Using Dance Cards to Facilitate the Sharing Phase in Sociometric Explorations

Abstract

The author considers sociometric explorations that, at some point, require each group member to share information with every other group member in sequence. In this sharing phase, a facilitator usually directs the group to form new pairs at the start of each time period, leaving it to the members to find their next partners. Moments of chaos often result in which members have to switch to new partners, creating anxiety for members who do not find a partner and increased completion time for the sharing phase. The author describes dance cards, a structure that can enable the formation of such sequences of pairs to occur in an orderly and efficient manner.