Would You Rather?

Activity

Community building activities, Warm up activities

Would You Rather?

Frank Tontala

This fun icebreaker can be used to spark interesting conversations in class.

ACTIVITY PURPOSE

This activity can be used as an introductory, warm-up, or icebreaker. It can be used to start spirited debates and conversations about preferences and personal ideas. Additionally, it can be reused with the same group of students with no repetition.

USEFUL FOR

Learning about individual preferences, practicing justification (defending a controversial position), and lowering learner affective filter through hypothetical situations. This activity can also be used to solicit learner feedback throughout the course, or as a prompt for students (have them create their own binaries).

PREPARATION

Download the spreadsheet with 94 sample ‘would you rather’ questions (Excel file, 19 KB). If you want to modify any selections, there are instructions provided on the sheet titled ‘instructions.’ Use the spreadsheet to generate 10 ‘would you rather’ prompts, and present them to your students.

INSTRUCTIONS

Depending on the particulars of your class, each student, in pairs or as a small group can be provided with one question to discuss. Discussions can be sequential, or in small groups, depending on class size.
Give students a brief amount of time to make their selection, and develop reasons why they feel that way.
Then they should have time to present their opinion to their peers, and their peers should have a chance to voice agreement or disagreement.

DURATION

Duration varies based on the number of questions used, and class size. Estimate at least 2-3 minutes per question to allow for ample preparation and presentation.

ADAPTATIONS AND EXAMPLES

If the randomly selected questions are unsuitable, it is easy to reselect prompts. If the teacher wants to modify the list of prompts, instructions are provided on the ‘Instructions’ sheet of the excel spreadsheet. Another possible adaptation is for teachers to invite students to create their own ‘would you rather’ binaries.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Microsoft Excel (or Google Sheets).

USEFUL RESOURCES

Download ‘Would you rather’ sample questions (Excel, 19KB).

ABOUT

Educator prep: None
Student prep: None
Synchronous
Video conferencing, Shared online space
Duration: Variable

This activity is one of a series of activities from Equity Unbound, focused on equitable online community building.

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Learning path

Would You Rather?

Frank Tontala

ACTIVITY PURPOSE

USEFUL FOR

PREPARATION

INSTRUCTIONS

DURATION

ADAPTATIONS AND EXAMPLES

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

USEFUL RESOURCES

ABOUT

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Do you have feedback or suggestions?

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