Blind Grading: Vote on Difficulty and Find Consensus

The teacher sets five problems without revealing their difficulty; every student climbs them and secretly rates each from 1 to 5. Then the votes are compared to discuss why a grade is a shared opinion that depends on height, technique and style.

How to play

1. Present the five problems, numbered and with no difficulty color (3 min).
2. Free rotation: each student tries all five and drops a rating slip in the box after each one (14 min).
3. Group tally: average, most common vote and the gap between the highest and lowest vote for each problem (5 min).
4. Discussion: which problem had the most disagreement and what explains it (reach, rung type, fear, technique) (5 min).
5. Final show of hands to set the official grade for each problem (3 min).

Rules

• Slips are anonymous and nobody shares their rating before the tally.
• Vote even if you don't finish, noting how far you got.
• Feet under 1.5 m.
• Respectful debate: argue about the problem, not the person.

Variations

Adaptations

• Students who are hard of hearing: tally on the whiteboard in a visible table.
• Injured students: don't climb but vote by watching, and compare their eyeball rating with the group's.
• Shy students: join the discussion in writing on a sticky note.

Learning goals

• Understand how a difficulty grade is built.
• Analyze simple group data.
• Argue respectfully when opinions differ.

Equipment for a class of 25

• wall bars: 10
• gym mats: 10
• colored tape: 2
• ballot slips: 150

Teacher tip

A shoebox per problem works as a ballot box. The typical problem is the strongest climbers setting the grade for everyone; the secret ballot prevents it.

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