"The Perry Game"

©Christine Reimers and William Roberson 2001
Co-Directors for the Center for Effective Teaching and Learning
University of Texas at El Paso

Anyone doing this exercise should be ready for some level of participant frustration during the exercise.  This is normal, because you are in effect asking participants (whether faculty or students) to face head-on some very deep assumptions about what they think learning is, and this encounter can be discomforting.

We use only dualist, multiplist and relativist levels--ignore the "committed" level, because most people aren't there and that only muddies the waters.

Procedure:

Pass out the individual statements to the participants--each participant gets a statement.  For groups of more than 53, ask participants to share a statement.

 Directions on an Overhead Transparency 

1.     Read the statement on the piece of paper you have.

2.     Find a partner.  Compare your statements.

3.     Make a judgment:

a)   If your two statements express a similar attitude about learning, teaching, and the sources of knowledge, join with your new partner to form a team and look for "kindred spirits" elsewhere in the room. 

b)   If your two statements express conflicting attitudes, leave your partner and continue looking for "kindred spirits."

4.    Find all the "kindred spirits" in the room, and form a group with them. 

This will take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes,, depending on the number of participants, their experience and sophistication about learning issues.  The facilitators will need to coach and needle lost individuals to be persistent and analytical. Even though there are really only three categories of statements, it's important NOT to force participants into only those three.  Duplicate groups can be worked out in the debriefing, and this will also allow for a closer analysis of the statements and categories. When groups begin to gather 3-6 members, put several (5-7, depending on number of participants) large post-its on the walls, and make the following announcement:

"When you think you've found all the kindred spirits in the room, take your team to one of the sheets on the wall."

 On an Overhead:

1. Give an appropriate name to your team, one that accurately represents the attitude in all of your team's statements.

2. List in shorthand the ideas found in your team members' statements. 

When all individuals have found a home, all statements are listed, and all teams have found a label for their team's attitude, the debriefing begins.

Start by asking teams to check around to make sure they have everyone who should be in their group. This may lead immediately to a discussion of subtle differences in statements that seem very similar but are not.

Then, starting with the dualist teams, ask each team to explain their group's label and statements. Then move to Multiplist, then to Relativist.  With faculty this will be lively, with lots of questions and complaints.  With students, the facilitator may need to be more assertive to help groups identify inconsistencies in their list of statements.

The purpose of the debriefing is not to fix the categories or reduce them to three, but rather to uncover the assumptions of clusters of statements.  It's OK if there is some uncertainty.

It's also a good idea to explore, if only briefly, the emotional response of participants to the exercise, since the dynamics of the experience might occasion a discussion of how emotion plays into the learning experience, especially when we challenge or clarify deep-seated assumptions.

How to use the energy and perceptions now present in the room is up to the facilitator.  We tend to follow the debriefing with a review of Perry's research, and its implications.

Some implications that we like to focus on:

• We should not be frustrated with students who say naïve things, now that we know where those statements come from.
• Students move back and forth among the categories as they encounter new learning challenges.
• All of us will exhibit dualism and multiplicity from time to time, as part of our own thinking, as we develop mastery in new areas.
• Students who are struggling, personally, with the experiences that Perry describes often feel liberated by seeing where they are within their own journey. Faculty who discover their own dualism or multiplicity are very uncomfortable.

53 statements (these are growing as we add actual student comments from the classes we teach) 

These are randomly distributed among dualism, multiplism, and relativism: if you distribute these to participants in the order provided, from beginning to end, you'll ensure a good mix, no matter how many participants you work with.

 Variation of The Perry Game for smaller groups of less than 15:

Put 12-15 assorted statement strips into envelopes (each envelope would have the same 12-15 statements).  Ask participants to work in groups of 3- 5 to sort the statements into categories based on attitudes about learning.  Then ask them to assign labels to each category. Debrief.

I'm sure there's a right answer—we just need to find out who has it.

My favorite classes deal with theories and show how they conflict with or support one another.

I like True-False and Multiple choice tests best because there's always one right answer.

You can't tell me that what I believe is unfounded or questionable.

Listening to different points of view on topics allows me to weigh different kinds of evidence and helps me to formulate my own opinion

Discussion classes don't make any sense to me.  How am I supposed to say something correct if the teacher won't tell us the answers?

A good teacher knows all the answers to any questions students ask.

If my teacher doesn't have an answer to my question, it is because there's no right or wrong answer and whatever anyone thinks on the subject is ok.

I like essay tests over multiple choice or short answer tests because I can always fill up 5 pages, whether I've studied or not.

My History class makes me nervous.  The professor encourages us to disagree, but then he won't tell us which one of us is right.

Determining a good course of action in a given situation depends more on understanding the situation than relying on a standard response.

Class discussions that involve many different points of view are frustrating because they obscure the central points on any topic.

I am coming to understand better what I really think and believe as I encounter different theories and ideas in my classes.

One person's idea is usually as good as another's when it comes to discussing opinions on politics.

If individuals work hard and enough they will eventually find the answers the teacher is looking for.

No two people can ever really be said to feel the same way about the same thing, so one can't say one person's wrong and the other is right

I often have to re-examine my views in light of the new people I meet and the new things I learn.

I like lecture classes because I just have to learn the facts rather than make up my own opinions.

Open-ended assignments are frustrating because I never know if I'm right.

It is frustrating when class discussions don't come to clear conclusions, or the teacher's comments seem ambiguous.

I wonder if I'll believe the same thing in 10 yeas that I believe today.

I like essay tests over multiple choice or short answer tests because they really let me show that I understand how things fit together.

Listening to different points of view on topics helps me to formulate my opinions.

I like tying together information from several classes even when those classes are very different.

Even though there may be some evidence to the contrary, it is in your best interest to believe what teachers tell you.

I can learn a great deal from debates when many sides of an issue are examined.

Even though you may not agree, it is in your best interest to believe what teachers tell you.

There are very few things that are sure in this world, so I rely on my own mind to decide what is right.

Good teachers are rarely critical of what you believe to be true.

You can never really say that what someone else thinks is wrong.

If my teacher doesn't have an answer to my question, it's usually because my teacher wants me to answer it for myself.

If my teacher doesn't have an answer to my questions, it is because the teacher is not well prepared.

If my teacher doesn't have an answer to my questions, it is because there's no right or wrong answer and whatever anyone thinks on the subject is ok. 

When I am asked a question in class, I am often unsure of what the teacher wants.

Differences of opinion about facts reflect the incompetence or carelessness of those who say they know something about those facts.

When I don't have time to prepare for a class, I can often rely on my feelings to guide me in discussions.

I am increasingly able to see how various areas of knowledge are interrelated.

I like classes where I can express my own opinions without being evaluated for them.

It is unfair when those around me get better grades for less work than I have put in.

Personal opinions don't have to be supported by evidence.

Assigned work requiring the student's opinion should not be graded.

I learn most when my sources of information disagree.

Asking questions is more important than finding answers.

Several opposing theories can contribute to the solution of a problem.

In a classroom discussion it is more important to take notes on what the teacher says than on what the other students say.

I like looking for the reasons that I think or believe something—looking for these reasons teaches me to distinguish between I really believe and what I have accepted from other people.

I like talking with people who have very different ideas than mine because I can see why people believe what they believe.

Open-ended assignments are frustrating because I never know if I'm right.

I like lecture classes most of all because I just have to learn the facts rather than make up my own opinions.

It doesn't matter what you think—one person's opinion is usually as good as another's when it comes to discussing politics.

I like thinking about why I believe something—it helps me to distinguish between what I really believe and what I have just accepted from other people.