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Fostering Student Discussion

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Trying to have students turn and talk to discuss their thoughts and ideas.

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Trying to have students turn and talk to discuss their thoughts and ideas.

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Questions, Reflective Writing, and Small-Group Work

This sampling of strategies provide ideas for helping students prepare for discussions and for collaborating with others to develop those ideas.

Instructor-Designed Questions

(Help instructor to guide pre-discussion reading and preparation)

Distribute questions on the course schedule or on a Learning Management System such as Canvas.

Include a mix of "closed" comprehension questions, which have a limited number of correct answers, and open-ended questions, which can generate multiple strong responses.

Begin class by asking for responses to at least one of the questions (or by asking students to discuss their responses in pairs or groups of three).
Record resulting ideas on the chalkboard; integrate these ideas throughout rest of the class.

Student-Designed Questions

(Help students to help determine direction of a discussion)

Ask students to bring to class (or post online) 2 discussion questions.

Give students instructions and examples to clarify what types of questions are most effective for generating discussion and how they can use the questions to deepen their own learning (e.g. by making connections among topics or readings, or by identifying assumptions or counter-arguments).

Grade the questions and give students feedback to help them improve their question-writing skills over time.

To reduce the number of submitted questions to a manageable amount (i.e. a number that is realistic for you to grade and to use during class discussions), divide the class into two-four groups and assign the responsibility for writing questions to only one group per class session.

5-Minute Informal Writing in Response to a Question

(Helps students develop thoughtful responses and helps quieter students to participate)

When used at the start of class, the exercise might ask students to recall or explain factual information or major ideas from the assigned readings.

When used in the middle or end of a class, this exercise can ask students to synthesize, complicate, or counter ideas that have already been discussed or presented, or to identify the "most important point" or the "muddiest point" in a discussion (Angelo and Cross).

Include time to ask for volunteers to read what they have written.

Record responses on the board and use these responses to shape the direction of the discussion.

Add any points that students did not address, but that are essential.

"Stand Where I Stand" Debate

(Adapted from Brookfield and Preskill)

Assign readings before class that will allow students to familiarize themselves with a controversial topic, including facts that may be used as evidence for specific positions.

To begin the activity, write a debatable statement on the board, ask students to stand in a specific location in the room to indicate whether they strongly disagree, disagree, agree, or strongly agree (for example).

After students have "positioned" themselves, call on individual students to explain their respective positions vis-a-via the debatable statement.

Once you have heard from a few students, tell everyone that they can move to a different position, to reflect any changes in their thinking.

Repeat steps above once or twice more, then ask students to discuss the process: What arguments were most compelling? Why? How did hearing different perspectives affect their thinking? What new questions were generated?

Small-Group Discussions: Facilitation Strategies and Selected Models

Strategies for Facilitating Small-Group Discussions

Give specific time limits and instructions.

Limit groups to 2-3 students each. With larger groups, some students will not participate.

Allow time after the group discussions for groups to report the results of group work and for students in other groups to ask questions and comment on their peers' ideas.

Integrate the results of group work into the closing discussion or lecture, and refer back to these ideas, when relevant, in subsequent class sessions.

Informal Collaborative-Learning Groups

Ask each group to analyze and annotate a figure, image, or short passage of text, or to solve a problem, then explain it to the class.

Assign roles (e.g. scribe, taskmaster, and spokesperson), so that each student has a clear and essential responsibility within the group. Explain each role so that the responsibilities of each are clear and understood as essential to the group's success.

Each time you assign such roles in groups, ask students to take on a different role than that which they fulfilled the last time. The idea is that students should fulfill each role roughly the same number of times, so that each student learns new skills and does not always take on the role the student is most comfortable in.

Think, Pair, Share

Ask students a question, then direct them to first think and write notes on their own for 30 seconds to a minute, then discuss their answers with a neighbor for 3-5 minutes, then present their ideas to class.

Record these ideas on the board, asking for other students to build on their peers' ideas as you go.

Think-Aloud Pair (Triad) Problem Solving (TAPPS)

(Adapted from Felder and Brent)

Divide students into groups of 3.

Give each pair a problem to solve, a text (or image) to interpret, or a case history to discuss.

Ask students to designate an explainer, a questioner, and a recorder.

The explainer explains how to solve the problem, interpret the text (or image), or analyze the case.

The questioner asks questions when the explanation is not clear or is incomplete. The questioner can also ask questions to give hints that might generate new or different explanations.

The recorder records the explanation via writing notes and/or drawing diagrams.

After 10 minutes, ask each explainer to present the explanation, using the recorder's notes. As a follow up, you might discuss what types of questions were most helpful in refining the explanation, and why.

Group Dialogues (appropriate for classes up to ~25 students)

(Adapted from Brookfield and Preskill)

Write a question on each of 4-5 large flip-chart sheets of paper (or areas of the chalkboard).

Divide students into 4-5 groups (one group per question).

