Student group’s challenge

“Once, I had a student group that worked on preventing noise-induced hearing loss during festivals, these students were stuck at one point, but they had come up with a nice questionnaire to measure noice-induced hearing loss. […] The students discovered that many things had already been done; there has already been a lot of research into noise-induced hearing loss. I thought they could get an earplug manufacturer involved to make these earplugs available to them (students), but this turned out to be more difficult. […] ‘How did the students react to this?’ Within the group, it was quite varied. Some students could deal with it, while others became a bit angry and recalcitrant. […] This was a student group with one man and four women. The man was completely overshadowed by the women. He did not get a single chance to advocate ideas with these women, although I noticed that he had very good ideas. He also became very frustrated in the process because his ideas were not heard” [T13 tinnitus].

Teaching activities

“So, I asked the students what happened, and then the man also said, ‘I am not allowed to say anything in this group’. Ah, yeah, and then the women immediately were on top of him and said that he could say anything in the group. Then I said, ‘look what is happening now’. Then I tried to describe to the students what is happening in their group. And I told the students that he now gets to say something in the next ten minutes and you all have to be quiet. […] So, I try when I see this problematic group dynamic then to discuss this in the group, yeah, I try to break it down” [T13 tinnitus].