When students collaborate in groups, groupthinking can occur—the tendency to prioritize agreement over critical analysis. This can make students less likely to challenge each other’s ideas, which may lower the quality of their work.
To counteract this, appoint a devil’s advocate in each team. This person’s role is to ask critical questions, challenge assumptions, and encourage deeper thinking. Because the role is explicitly assigned, the student will feel more comfortable questioning the group’s process and decisions. Additionally, critical assessment is a valuable skill on its own, and this approach gives students the opportunity to practice it.
- Activity goal
- Exchange knowledge | Practice skills
- When
- In class
- Where
- Offline | Online
- Duration
- < 30 minutes
- Group size
- Small | Medium
- Materials
MSTeams, Zoom
Step-by-step
Step 1
Introduce the concept of groupthinking and explain why critical thinking is essential. Clarify the role of the devil’s advocate: this student challenges ideas, asks tough questions, and ensures the group doesn’t settle too quickly on one solution. Provide clear expectations and guidelines.
Step 2
Make the groups and think about how you want to appoint the devil's advocate. Do you choose someone or do students get to choose this for themselves?
Step 3
Have students complete the task as normal. Walk around to look and observe how the devil's advocates are doing. Encourage them to actively challenge ideas.
Step 4
Pause the assignment briefly and ask a few devil’s advocates and other students to reflect. Are they succeeding in being critical? Do they need any additional guidance? Offer support if necessary, then allow the groups to continue.
Step 5
At the end of the task, have the group reflect on the impact of the devil’s advocate. Did this role help refine their ideas and improve the outcome? Or would they have reached the same conclusion without it? Encourage them to reflect not just on the assignment itself, but also on the value of critical thinking in group work.
Step 6
For the next assignment, select a different student to take on the devil’s advocate role. This ensures that everyone develops their critical thinking skills and keeps the group dynamic and engaged.
Tip 1
For randomly choosing a student, you can use a random name generator.
Step-by-step
Step 1
Explain the process of working with the devil's advocate to students so they know what it entails and why it is important to do so. Provide context for the assignment and the role of the devil's advocate. The devil's advocate should have a critical role on the team while working on the assignment.
Step 2
Make the groups and think about how you want to appoint the devil's advocate. Do you choose someone or do students get to choose this for themselves?
Step 3
Have students complete the task as normal. Walk around to look and observe how the devil's advocates are doing.
Step 4
Pause for a few minutes halfway through the assignment. Have some lawyers and other students reflect briefly; do they manage to be critical? Or do they need something more at this point? After this, resume the assignment.
Step 5
When the students have finished, let them reflect again on the devil's advocate's contribution to the whole group process and the outcome. Was it a good addition, or do they think they would have achieved the same outcome without it? So, in addition to the outcomes of the assignment, reflect on the use of a devil's advocate.
Step 6
On the next assignment, choose another student to play the role of the devil's advocate.
Always use (generative) AI tools that are GDPR-compliant. Refer to the usage guidelines for Generative AI and the theme page about AI in education as well.
The Sparring Partner
Tip for teachers: Have students indicate 'this is my criticism' to AI and then let AI come up with additional criticism so that this can help even further in the activity.
See AI strategy 'The Sparring Partner' for more information and a step-by-step plan on how to apply this in practice.
