Guess Who? Playing with Prejudices in Teacher Education
Diversity Competencies as a focus in Teacher Education
In teacher education, developing diversity competencies is essential. But how can student teachers be encouraged to critically reflect on their own perceptions? One surprising answer: the board game Guess Who?.
An adapted version of this game offers a creative and accessible way to sharpen these competencies. With the use of this teaching approach, teacher educators invite students to consider the impact of personal assumptions.
Game Approach
The game is played in pairs or trios, with each team of student teachers selecting a character for the opposing team to guess. Unlike the original game, the focus here is not on physical features but on subjective traits such as occupation, favorite drink, family situation, favorite food, and favorite TV show. Participants first create a profile for their character based on these traits, e.g., Alfred is unemployed, prefers beer from a major brand, is divorced, and has two children whom he rarely sees.
Teams then answer questions from the opposing team to help them identify the chosen character, while taking turns asking questions themselves to guess the other team’s character as quickly as possible.
The Power of Guess Who?
The strength of this game lies in the reflection it prompts and how it exposes unconscious assumptions. Participants are challenged to think about how first impressions and personal assumptions influence their choices. How quickly do we link certain traits to appearances? And how accurate are these assumptions? Making these questions explicit raises awareness of implicit biases and stereotyping.
The game board itself can also be discussed: how inclusive is it today? What would a contemporary board look like? This opens the door to designing a new game board!
Reflection
After the game, participants individually note what stood out to them, statements that lingered, and any questions or concerns. This forms the basis for a deeper class discussion, providing space for dialogue and critical reflection. Depending on available time, this discussion can take place immediately or after the Photo Game (see other mini-blog post).
Getting Started
For teacher educators, this game provides an experiential opportunity for student teachers to reflect more deeply on their own frames of reference. Guess Who? becomes a mirror, not just to observe others, but primarily to reflect on oneself. It is an invitation to ‘think outside the box’.
Try this variant of Guess Who? and discover how a game many student teachers have played thoughtlessly can foster (self-)reflection. Be sure to provide a game board or printout of the original game, and adapt the questions to the target audience. As a result, a classic board game can become a powerful tool for inclusive teaching practices.
Accessing the Toolbox
This ‘Guess Who?‘ game is part of a Toolbox for Diversity Competencies. It was developed in 2015 as part of a project on in-class differentiation, aimed at encouraging (student) teachers to reflect on their own diversity competencies. The various activities have also been extensively used in several training programs for future care professionals, as diversity competencies are equally essential in that field.
Access to the resource: link
The complete toolkit, featuring this resource in Dutch along with other similar resources also available in Dutch, is freely available via this link (after creating a free account).
Creator: Els Tanghe
Contact email: els.tanghe@uantwerpen.be
Audio description