According to Virgil Varuel from the University of Illinois, he describes Ice Breakers as the following:

What is an Ice Breaker?
 

 Ice breakers are activities or modes of discussion used to help individuals ease into a group setting. Some ice breakers are
 done in groups and some can be individually completed. Others involve physical activities while others can be purely mental.
 Any activity that suits the intended purpose can be used.

For what are ice breakers used?

 They can serve many purposes from facilitating introductions, to prior knowledge assessment, to several other reasons
 outlined below and others that have probably been inadvertently omitted. Also note that a single ice breaker could easily fall
 into several of the categories. They are not intended to be mutually exclusive and you should design or choose activities that
 meet all of your intended needs.

      Facilitating Introductions - When groups first come together, interactions and discussions can be hindered by
        timidness, a lack of understanding the norms of the group, and/or simple unfamiliarity among other possibilities. Ice
        breakers can be used to create familiarity within the group and ease everyone into the group process. The desired end
        result is a more open discussion forum and pleasing environment within the group in which the group process can
        continue.

      Prior Knowledge Assessment - One pedagogical advantage of using ice breakers is that they provide the instructor
        an opportunity to assess student prior knowledge. They can then lead to the identification of individual needs within
        the group while also introducing everyone and helping to create a healthy group environment as with facilitating
        introductions.

      Environment Creation / Fostering Group Unity- The environment has already been mentioned in each of the
        above uses. A primary purpose of ice breakers can be to help create an open environment in which all participants are
        willing to open up and participate. Participants need to be encouraged to open up to one another and relax. The
        introduction and the method by which the ice breaker is carried out can also be designed to encourage a break down
        of status/race/gender/etc. barriers that may pre-exist in the group. As members of the group get to know one another
        for better or worse, a form of group unity develops, especially in situations in which a common goal both exists and is
          known by all.

      Topic Segues - When starting a new topic, ice-breakers can be created to introduce the topic. Often, some form of
        prior knowledge activity can be used to this end. These are also particularly useful when the members of the group
        already know each other by one means or another.

      Preparation of Participants - Many learning environments (and this concept is particularly true in online
        education) require some form of introduction in order to be fully utilized by the participants. By structuring the ice
        breaking activity into the learning environment or course management system, students can get to know one another
        while getting to know the course delivery method.

      Energizers - Some ice breakers are designed simply to energize the group of participants. Although less common in
        an online course where there is unlikely to be a physical task to perform, they can still be very useful in face-to-face
        workshop environments for second day/morning activities to help wake up everyone.

When does one use an ice breaker?

 Usually, an ice breaker is used at the beginning of a session or course in order to let everyone in the course get to know one
 another. However, they can be useful within a course as well. Whenever group formation occurs, such as before a group
 project, ice breakers can be useful. Ice breakers by definition occur at the start of a process. It should be noted though that the
 ice breaker activities that one may have in his/her repertoire need not be limited in use to the beginning of a process. For
 example, ice breakers in the knowledge assessment category could be used whenever a new topic is introduced in a course,
 although they would then be called knowledge preassessments.

Choosing an ice breaker.

 When choosing an ice breaker there are 3 questions to keep in mind. First, what are your goals (instructional and group
 goals)? Second, who is your audience (including their reasons for being there and personal goals)? Third, is the ice breaker
 connected to its purpose?

 The first consideration when choosing an ice breaker is the purpose of that ice breaker. Earlier, it was noted that ice breakers
 can have many purposes. Determine what your goals are, and then you can connect the activity to the goal.

 Next you have to look at your audience. If you are working with a group in which everyone already knows one another, then a
 get to know you exercise wouldn't serve much purpose other than to take up time. An alternative activity should then be
 considered. Likewise, if you are working with an audience that could potentially have a good level of prior knowledge, the ice
 breaking activity might be designed to probe this knowledge so that the instruction could be modified to best serve the
 students.

 Finally, make sure that the ice breaker you choose is actually connected to the intended purpose of the ice breaker. Not all
 ice-breakers work for all intended ends. For example, a sing-along activity that might be useful as an energizer would serve
 little function towards everyone getting to know each other by name unless the sing-along activity also incorporated name
 games. Then the activity would serve a dual purpose, with one of those being the intended and the other possibly being
 beneficial in the given context.

 Additional things to consider.

 How many people will participate? Some activities work better for small groups and others for larger groups. For instance, a
 name game exercise involving memorization of terms becomes difficult for the participants when the group exceeds 9 people
 in size.

 How much time can be allotted? Some activities take longer than others. If you only have 5 minutes (which will rarely be
 enough time and 15 would be a more appropriate minimum), then you have to plan an activity or choose one that can be
 completed in the time available.

 Where will the activity take place? For online education, the activity will likely take place in some form of online discussion
 forum. Therefore, only activities that can make use of a text based forum should be chosen.

Seventy-five game Lesson Plans found in counseling and guidance, extracurricular activities, health and safety and physical education and recreation.
http://www.teachervision.com/tv/tvsearch/termname=Health%20and%20safety|Counseling%20and%20guidance|Physical%20education%20and%20recreation|Extracurricular%20activities&type=Lesson%20Plan
 
 

Thirty-seven games lesson bank from teachers.net
http://www.teachers.net/cgi-bin/lessons/sort.cgi?searchterm=Games
 
 

Seventy-one games form the education world website
http://db.education-world.com/perl/browse?cat_id=5850
 
 

Ice Breakers - Exercises To Get Things Started!
http://www.flora.org/mike/poped/icebreakers.html
 
 

Student Organization Advising and Resources
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SOAR/Lead/Icebreak.html
 
 

Teaching Ideas That Worked Ice Breakers
http://www.teach-nology.com/ideas/ice_breakers/
 
 

Choosing & Creating Your Own Games
http://home.earthlink.net/~tlcarothers/ice.htm
 
 

Ten ways to break the ice
http://www.susan-boyd.com/tenways.htm
 
 

Resident Assistant icebreakers and low energy and high energy games
http://www.residentassistant.com/games/icebreakers.htm
 
 

Sample Group Counseling and Guidance Activities
http://p2001.health.org/MHS01/PREVACT.HTM
 
 

ESL Games
http://www.eslcafe.com/ideas/sefer.cgi?Games
 
 

Education World has published a new batch of teacher-contributed Icebreakers! 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson242.shtml
 
 

Games measurement and evaluation sheet
http://www.suu.edu/ced/distance/creative/HOWTOGET.HTM
 
 

Secondary school educators ? ice breakers, guidance resources and clip art
http://7-12educators.about.com/library/weekly/aa081000b.htm
 
 

Ice breakers and games in A to Z order
http://www.ccinfoline.8k.com/ice_breakers.htm
 

RESOURSES:

Varuel, Virgial. (2002). University of Illinois, Breaking the Ice.  Retrieved form: http://illinois.online.uillinois.edu/pointers/2002_01/