For many students the first few days of school and class can be overwhelming. From meeting new teachers, getting to know your peers, covering important dates and content, there are a variety of stressors that come along with starting something new. For these reasons, many teachers will incorporate "Ice Breakers" or "Introduction Activities" into the first few minutes of class. These activities are simple interactive games or exercises that allow teachers and students to get to know each other and create a comfortable classroom community. Some argue that these activities are ineffective and utilize valuable time for covering course content. However, in practice they are essential tools used to create effective learning environments. Let's look at some of the ways incorporating Ice Breakers can benefit an educational space:
1. Builds Positive Relationships
- Helps students get to know one another and make connections by sharing their thoughts and opinions
- Allows the teacher to get to know their students and their backgrounds
- Ensures that students feel comfortable sharing ideas with other students as well their teacher
2. Creates a Safe and Relaxed Community for Learning
- Reduces overall anxiety and gets students to relax
- Encourages respect throughout the classroom and ensures that everyone's voice is heard
- Breaks up the pace of a lesson and gets students moving, which reduces tendencies for students to act out or misbehave
3. Increases Students Engagement and Participation
- Activates students thinking before moving to course content
- Gets students focused and ready to learn
- Allows students to share personal experiences, which makes the lesson feel more intimate
- Gives students a chance to practice their communication skills
4. Gathers Important Information
- Gives teachers insight into student's prior knowledge and skills
- Allows teachers to take a pulse on the overall mood and energy of a classroom before covering material
Ice Breakers come in a variety of activities, exercises, or discussions. They can vary in length and are typically dependent on class size. Let's look at some popular Ice Breaker exercises, along with some pros and cons of each:
1. Two Truths and a Lie
- Explanation: Students give three statements about themselves, two being true and one being a lie. The class guesses which statement is the lie.
- Con: Can be time consuming in larger groups.
- Pro: Allows students to share personal experiences.
2. Deserted Island
- Explanation: Students respond to the question, "If you were stuck on a desert island, what three items would you bring?"
- Con: Answers can get repetitive.
- Pro: Encourages more explanation and discussion based on students' answers.
3. Skittles Questions
- Explanation: Students are given different coloured Skittles (or Smarties or M&Ms). Each colour corresponds to a different topic or question to be answered. For example, green is favourite food, red is a hobby, etc.
- Con: Materials required (candy or chocolate)
- Pro: Students often love the free sugar boost before class!
4. Would You Rather? (This or That)
- Explanation: Students are posed a "this or that" question to answer. For example, "Would you rather be a dog or cat?"
- Con: Topics of questions can be inappropriate if curated by students.
- Pro: Questions posed can directly relate to course content, for example "Would you rather be a plant or animal cell?"
There are endless ways to introduce ice breaker activities into a classroom. The university of Florida created a free PDF which outlines more than 50 introduction activities (see link below). There truly is an icebreaker for any scenario. So, the next time you're starting a lesson, consider breaking the ice. Your students will thank you for it!
University of Florida Ice Breakers List: icebreakers.pdf
AlexandraJ@OTU
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