I led the activity, Exploring Language: Definitions, with my Food Science 298 class, Sophomore Seminar.  I feel that this activity is very strong for a group that has already spent some time together and knows each other.  This may not be the best activity to use as an icebreaker as it requires introspection, honesty, and vulnerability.  It seemed to be a great activity to draw an existing group closer together.

The students were split into 8 person teams for this discussion.  I explained to the group that I would give them a work to discuss as a team and come up with a definition without any help from research.  I gave them 3 minutes to discuss and then they had an additional 3 minutes to use their phones or computers to look up online sources’ definitions.  Each teams’ goal was to come to a consensus of the definition and share it with the class.  Both teams took this activity seriously and we had some great discussion.  This process was repeated with 5 different words:

• Prejudice
• Discrimination
• Racism
• Sexism
• Heterosexism

The discussion of each word and debrief took approximately 8-10 minutes and the entire activity was able to be completed in a 50-minute period.

This activity was designed to enhance the student’s growth in attitude of openness, empathy, and knowledge of cultural worldview frameworks.  This was a great fit for this class as we had students representing 5 different home countries and several unique native languages.

I laid a groundwork that the students had permission to speak ugly (but respectful) during the discussions and be open and curious about each discussion.  They surprised me by taking this discussion very seriously and refraining from the usual joking and classmate banter that sophomores are known for.  Their responses were heartfelt and genuine and they were even willing to give examples of positive and negative stereotypes they have heard in the past.  This type of discussion can be very hard when talking in front of your peers. 

At the end of their discussions, we discussed the concept of power in prejudices and stereotypes and how these led to racism, sexism and heterosexism.  I asked the students if they felt uncomfortable when discussing these topics and every hand in the room went up.  This was a perfect time to talk about why it is normal and educational to feel uncomfortable when discussing these issues. 

The serious nature of these discussions is the reason that I would recommend this activity for an existing group that is ready to step to the next level of their understanding and team building.