❄️The ENVIHEI Winter School 2026, held from 23 to 27 February in Leoben, kicked off with two engaging icebreaker activities aimed at building connections from day one. These interactive sessions encouraged creativity, strengthened collaboration, and created an inclusive environment where supervisors, mentors, and students from diverse countries and disciplines could connect while exploring sustainability challenges together.
🏰 Paper Tower Building Competition
📄 In this 10-minute challenge, participants were randomly assigned to five colour-coded teams – green, blue, red, yellow, and orange – and tasked with building the tallest possible free-standing tower using only 20 sheets of paper. No additional materials were allowed, and the tower had to stand on its own. This hands-on exercise required collaboration, problem-solving, and effective communication, setting a dynamic tone for the week ahead.
🤝 Beyond the creative aspect, the activity highlighted sustainability skills such as resource efficiency and cooperative problem-solving, reflecting the ENVIHEI project’s commitment to experiential, student-centered learning.
📏 At the end of the challenge, all towers were measured, and Team Green achieved the highest stable structure, earning a small prize in recognition of their success.
♻️ The Unfair Object Exercise: Redesigning Everyday Products
🌱 In this 45-minute activity, participants were divided into seven new groups. Each team received an everyday object, such as phone chargers, coffee cups, face masks, plastic bottles, t-shirts, chocolate bars, or bus/metro tickets, and explored its social and environmental impact.
💻 First, teams reflected individually on Padlet, responding to four key questions:
- Who benefits from this object?
- Who might be harmed by it?
- What problem was it meant to solve?
- What new problems did it create?
🛠️Teams then redesigned their objects to make them more just and sustainable, summarizing their solutions in five bullet points. In addition, they reflected on one insight about teamwork, one about sustainability, and one guiding principle to carry forward through the week. This hands-on exercise encouraged participants to apply creativity to real-world sustainability challenges while considering social impact, collaboration, and practical solutions.
🗣️ To wrap up, each team presented their redesigned object and shared their reflections with the other groups. This public discussion allowed participants to compare perspectives, exchange ideas, and demonstrate how teamwork and creativity can lead to socially and environmentally responsible solutions.
🌟 Together, these activities helped break the ice and laid the foundation for effective collaboration throughout the Winter School. By combining creativity, critical thinking, and sustainability principles from day one, participants were equipped to tackle complex environmental challenges in a hands-on, collaborative learning environment.
More information, photos, and insights will be shared soon. Stay tuned!
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