Each group talks with one another for five minutes to develop an answer to the question, then writes their answer on the paper or chalkboard.

When you say "move," each group moves to the next question in succession, reads the answer already recorded, talks with one another, then adds a written response to the first group's written answer.

Continue until all four groups have written a response to each question.

As a class, review the responses to each question, discussing how the answers evolved via dialogue.

References

Angelo, T. A., and K. P. Cross. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Brookfield, S. D. and S. Preskill. (2005). Discussion as a way of teaching: Tools and techniques for democratic classrooms. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Felder, R.M. and R. Brent (2005). Active learning: An introduction. ASQ Higher Education Brief 2(4). http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/ALpaper(ASQ).pdf

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This sampling of strategies provide ideas for helping students prepare for discussions and for collaborating with others to develop those ideas. Instructor-Designed Questions (Help instructor to guide pre-discussion reading and preparation) Distribute questions on the course schedule or on a

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Photo credit: US Department of Education via flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Classroom discussions have been a staple of teaching forever, beginning with Socrates. I have taught using discussions, been a student in discussions, and observed other teachers' discussions thousands of times -- at least. Some have been boring, stifling or tedious enough to put me to sleep. Others have been so stimulating that I was sad to see them end. The difference between the two is obviously how interesting the topic is, but equally important is the level of student participation.

It's not enough for students to simply pay attention -- they need to be active participants to generate one of those great discussions that end far too quickly for both the teacher and students. The worst types of discussions are serial one-on-one talk between a student and teacher, leaving the rest of the class out of the process. Many students stop listening, begin to fade or disengage during this flawed procedure.

The best discussions keep everyone active, either by sharing or thinking. Even those students who rarely, if ever, contribute can still participate in other ways. Here are five of my favorite ways to design discussions in a dynamic and exciting manner.

1. Lightning Rounds

Just the name "lightning round" suggests energy. Make it even more dramatic by playing up the concept of speed, fun and excitement. Have your discussion questions prepared in advance so that you can ask them faster. Short-answer questions obviously work best for this technique. Students have 30 seconds (or a more appropriate time for your particular class) to answer. They can either answer or pass -- and no negativity is associated with passing. Ask the questions rapidly while growing the anticipation for each next question by imitating quiz show lightning rounds: "Are you ready for the next question? Here it comes." Ask the question before calling on a student so that all students must be ready to answer. The lightning round should take no longer than ten minutes, the approximate time that the energy begins to diminish.

2. Throw the Ball

Do not intercept the ball.

Do not throw the ball at another student.

Do not try to break anything in the class with the ball.

When you ask a discussion question, call on students by letting them catch a ball. With young children, you can use a beach ball and roll it to students in a circle. Older students can catch a beach ball or nerf football. This way of calling on students can either be a lot of fun and full of energy, or it can be a disaster. Be sure to keep the throwing distance short enough to prevent chaos. Make the rules clear and stop if they are broken:

In spite of the potential danger with using a ball, I have seen this done with much success and great student involvement. A variation that is safer and fun for grades 1-3 is to pass a teddy bear to the student who will answer the next question.

3. Group Answers

Two commonly used discussion techniques can be put together to allow a discussion that involves everybody at the same time. One is to form small groups of about three students. When the teacher asks a discussion question, every group has a small discussion of its own to come up with an answer. Questions of complexity work best with this method. Add to that the use of small cards with each having a method of group identification. After allowing enough time for each group to develop its answer, randomly pick a card and let that group give their answer. You can pick more than one card for each question. When the answer has been completed, put the used card back in the deck, so that no group can relax and think that their turn is over.

4. Agreements

Keep each question going longer by engaging more students in the discussion. When the first student answers a question, ask another student if he or she agrees or disagrees with that answer. Then ask another student, and keep going until at least five students have participated in each question.

5. Questionnaires

A fun way to discuss famous people or fictional characters is to choose someone you are studying. Divide the class into groups of two or three, and have each group come up with three to five questions they would like to ask that person in an interview style. All group members should agree on all the questions. Each group then passes their questions to another group so that all groups have someone else's questions. Each group then has the task of answering one question in writing, with full agreement, and in a way they imagine the person might answer. Papers are changed until all questions are answered. Then encourage each group to share their questions and the answers they received.

One final point about good discussions: most students can easily hear the teacher, but depending on room arrangement, it can often be difficult for students to hear each other. Have you ever tried to follow a press conference on television when you could not hear the question, only the answer? Our response ranges from frustration to giving up listening. Be sure to repeat student answers if any class member can't hear it.

I'm sure that every reader has either a variation of these discussion methods or some great ones of your own. I hope that many of you are willing to add yours to my humble list. Let's create a dynamic discussion of ideas in this space.

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5 Ways to Make Class Discussions More Exciting

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Classroom discussions have been a staple of teaching forever, beginning with Socrates. I have taught using discussions, been a student in discussions, and observed other teachers' discussions thousands of times -- at least. Some have been boring, stifling or tedious enough to put me to sleep.