Broadly Applicable

"Other Minds" is a rolling twitter feed that students participate in during lecture. The instructor can either make the feed visible or set it up so that he or she can see it but the students cannot. Students can be anonymous or choose to include their...

This activity gets students in an active frame of mind at the start of section. If section meets a long time from the last lecture (say, for a Tuesday-Thursday lecture schedule, the relevant section meets on successive Mondays), the instructor can get...

Students respond to a quote by formulating for and against the position on the spot. Goals: Develop students' mental agility for analytical thinking Train students in concise argumentation Help students review course material Class: Any Procedure: The...

What does a good thesis entail? This activity helps students identify the features of a strong thesis. The instructor brings 4-5 thesis statements about texts read previously in the class. Among the sample theses, there is 1 strong one and the rest are...

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...

This activity, created by Justin Gest, involves learning through "speed dating." The activity focuses on how to craft excellent topic sentences while considering the application of the course's theoretical ideas. Justin has done this activity for several...

What does a strong philosophical argument entail? This easy to implement activity has students reconstruct a philosophical argument. This activity can be done with any philosophical argument. The instructor that contributed it used it frequently with his...