by Althea Need Kaminske

As school is starting this fall, teachers and students are participating in a time honored first day of class ritual: the awkward icebreaker. While students might think they’re a bit cheesy, icebreakers serve several very important roles in class and are an excellent way to start a class. 

An obvious reason to use icebreakers is to help the teacher get to know the students and to help the students get to know each other. It’s questionable how much anyone remembers from the first day icebreakers, but that’s not the point. I usually go around the room and ask students to tell me their name, their major, and one piece of media they really got into over the break and would recommend (a TV show or a movie they watched, a book they read, etc.). While I don’t remember every detail from those initial interactions, it does open the door for some simple conversations and basic rapport building. It also gives me a sense of the personalities in the class. Were all of the students eager to share their experiences or were they more reserved and needed more coaxing to talk about what they were interested in? 

Even if the icebreaker doesn’t necessarily lead to any profound insights or immediate bonding, it serves another very important function: low-stakes participation that will help with retrieval practice later on. Once students are more comfortable talking in class, it makes it easier to get participation on course-related questions. While I like to use frequent quizzes as retrieval practice to improve students’ memory (1), asking questions throughout the lecture is a much faster way of getting feedback about students’ understanding and giving them some retrieval practice. When I ask students to share something about themselves in the icebreaker I do my best to make a positive comment about each of the things they shared so that participation is immediately rewarded, hopefully setting the tone for how I want participation to follow for the rest of the semester. Talking in front of groups can be intimidating, even more so if you are afraid of getting an answer wrong and looking silly or stupid in front of people. Icebreakers work because there is no wrong answer, removing at least one layer of potential anxiety about participating and lowering the stakes. 

“Icebreakers” can be used more often than just the first day of class. Starting each class off with a short activity or simple question can be an easy way to encourage participation. I have a colleague who likes to start every class with a Question of the Day. The questions are usually not related to course content and are a matter of opinion where there is no wrong answer. They get students comfortable talking in class and with each other. It’s low-stakes participation. While it is certainly not guaranteed that a student who answers the Question of the Day will also answer a content-related question later on in the class, it seems reasonable to assume that building rapport with a class and making students comfortable with each other would help them to volunteer more often. In fact, that’s what research on cold-calling suggests (2).

Relying on volunteers for participation has some disadvantages. Often, there are some students who are more eager to participate than others. So the concern is that only students who volunteer to participate will get the advantages of this retrieval practice. This is why many teachers use cold-calling - randomly calling on students without waiting for volunteers - for participation. This can seem a little harsh if you haven’t done it in the past or do not use it frequently. However, research suggests that frequent cold-calling reduces student stress and increases their participation overall (2). The key is to use it frequently. By making cold-calling a regular practice it reduces the stakes around any given wrong answer. The first time a student is called on unexpectedly it may be stressful because they are not confident and nervous talking in front of people. They’re worried about looking stupid in front of their peers and the teacher and may feel unfairly singled-out. The more they are called on, and they see others being called on, the more practice they have with answering questions and the practice of cold calling has become a social norm. If you are going to implement cold-calling in class it is a good idea to introduce it on the first day of class and explain why you are using it. 

Zoom Icebreakers

Many of us are settling into the new reality of teaching and learning over Zoom which has introduced a new version of the same old awkward social situation: sitting in silence while you wait for everyone to show up, except now you’re staring right at everyone’s faces. When everyone is in the same room it’s easier for students to chat amongst themselves or for the teacher to strike up conversations as people walk in. So what do you do to break the ice when you’re meeting virtually? I like this suggestion from Dr. Viji Sathy (@vijisathy): “I like to use an open-ended poll or upvote poll in pollev so students can see each other’s responses. I ask Qs about what put a smile on their face this week, where they’d go if they could go anywhere now, favorite foods, etc.”

References:

1. Agarwal, P., D’Antonio, L., Roediger, H.L., McDermott, K.B., & McDaniel, M.A. (2014). Classroom-based programs of retrieval practice reduce middle school and high school students’ test anxiety. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 3, 131-139.

2. Dallimore, E. J., Hertenstein, J. H., & Platt, M. B. (2012). Impact of Cold-Calling on Student Voluntary Participation. Journal of Management Education, 37(3), 305-341. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1052562912446067