Oreos and Stickers

Monday night's meeting for our Ed Psych classes this semester was one of the more interesting and engaging to date. Led by Doug Kinnick, an activity was organized that "labeled" students into groups of various sizes using stickers on each person's forehead. Each group was given a plate of Oreo cookies...the group of 3 people got something like 40 cookies, the group of 8 or 9 got about 20, and the majority (something like 20 people) got only 5 of them. Each grouping was made to sit together, the small group in the front, the mid-sized in the middle, and the large at the back of the lecture hall.

A group then proceeded to give a presentation on "The Last Lecture", a book that was read by some students in the class.

At the conclusion of the hour, the objective of the "segregation" was revealed. We had a discussion on the effect of "grading" and how well we as students were able to pay attention and succeed in participating in the class given this variety of treatment. There was some heated conversation, but I think we all left the event with a clearer idea that, as teachers, we need to devote special attention to making sure we treated our students with as much non bias, while still being caring and evocative, as possible.