choose: Prepare a jar or sturdy container, paper strips and a pen for each person. Sharing remains optional. Skip this format during an active crisis or unresolved group conflict.

Narrative Workshop

90 minutes; 6 to 24 people. Write accounts of specific work incidents, compare them in small groups and organize observations into obstacles, turning points and lessons.

Check before you choose: Reserve the full 90 minutes and prepare the Story Capture Guide. Participants choose the details they share or may pass. Avoid acute crisis or hostile conditions; hybrid delivery requires the stated individual devices and headsets.

Harvest

15 minutes; 3 to 15 people. Run Harvest to observe how individual token-taking affects a shared replenishing pool, then connect the observed pattern to work.

Check before you choose: This creates a new learning experience; it does not review a completed project. The in-person plan needs a bowl, 150 to 200 counters, a chime, timer and board. Participants may observe or record totals instead of taking tokens.

Selection limits

These are UWT selection suggestions based on the linked run sheets. Read the sources, adaptations and participation choices before running an exercise.
Choose for the actual time, group size and materials shown. Sharing personal experiences is optional; read the access and participation choices in each run sheet.
The catalog below includes varied activities. Check each purpose and output before choosing it for a reflection session.

Sources and selection notes

One Minute Note source note: Observed in The Teacher Toolkit as 'One Minute Note', documented as an instructional check-for-understanding strategy. The linked UWT run sheet states its adaptations and complete instructions.
Rose Debrief source note: Observed on Playmeo, credited to Mark Collard. The Rose and Thorn reflection structure is an established facilitation format widely used in education and experiential learning. The linked UWT run sheet states its adaptations and complete instructions.
Proud and Sorry source note: Observed in the Relationship Makers Handbook (page 329). The linked UWT run sheet states its adaptations and complete instructions.
Gratitude Jar source note: Observed in Playmeo documentation, where the activity is attributed to Lisa Laura. The linked UWT run sheet states its adaptations and complete instructions.
Narrative Workshop source note: Observed in Participatory Methods library ('Narrative workshop'). The linked UWT run sheet states its adaptations and complete instructions.
Harvest source note: Observed in Play for Performance (January 2005), published by The Thiagi Group, featuring the simulation game Harvest attributed to Dennis Meadows. The linked UWT run sheet states its adaptations and complete instructions.

Editorial review: 2026-09-21.

Browse the wider catalog

852 exercises. The catalog includes varied activities. Check each purpose and output before choosing it for a reflection session.

Browse the focused retrospectives and reflection collection.

Reflection and Learning Exercises: Choose a Format

Start with the learning task

One Minute Note

Rose Debrief

Proud and Sorry

Gratitude Jar

Narrative Workshop

Harvest

Selection limits

Sources and selection notes

Browse the wider catalog

Don't Touch Me

Match & Out

T Puzzle: UWT Four-Piece Version

Skipping Rope

Pass Through

Creation of Instructional Resources

Harvest

Digital Presence

Bridging the Gap: Inter-Team Communication

Snowball Toss

Johnny Oops

Superiority

Ninja

Marshmallow Challenge

Cultivating a Willingness to Play

Practicing Generosity of Interpretation

Gratitude Jar Ceremony

Air Names

Lap Circle

Epic Failure

Poll and Predict: Characteristics of Effective Facilitators

Lean Walk

Group Pictionary Relay

Mindfulness Jar

Everybody Up

Empowered Teams

Mind-Reading Framegame

Why

Comfort Zone Circles

I Pass This Shoe

A What?

Little-Known Facts

Water Fountains

Deportment Tag

Treasure Hunt

GROW Coaching

10 Minutes: An Exercise in Mindfulness

Samurai

Velcro Circle

Collaborative Benchmarking

Now, Next, Later

Do Talk Give Take

Balloon Propulsion Debrief

Around the World

Human Knot

Participatory Infographic

Asteroids

Circles of Influence

Whole Product Game

Third Degree

Awareness of Social Identity

Hot Box

Negotiation Gesture Consensus

Isometric Stretch

Octopus Tag

Turn Over A New Leaf

Playing Card Mixers

Potent Poetry

Mapping Complexity with a Fishbone Diagram

Stop and Go

Magic Nine Numbers

Butt Charades

Transcultural Emails

Snake

Dot Voting

This or That

All My Neighbours

Paper Stone Stacking

Paper Frisbee