Point

By McCalee Cain

Icebreaker activities and team building exercises in the classroom can create a more relaxed and focused learning environment through encouraged engagement with peers.

By breaking the tension and getting to know one another, even if on a surface level, a class can begin to create a fun and positive space where they feel comfortable enough to speak out. Through team building exercises at the Idaho State Student Council Conference last February, I became close with numerous peers, two of which eventually became some of my dearest friends.

The icebreaker activities that came with the beginning of past volleyball seasons led me to befriend older girls that I otherwise would have not interacted with.

Am I saying that icebreaker and team building activities can instantaneously make two strangers friends, or an incoherent group a single, focused unit? Absolutely not, for no social interaction can be engineered that way.

However, I do believe that they can establish a comfort zone in which organic bonding can occur, and trust can be formed. It all depends on the attitude of the participants, for such exercises give as much as is put in. And when the learning environment is a safe space where students have ties to one another, academic and social growth will inarguably flourish.

Counterpoint

By Mackenzie Packer

With the start of each school year, the time comes for icebreakers in the classrooms. Icebreakers can be a good thing when you’re in elementary school, but by the time high school rolls around icebreakers can be an awkward situation for all.

For many introverted people, icebreakers can be overwhelming and filled with anxiety, and that anxiety not only disrupts their ability to make friends, but their ability to learn. Instead of making friends or learning, many introverted people or people with anxiety worry.

I think it is, however, a great idea to encourage students to interact with each other, just not with mandatory activities. There are plenty of ways to get students to interact in the classroom besides awkward name games.

From my experience, people are less likely to remember you when introduced in a group then working together on an activity.