Ice Breaker Activities

These Ice breaker activities can be used within fully online courses to stimulate debate in forums, online
lectures, social media or using a variety of supported learning technologies.

Activity Example Activity Type

20 Questions In a discussion forum students have twenty yes/no attempts to

guess the concept/term/object.

A to Z game Ask students to write down as many key/related words for the
current topic area and each word can’t repeat the starting letter.

Abstract In a vUWS discussion forum ask students to jot down responses

Thinking to such questions as:

 What shape is grief?

 What is the colour of emptiness?
 What is the texture of a rainbow?

Art and life Use a relevant poem, piece of art, sculpture etc. to inspire
students thinking/empathising about the topic. Use responses to
draw out themes. This can be done as a starter for a Collaborate
session, or in a vUWS discussion forum.

Big Picture Ask students to reflect on what the bigger picture is – in relation
to education, the particular subject, the current topic or in the
media. Draw this out and present it in a vUWS discussion forum
or create a blog post at the end of the unit.

Bingo Ask students to create a bingo sheet with key words/phrases

Sheets from the topic discussed the previous week or create your own
and read out definitions during a Collaborate session. The winner
clicks on the ‘hand’ icon when their sheet is complete.

Compare Put trigger images in a PowerPoint Presentation during a

and Contrast Collaborate session and ask students to respond in a chat
window about differences and similarities.

Concept Map Give students a list of words related to your chosen concept in a
vUWS discussion. They must then turn these into a ‘map’, where
each connection can be explained and justified and an image
uploaded for discussion.

Developed by the Blended Learning Team, Learning and Teaching Unit | www.uws.edu.au/qilt October 2014
Ice Breaker Activities

Activity Example Activity Type

Connections Start by writing a word in a discussion forum related to a topic.

Ask a student to suggest a related word.
(For example: if the word is ‘football’ you might say ‘goal’). The
next student says a word connected with the previous word. (For
example: ‘goal’, ‘net’ and so on.) Students take turns.

They are allowed thinking time, but can be challenged by any

other student to explain the connection between their word and
the previous word.

Creative In a Collaborate session or discussion forum, use random words

Influence to see how students might influence each other in some way.
Explain the influence.

Creative Allocate students ten minutes in a vUWS blog post to write

Writing creatively about the topic. What they write must include at least
three key terms from the unit.

Definition In a vUWS Quiz, ask students to complete a match-the-word to

Match the definition quiz. E.g.

Network Computers trying to think...

AI A connected global network
Internet Connected group of objects

Different Ask students to put themselves in the position of another in a

shoes forum using a vUWS discussion forum, blog or even a
Collaborate session. E.g.

 You are an oil executive

 You are a member of the Greens party
 You are a consumer

Dissonance Try to encourage students to experience dissonance in their

thinking using a vUWS discussion forum, blog or Twitter. E.g.

 Imagine a square egg.

 Why does school exist?
 Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division – why
isn’t there another one?

This could be used to disrupt or question habitual ways of

thinking. It can also challenge reasoning or encourage students
to reason more deeply and carefully.

Developed by the Blended Learning Team, Learning and Teaching Unit | www.uws.edu.au/qilt October 2014
Ice Breaker Activities

Activity Example Activity Type

Draw me the A) Show me what democracy looks like.

answer B) Draw fairness.
C) What does change look like?
These drawings are then posted in a vUWS discussion forum, or
via Twitter using a unit hashtag

Empathy- Using a vUWS discussion forum create a big question such as

builder ‘Taxes for the rich will be scrapped tomorrow and replaced with
voluntary philanthropy’. Then stir debate by asking:

 How might a millionaire feel about this?

 A person on average income?
 Someone receiving government benefits?

Fact or Ask students to share newspaper article and ask them to

Opinion? highlight facts or opinions in a vUWS discussion forum.

Flow Chart Draw a flowchart, take a photo and post in a vUWS discussion
forum to stimulate a discussion.

Freeze For projects that require creativity, either individually, in pairs or

Frame group students and ask them to produce a freeze frame showing
a scene using a digital camera, and to upload it to a unit Twitter
hashtag, vUWS discussion forum or blog and annotate it using
140 characters or less.

Get In Set a few questions ready for a Collaborate webinar.

Character As students come in, allocate them characters such as a
politician, comedian, celebrity, doctor or sportsperson and ask
them to answer the forum debate in character.

