John Maynard Keynes classic "Beauty Contest" had people choose from a set of faces which they thought would be considered the six most beautiful. Winners were chosen from those who chose the most popular face. This easy task replicates the experiment with a simple numbers game.
This group discussion format can be used in a week that covers several big concepts, each of which can be discussed along a similar ("parallel") sequence of discussion questions. The concepts in this particular class are: Wisdom of crowds, Heuristic decision-making, Groupthink, and Cooperation.
Claudia Goldin introduces her students to the economic aspects of polygamy and fertility through "fun quizzes" that lead students to reevaluate their preconceptions.
In this activity, students suggest possible structures for a molecule, the vote on which ones are correct, and then demonstrate the structure on the board.
Throughout the semester, Jerusha Acterberg gradually shifts the responsibility for coming up with reading questions from herself to her Expos students.
In Swedish Aa, Ursula Lindqvist and Suzanne Martin have their students watch a commercial for a major Swedish food chain on YouTube in order to practice helping verbs and adjectives while working on listening comprehension and being exposed to Swedish television.
In Swedish Aa, Ursula Lindqvist and Suzanne Martin had students watch a recorded video of the poem "Accounting of Summer" to practice singular and plural nouns, learn new words, experience Swedish poetry, and hear the melodic sound of Swedish.
In this activity, Swedish Aa students view music videos of Swedish pop songs ("Ingen vill veta" and "Du vill så du kan") to practice helping verbs and as a prompt for in-class language practice.
In Swedish Ba, Ursula Lindqvist has students lead discussion on a current topic relevant to children's issues. This course focuses on children's literature and culture.
This language activity asks students to bring a literary, scientific, historical or artistic page that they can relate to the common text and which has new vocabulary. They present these texts and use it to build vocabulary and analyze the text.
In his freshman seminar "What is College and What is it For?," Dr. Paul Barreira uses an icebreaker that lets students know that there are no right answers and that students should feel comfortable sharing their experiences.