Purpose:
- To specify the situations of when you would use an ice breaker
- To specify what you can achieve with an ice breaker
Time:Please add your comments by Thursday 18th June
Question 1)
When you are leading a course, when would you use ice breakers? Or can you always use them? Can you use them only because it is fun?
Question 2)
Does a course needs specific elements? Is it, for example, necessary that the course has a specific length of time, or can you always launch one? Is the amount of people important?
Question 3)
What can you achieve with an ice breaker?
9 comments:
I would use an ice breaker to help people feel comfortable with each other anytime there is a group facing the same objective. For instance when a group needs to discuss a lot to solve out a problem, or when a group take a seminar with diversified experiences to collect and share.
Getting use to each other and mutual observation may take time that we do not have in professional live. I therefore provoke the connections.
Hi dears,
I think that introduction, conclusion and inducing knowledge management are key elements for a course. Whether the course - or activity - lasts a few hours or days does not really matter for me. An ice breaker can take 2 to 10 mn only if well managed.
Among the goals, I think of :
• Facilitating the memorization of other members' contribution ;
• Opening their mind to a multicultural environment ;
• Therefore accepting their differences
. and building on their similarities.
Hello Trojan Mice
Donna Lewis Comments (16th June) I would use an icebreaker to help students relax, i.e at the beginning of a course, you may want to use an icebreaker to answer some of the questions students come along with such as, how much knowledge will other students have, how fun will the course be. The icebreaker must support the learning programme, so it should be appropriate to the topic to allow students to feel that its useful to them. If they feel relaxed, energised and confident, they are more likely to participate.
I think that an icebreaker can be introduced into a course if there is a natural break, to act as a bridging exercise, keeping motivation and to add interest. Also if included within the scheme of work an icebreaker can allow students to work more closely so that they can be at ease with each other, very useful if they have to share personal experiences (for example). The amount of people involved would depend on the course itself which would determine an appropriate icebreaker. For a quick icebreaker (round the room) introduction type of exercise then this could be facilitated in larger groups. If you need more involved participation, then I would suggest that smaller groups (i.e. approx 6 people) would be more appropriate.
An icebreaker exercise allows students to become in a receptive state, therefore being:-
• Curious
• Enthusiastic
• Motivated
• Open
• Relaxed
These responses can promote a positive learning experience, allowing the student to learn better.
Question 1)
When you are leading a course, when would you use ice breakers? Or can you always use them? Can you use them only because it is fun?
I woul duse uice breakers before oe at that start of any interactive activity. With individual activities, they are not so important, if even neccesary, however, when you’re looking to lead a more interactive session, they really help tp get things flowing.
Question 2)
Does a course needs specific elements? Is it, for example, necessary that the course has a specific length of time, or can you always launch one? Is the amount of people important?
To use an icebreaker, you certainly need to have a few thingsThere need to be at least part of the course where the group is working together, or otherwise interacting with each other. The number of people can be crucial to it’s success, but is not always going to be crucial (although solo courses activities obviously preclude icebreakers). The length of course is less important, but as longer courses proceed, the need for icebreaking sessions diminishes.
Question 3)
What can you achieve with an ice breaker?
You achieve interaction and conversation between the course participants. You open up the conversations allowing individuals to feel more part of the group and more involved, both of which increase the likelyhood of the learner contributing.
Hi troyan mice,
After reading your comments I would like to add some more questions.
Can an icebreaker be useful also for individual activties? I would say that I can be when your objective is to get this person get used to the new online platform in which he has to learn. You can use a icebreaker at the beginning of a course to get to know the teacher/coach.
Another aspect that was mentioned is the necessity that the group faces the same objectives. Is that always necessary?
And I wonder if the need for icebreakers disminshes with the lenght of the course. That depends of what you want to achieve with an icebreaker. Donna stated that icebreakers can act as bridging excercise, keeping motivation and to add interest. If you look at it like that, can you then say that the length of a course doens't matter?
Hi Trojan Mice,
I think that ice breakers can be efficient for individual activities too in order to break resistance to a new environment or topic, such as quizzes for example.
If the icebreakers is adapted to the activity and participants it should not diminish the course length. I would expect it to increase interaction and commitment.
I think of a quick one that I call "pause fraîcheur"... translation would be cool break (it does not sound good in English.) I show or screen images of fruits to the group : they relax and salivate. Then, I ask them what their favorite fruit is and why, why, why ... (very fast as in a drill session.) And hop to the next participant. Weird and funny answers are coming out. At the break they have a basket of real fruits to share ... for the day. It worked well in Togo, Bénin, as well as in France or USA.
Cheers
Question : "the necessity that the group faces the same objectives. Is that always necessary?"
By "sharing the same objectives" I understand taking the same course at a same time period, sharing resources and collaborating to facilitate acquisition.
In parallel each participant must have personal objectives to get involved and benefit from the course.
what is your opinion ?
Hello,
I am thinking of some other things that can be achieved with an ice breaker :
if you notice someone excluded or isolated, it is a nice way to recreate relationships with the rest of the group ;
if an incident divided the group into clans it is also a way to decrease dedramatisation and have everyone go back to courtesy ;
cheers
Hello there,
I give mainly one to one classes and I feel that ice breakers work well. Depending on the ice breaker I use, I play a part in it.
Ice breakers have the intention to make students relax, be more interactive, stimulate the brain and aquire new knowledge in a more free way, which is fantastic.
I uaually use 10 minutes no matter the length of class or course. I also use them when I feel that the learner is tense or is getting tired. It is known that when studying we should oxygenate our brain every 20 minutes to be able to retain more information, therefore I use ice breakers also with that intention.
Sometimes I use flash cards to help students develop a 'silly' story which makes them laugh and relax, consequently they tend to be more focused on the following activity.
When the ice breaker involves new vocabulary I notice that the retention is bigger, and usually they can remember this vocabulary later as they relate it to the 'funny' situation at the time the ice breaker was done.
All in all I love ice breakers therefore I use them a lot.
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