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Find out how students’ prior experiences shape what they know, think, and feel about a topic before the discussion begins.

Testing the Water

BETTY NORDENGREN

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WHY SHOULD WE TEST THE WATER?

Have you ever dipped your toe in a pool to find that the water was cold? Or maybe you looked a little closer and saw that just below the water’s surface something posed a hazard? Like testing the water of a pool or lake, teachers can use surveys and warm-up activities to preview students’ prior knowledge, beliefs, and feelings about a topic.

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Teachers Plan Ahead

This fun warm-up activity gives you a preview of

students’ prior knowledge;
potential biases;
students’ interest levels; and
areas to tread lightly.

Knowing these things helps us plan civil discourse experiences more successfully.

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Teachers Plan Ahead

There are several ways to learn about students’ prior knowledge and beliefs before the discussion begins.

This toolkit contains ideas for multiple ways to discover student connections to past experiences, including:

private surveys; and
Figma examples.

The focus of the rest of this presentation is to provide a fun warm-up activity that helps students connect to their beliefs and gets them thinking about the discussion topic before it starts.

As the teacher, you also get a peek at the students’ prior knowledge.

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Here Is a Sample Prompt and an Example of How This Warm-Up Activity Works

Sample student responses:

”Justice is like a lemon to me, because it is sour. Life doesn’t feel fair.”

“Justice is like a pineapple, because it is hard to get sometimes, but it is sweet when you do get to it.”

“Justice is like a strawberry, my favorite fruit. There is nothing as sweet as justice.”

Hey students, when you think about _______

which fruit represents the way you feel? Why?

justice,

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Teachers,

The rest of this slide deck is made of warm-up discussion starters to help your students connect to their prior knowledge and beliefs about any given topic.

Each slide lets students consider their views in relation to images. Students choose the image that represents how they feel about a topic, and they need to think about the reasons why. The image represents their feelings.

The pictures don’t necessarily have any relation to the topic of discussion. They are a means to get students to activate their prior knowledge. Although this activity can be funny at times, it may also provide you with very real insight into any student biases or beliefs due to childhood experiences.

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10 WARM-UPS TO TRY WITH YOUR STUDENTS

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