the ampersand game (ice-breakers, warm-ups,

demonstrations of learning, thinking, and brain-

types, knowledge versus skill)
This simple exercise is a quick icebreaker, or can be extended into something more
meaningful. Fundamentally the activity demonstrates that knowing something is very
different to doing something. Knowledge is different to skill. The exercise also illustrates
certain learning and brain processes, notably relating to retention, practise and
repetition, as steps to perfection. Useful reference models would include Bloom's
Taxonomy and the Conscious Competence model.

The basic activity idea is very simple: It's basically to draw the ampersand symbol (the
'and sign'). The exercise however can be adapted and developed significantly.

Everyone has seen the ampersand symbol. Most people call it the 'and sign'. It looks like
this, in two common fonts, (Tahoma and Times New Roman):

& &
In fact the ampersand appears in a wide variety of wonderful designs; it has provided
designers through the centuries with more scope for artistic interpretation than any
other character.

The activity is simply to ask people to draw the ampersand symbol - serif or sans serif -
or a more stylised version - at the discretion of the facilitator. (Interesting background
about sans serif and serif fonts is on the presentations page.)

It's actually not at all easy to draw a good-looking ampersand, especially if team
members are not able to see the symbol to copy it.

Knowing and recognising the ampersand equates to 'knowledge'. Being able to draw it -
to reliably produce one - equates to 'skill'. Different things. Knowledge we can learn by
observation and other sensory input. Skill is generally only acquired from experience,
practice, trial and error. This is the heart of the activity.

Where people should draw and present their artwork attempts - and how large and how
long is permitted for the effort - is all flexible and at the discretion of the facilitator.
People can use a blank sheet of paper where they sit, or alternatively can practise (or
not), and then take turns to draw the symbol on a flip chart. Or ask people to work in
pairs or threes or even teams, to design their definitive ampersand. Or encourage
branding and styling of people's artwork according to a particular theme, which extends
the activity beyond the basic purpose described here.
At its simplest the exercise is a two-minute icebreaker. With a bit of imagination it can
be adapted into a much bigger activity, if the idea appeals and fits the situation.

The exercise emphasises that we can know something very simply intimately but be
incapable of reproducing it properly and expertly - whether a printed symbol, or
something more significant. The principle extends to behaviour, style, techniques, etc.

The activity also demonstrates the significance of practice in becoming good at

something. The brain must learn how to do it, which is very different from the brain
simply recognising and being able to describe it.

Incidentally while the symbol is about 2,000 years old, the word ampersand first
appeared in the English language in around 1835. It is a corrupted (confused) derivation
of the term 'And per se', which was the original formal name of the & symbol in
glossaries and official reference works. More about the origins of the ampersand.
Explaining the history can help position the exercise - it took 2,000 years to arrive at
today's ampersand designs - hence why it takes a bit of practice to reproduce a good
one by hand.