Part 1- WILDERNESS SURVIVAL WORK SHEET

Here are twelve questions concerning personal survival in a wilderness situation. Your first task is individually to select the best of the three alternatives given under each item. Try to imagine yourself in the situation depicted.

Assume that you are alone and have a minimum of equipment, except where specified. The season is fall. The days are warm and dry, but the nights are cold.

After you have completed this task individually, you will again consider each question as a member of a small group. Your group will have the task of deciding, by consensus, the best alternative for each question. Do not change your individual answers, even if you change your mind in the group discussion. Both the individual and group solutions will later be compared with the "correct" answers provided by a group of naturalists who conduct classes in woodland survival.

I. You have strayed from your party in trackless timber. You have no special signaling equipment. The best way to attempt to contact your friends is to:

a. call "help" loudly but in a low register.

b. yell or scream as loud as you can.

c. whistle loudly and shrilly.

2. You are in "snake country." Your best action to avoid snakes is to:

a. make a lot of noise with your feet.

b. walk softly and quietly.

c. travel at night.

3. You are hungry and lost in wild country. The best rule for determining which plants are safe to eat (those you do not recognize) is to:

a. try anything you see the birds eat.

b. eat anything except plants with bright red berries.

c. put a bit of the plant on your lower lip for five minutes; if it seems all right, try a little.

4. The day becomes dry and hot. You have a full canteen of water (about one liter) with you. You should:

a. ration it-about a cupful a day.

b. not drink until you stop for the night, then drink what you think you need.

c. drink as much as you think you need when you need it.

5. You water is gone; you become very thirty. You finally come to a dried-up watercourse. Your best chance of finding water is to:

a. dig anywhere in the stream bed.

b. dig up plant and tree roots near the bank.

c. dig in the stream bed at the outside of a bend.

6. You decide to walk out of the wild country by following a series of ravines where a water supply is available. Night is coming on. The best to make camp is:

a. next to the water supply in the ravine.

b. high on a ridge.

c. midway up the slope.

7. Your flashlight glows dimly as you are about to make your way back to your campsite after a brief foraging trip. Darkness comes quickly in the woods and the surroundings seem unfamiliar. You should:

a. head back at once, keeping the light on, hoping the light will glow enough for you to make out landmarks.

b. put the batteries under your armpits to warm them, and then replace them in the flashlight.

c. shine your light for a few seconds, try to get the scene in mind, move out in the darkness, and repeat the process.

8. An early snow confines you to your small tent. You doze with your small • stove going. There is danger if the flame is:

a. yellow.

b. blue.

c. red.

9. You must ford a river that has a strong current, large rocks, and some white water. After carefully selecting your crossing spot, you should:

a. leave your boots and pack on.

b. take your boots and pack off.

c. take off your pack, but leave your boots on.

10. In waist-deep water with a strong current, when crossing the stream, you should face:

a. upstream.

b. across the stream.

c. downstream.

11. You find yourself rim rocked; your only route is up. The way is mossy, slippery rock. You should try it:

a. barefoot.

b. with boots on.

c. in stocking feet.

12. Unarmed and unsuspecting, you surprise a large bear prowling around your campsite. As the bear rears up about ten meters from you, you should:

a. run.

b. climb the nearest tree.

c. freeze, but be ready to back away slowly.

Part II- Wilderness Survival Consensus-seeking Task Reaction Paper

1. Discuss the kind of leadership your group experienced no specific leader, emergent, implied, or designated - see description below. What style did your leader(s) use in "What Effective Group Member s Do in library reserve? Why was the leadership style effective or ineffective? Discuss your leadership qualities by identifying 2 strengths see back of this handout. Identify 2 qualities that you need to strengthen?

2. Discuss the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of at least two decision-making techniques (see bottom of this page-at least one of them must be consensus) used by your group to answer the wilderness survival questions. Did groupthink affect any of your decisions? Why and why not?

3. Did your group achieve synergy (provide your individual and group score)? Why not (don't write "because our group score was higher/lower than the average of our individual scores"-that's too obvious)? Based upon your small-group experiences in this class up to this point, what is one thing that group members might do to help a group achieve synergy?