Making Students Uncomfortable

Has anyone ever tried pulling a prank as a teaching method?  I tried it on students recently!  Here's the story.

The Setup -  It happened while we were helping students get ready for mission trips they will be taking this summer with InterVarsity.  Some background is helpful:  The IV chapters in Southern California are grouped into three Divisions, as shown below.

Us in the "Surf and Turf" division, which includes 10 schools and around 40 staff, will be taking teams of students with us on mission trips this summer to Bosnia, Mexico, and Fresno.  I myself am going to inner-city Fresno for 6 weeks with about 15 students and 4 other staff. (Hooray!  Learn more, like how to partner, here.)

This Summer's Fresno Team

The Setting - We had gathered all of these "pre"-missionaries for a weekend of prayer and training for their summers.  A fellow staff Noemi and I were tasked with teaching the trainees how to engage in healthy conflict resolution.  We decided to expand on the traditional teaching script.  "Why don't we just drag them into conflict, and then help them learn from the experience?"  This is where it gets interesting!

The Prank - Our plan had 3 phases.  First, and without any explanation of what we were doing, we told the group of about 30 to play a game.  The winner of the game would be the team that made the best decisions about how to survive a fictitious tragedy.  Since they were required to make unanimous decisions in very short time periods, conflict arose during the decision process.  Perfect.  We then debriefed the game and started to teach them about conflict resolution strategies.  They may have started to relax until the last and best phase:

"All right, let's come back together," my co-leader Noemi said, ending a session of peer sharing.
"Well, maybe they need a few more minutes," I suggested.  Noemi and I began to argue in front of the whole group about how to proceed with the training.  She acted very aggressive, attempting to address the problem.  I acted hurt, but I avoided talking about it with her.

Noemi: I’m trying to do what’s best for the group.

Sol: Your mind is already made up, let’s not talk about it any more.

Noemi: Are you upset with me?  I’m just trying to get the process going.

Sol: I’m not upset!  I have no problem!  I just think--(to audience:) would you guys like a few more minutes?
After arguing for a while, I stormed out of the room, and Noemi chased after me!  I think most of the trainees figured out we were joking.  But some of them shared that they were very uncomfortable during the simulation.  Again we debriefed the experience and used the example to train.

Jesus was not opposed to using uncomfortable scenarios to teach his disciples.  Think of the time he took his disciples to Samaria and they were stunned silent to find him talking with a woman there.  Or think of time the disciples were exhausted from such busy ministry they hadn't eaten in at least 1 day--and then Jesus challenged them to give a crowd of 5,000+ something to eat.  "Are you kidding me, Jesus?"

I think I'll try using the "prank" method again some time.  It seemed to work well, and it was fun.  :)