Fatigue: Musical Discussion

Fatigue affects all of us at one time or another, but commercial drivers face more risk of working while fatigued than most people in most professions. That means it’s critical to understand fatigue and know what to do when it happens. In this Learning Lesson, we will define and explore fatigue and give you strategies for dealing with one of the more major job challenges you face.

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Our free Luma Learning Lessons include objectives, estimated time, materials and instructional procedures for classroom and online/blended teaching. We will provide strategies on how to use our new LumaLive technology to collaborate virtually in real-time. We include these pillars from our learning research to illustrate where they are infused in our lessons.

	Objectives Describe how fatigue feels from multiple perspectives Create a plan to fight fatigue
	Estimated Time 60 minutes
	Materials Musical Chairs Discussion Strips Musical Chairs Discussion Worksheet Musical Chairs Discussion Answer Sheet Relaxing songs Timers LumaLive or similar technology Pen or pencil Tape Computer or Smartphone eNugget® Coercion or a similar online content.

Instructional Procedures for F2F

1.	Form the chairs in two lines facing each other. This means students are divided into two groups or you can do four groups with two lines.
2.	Have relaxing music playing. Research has suggested that listening to relaxing music alleviated the mental fatigue associated with performing an enduring cognitive-motor task. Some examples of relaxing songs are according to scientists: Marconi Union, “Weightless”, Airstream, “Electra”, DJ Shah, “Mellomaniac (Chillout Mix)”, Enya, “Watermark”, Coldplay, “Strawberry Swing”, Barcelona, “Please Don’t Go”. All Saints, “Pure Shores”, Adele, “Someone Like You”.
3.	Optional: Have your learners all write down the song they feel is most relaxing and then make your playlist live off of these songs.
4.	Cut out the discussion strips off the Musical Chairs Discussion Strips. Tape a question on the back of the chairs.
5.	Option: Have your learners write a question on a blank strip related to fatigue.
6.	Start the music played softly in the background. Give them time to discuss the question before you stop the music and have them switch chairs. Tell them they will continue to discuss until you stop the music.
7.	Option: You can use a timer or judged based on their discussions. Have them use the Musical Chairs Discussion Strips that taped on their chairs.
8.	Tell the learners to pick a chair. The goal is for them to discuss each question and to come up with a solution for their worksheet.
9.	When they are done have them discuss the answers with the class. Feel free to refer to the Musical Chairs Discussion Answer Sheet.
10.	Individually, have the learners create a plan to fight fatigue. Have them share their plans.
11.	Optional: Meet with learners individually to check in on their plans if they struggle with fatigue.

Instructional Procedures for Blended/Online

1.	Provide the Fatigue eNugget® or similar online content for online experience. This gives them an introduction before they meet.
2.	Set up a meeting in LumaLive or similar webinar technology.
3.	In the meeting, show the Musical Chairs Discussion Strips and have each person post their responses in the chat room. Then you can discuss them out loud.
4.	Give the learners a challenge and have the come up with a plan to fight fatigue.
5.	Explain to students the benefit of having relaxing music playing. Optional: You could make a playlist and share it with them. You could have the learners share or add songs to the playlist. Research has suggested that listening to relaxing music alleviated the mental fatigue associated with performing an enduring cognitive-motor task. Some examples of relaxing songs are according to scientists: Marconi Union, “Weightless”, Airstream, “Electra”, DJ Shah, “Mellomaniac (Chillout Mix)”, Enya, “Watermark”, Coldplay, “Strawberry Swing”, Barcelona, “Please Don’t Go”. All Saints, “Pure Shores”, Adele, “Someone Like You”.
6.	Optional: Hold another LumaLive meeting where drivers share how their plans are going and check in to see how they feel.