Ice-Breaker Tuesday: On a Scale of 1-5

For today's ice-breaker, I will be highlighting an activity I saw called On A Scale of 1 to 5. Read all about it in today's blog post

I came across this On a Scale of 1 to 5 activity that was shared by a K-12 educator named Kimberley Barnes and includes a set of slides where students rate their preference for items on a scale of 1 to 5. They included things like how toasted do you like your marshmallows or which flavor of Oreo cookies do you like. I thought this was a great ideas and could serve as a fun ice-breaker activity for online courses. For instance, here are some general "One a scale of 1 to 5" questions I might ask:

1. On a scale of 1 to 5, how often do you read books for pleasure?
2. On a scale of 1 to 5, how social are you with your peers?
3. On a scale of 1 to 5, where would you rate yourself as a public speaker?
4. On a scale of 1 to 5, how comfortable are you with using technology?

Or, you could ask course related questions. For instance, in my health policy course I might ask questions such as:

1. On a scale of 1-5, how important is it for you to understand the US health care system?

2. On a scale of 1-5, how active are you in health policy related activities?

3. On a scale of 1-5, how important do you think it is for nurses to be knowledgeable about health policy.

These questions can help students get to know each other better, but can also be used as the basis for further discussion and learning. Perhaps after rating themselves on each one, students could discuss why they chose certain numbers and what they would need to do to improve.

I'd love to hear your ideas on this ice-breaker. Share them in The Online Educator Facebook Group!

Would you like me to spotlight one of your ice-breakers? Share your assignment HERE for an opportunity to be spotlighted in The Online Educator Blog.

Happy Ice-Breaking!