Stump the Professor: a classroom game to model metacognition and normalize mistakes in biology education

Autonomy, competence, and relatedness are key elements under the self-determination theory (SDT) for student motivation in learning. Stump the Professor (STP) is a low-prep activity designed to model metacognition, normalize the experience of being incorrect, and encourage student participation in undergraduate biology classrooms. By empowering students to generate their own questions, STP promotes autonomy and gives students agency to shape classroom dialog. Observing the instructor verbally reason through uncertainty highlights strategies of problem-solving which model metacognition and competence. Normalizing mistakes within a supportive, low-stakes environment fosters relatedness as students perceive the classroom as a collaborative and psychologically safe place. In this article, we outline how to run this activity to establish an environment conducive to promote student learning and engagement. Our STP-focused post-activity survey results suggest that this activity reduces anxiety, increases comfort with being wrong, and enhances student engagement, supporting all three components of SDT.