Home Using a vUWS discussions open a forum about change.

Improvement  How can _______________ be improved?
 Why would your changes be an improvement?
 Who for?
 How long would they last?

Developed by the Blended Learning Team, Learning and Teaching Unit | www.uws.edu.au/qilt October 2014
Ice Breaker Activities

Activity Example Activity Type

Inside the 8 way thinking comes from Howard Gardner’s multiple

Octagon intelligences. The simplified octet is –

Numbers: How many?

Words: Where does the word come from?
People: Who?
Feelings: What emotions?
Nature: How does the environment affect?
Actions: What do people do?
Sounds: What songs have been written about it?
Sights: What images represent?

(from http://www.independentthinking.co.uk/Cool+Stuff/8Way+Thinking/default.aspx)

Two ideas:
1. Ask students to come up with questions around a
topic/key word from each angle.
2. Use the octet to frame their own questions and post them
in a vUWS discussion forum, blog or social media
platform.

Instructions Ask students, in a vUWS discussion forum or blog, to write and

share intricate instructions for a specific task. Can be peer
reviewed or commented on a vUWS discussion.

List -O-Mania In a Collaborate session or discussion forum, ask students to list

as many rights/responsibilities/policy areas/taxes/items as they
can.

List to Using a vUWS discussion forum, ask students to:

definition 1) List all the words you associate with climate change
2) Then join these words together to make a definition for global
warming.

Mystery Use Collaborate to stimulate debate by inviting a mystery guest

Guest to inspire and enthuse. Encourage students to ask questions
requiring a yes/no response to ascertain who the mystery guest
may be.

Name that Play students a mp3 file and then initiate a discussion about
tune media, expression, identity, politics, language etc.

New Devise a new invention that relates to what is being studied or a

Inventions current issue. Ask students to share using a vUWS discussion
forum.

Developed by the Blended Learning Team, Learning and Teaching Unit | www.uws.edu.au/qilt October 2014
Ice Breaker Activities

Activity Example Activity Type

Noises Play a noise/sound in Collaborate and ask students to respond to

it or work out its relevance to the lesson/unit.

Odd One Out Pose a question to students in a vUWS discussion forum, e.g.
Which is the odd one out; Tourist, Interpreter, Refugee or Asylum
Seeker?

Odd One Out Show pictures to break the ice at the beginning of a Collaborate
– Pictures session.
Only

Peer Students swap their response to a question and peer assess

Assessment using the vUWS Self and Peer Assessment tool.

Pictionary Give students concepts/ideas/things to draw whilst others have to

guess what they are. They can use their iPads to draw their
picture and submit it to a discussion topic in vUWS or share on
Collaborate.

Picture in In a vUWS discussion forum or at the start of a Collaborate

time session, share an image and pose the following questions:

 What might have happened before the photo was taken?

 What might be happening now?
 What may happen after?

Political In a vUWS discussion thread give students some key words:

Power
Special Support Active Death Empire

Students then have to use these words to increase the political

power of a party, or turn them into policies or slogans. They must
also explain their rationale behind their policy statement or
slogan.

Questions to At the start of a unit set up a vUWS discussion forum with the a
the prompt such as:
Academic
In this unit we will begin studying fuel sources. Write down any
questions you would like answered.

Developed by the Blended Learning Team, Learning and Teaching Unit | www.uws.edu.au/qilt October 2014
Ice Breaker Activities

Activity Example Activity Type

Rapid Pose a series of questions in a vUWS discussion forum or

Questions Collaborate session. E.g.

1) What does consumer mean?

2) Are you a consumer?
3) Why?
4) What rights do consumers have?
5) Who protects them?

Ridiculous Teach the language of argument by getting students to justify a

Arguments ridiculous statement during a Collaborate session or vUWS
discussion forum.

Say what Place a thought-provoking image on a PowerPoint slide while

you see waiting for students to enter a Collaborate session.

Scenario Set students a scenario that relates to their unit of study and ask
them to respond in a vUWS discussion, survey, blog or social
media platform. E.g.
 The Australian Government has suspended Human
rights.
 Politicians have given party members license to judge
what is right and what is wrong.
 How would this make you feel?
 What would you do?

Show me the Using Nearpod, Collaborate, GoSoapbox, or Slide Idea, ask

answer! students to post answers to a series of topical questions.

Slogans Using vUWS discussions, ask students to create slogans for an

image, concepts from their previous lesson or a specific part of a
topic.

Stimulus Begin by placing a mashup of stimulus material on a PowerPoint

slide at the beginning of a Collaborate session for students to
review. The stimulus material could take on the form of – poems,
articles, images, experiment results etc.
Then instigate synchronous discussion using the stimulus as a
means to initiate thinking about the topic.

Developed by the Blended Learning Team, Learning and Teaching Unit | www.uws.edu.au/qilt October 2014
Ice Breaker Activities

Activity Example Activity Type

Student as a One (or more?) students take on the role of teacher and are
teacher required to summarise a textbook chapter or partial unit summary
to produce a case study to their peers.

This can be in Collaborate or via a vUWS blog.

Summary Ask students to provide a summary of what they learnt last

session or across the unit as a blog post or as a discussion
thread in vUWS. Develop this by asking for the outcome in
different formats i.e. a newspaper report, movie, 60-second
news-flash.

Taboo In a Collaborate session or forum, ask students to describe a key

word without using that word (it is taboo!).

Tell me three In a discussion forum or Collaborate session ask students to

things… share three things about:
 the topic they are studying
 what they learnt last lesson/session
 how to explain inflation
 how refugees might feel
 the most important things about citizenship
 what they would like to change in the world.

Thunks Use vUWS discussions to ask:

 Can you teach creativity?
 Are computers more intelligent than humans?
 If you turn off an AI system is that murder?

Time/Place Students select a role or character and write a narrative

Lapse transporting them to a different time or place. This
‘lapse’ then becomes a means to think about a topic, idea etc.
and the role it plays in our (everyday) lives. Ensure you signpost
the fact that the time or place you have been transported to does
not have whatever it is you want the students to think about.

Top Ranking Using a vUWS forum or the chat facility within Collaborate ask
students to rank a series of issues in order of importance. Let
students know they will be expected to justify their answer.

Developed by the Blended Learning Team, Learning and Teaching Unit | www.uws.edu.au/qilt October 2014
Ice Breaker Activities

Activity Example Activity Type

Tree- Use the outline of a tree – given or drawn by students – to order

mendous information or learning and provoke questions in vUWS
discussion forums.

The tree can be split in half with the right hand side showing
basic concepts of the topic at the bottom, then more specific
information along the trunk and branches followed by questions
students would like answered on the leaves. On the left hand
side of the tree would be statements about what students have
learned so far and list topics they would like to know more about.

True or False Using Collaborate or other polling/quiz tool, ask students to

respond to a statement. The statement could be about material
students have already covered, or are about to cover.

Venn Ask students to create a Venn diagram about a unit topic. They
Diagram can post the diagrams on Twitter or a vUWS discussion forum.

What do you Ask students to collect and post information about what they
know? know about the unit topic to a vUWS discussion form, blog or
wiki.

What if? Set up a discussion topic with a thought provoking question such
as:
 What if no one was responsible?
 What if there were no laws?
 What if everyone stopped paying taxes?
 What if all journalists were anonymous?
 What if citizenship didn’t exist?
 What if school only opened at night?
 What if you were invisible for a day?

What's the In a discussion forum or using Collaborate, ask students what

topic? topic they may be studying next week?

What’s being As a starter to a Collaborate session or choose a picture as

said? Or stimulus and ask students what they think may be being said or
What’s being thought.
thought?

What’s The If this is the answer, then what’s the question? Put this in a
Question? vUWS discussion forum or on a fun hashtag on Twitter.

Developed by the Blended Learning Team, Learning and Teaching Unit | www.uws.edu.au/qilt October 2014
Ice Breaker Activities

Activity Example Activity Type

What’s the Give students cards with words or pictures on and ask them to
Story? sequence this to tell a story using iMovie or vUWS discussion
forum

What’s This? Use an image: What do you think this is?

What’s your Ask students to post to a vUWS blog, discussion forum, journal or
opinion? wiki explaining their opinion about a topic.

What’s Your Use a controversial statement as a starter in a vUWS discussion

Reply? forum and ask students to come up with a reply.

For example:
“Education should not be compulsory.”

Who am I? For a Collaborate session, display an image in full or in part, and

ask students to note down whom or what the picture is of. If you
don’t have a picture use clues, such as:

 I am a politician
 I was the first female to be elected to government
 I am an important Australian

Developed by the Blended Learning Team, Learning and Teaching Unit | www.uws.edu.au/qilt October 2014