Discussion Method of Teaching

Overview

Discussion is important to learning in all disciplines because it helps students process

Discussion Strategies
1. Instructor-Designed Questions.
2. Student-Designed Questions.
3. 5-Minute Informal Writing in Response to a Question.
4. “Stand Where I Stand” Debate.
5. Informal Collaborative-Learning Groups.
6. Think, Pair, Share.
7. Think-Aloud Pair (Triad) Problem Solving (TAPPS)
8. Group Dialogues (appropriate for classes up to ~25 students)

Preparing for Discussions

To start planning a discussion (or any instruction, for that matter) decide what you want your
students to get out of the discussion. For example, do you want them to share responses, make
new connections, and articulate the implications of a text? Should they be able to work certain
problems by the end of the hour? Should they be able to interpret and critique a journalistic
photograph or a piece of art? Deciding on and articulating the objective for the discussion will
help you decide what kinds of discussion activities will best help your students reach that
objective. Remember that you can organize a discussion in many different ways: you can have
students work in small groups, role-play, choose sides for a debate, or write and share a
paragraph in response to the theme in question1. You will also want to leave time to wrap up and
summarize the discussion for your students (or have students summarize it), or to debrief after
activities such as debates or role-plays.

Develop a Clear Goal for the Discussion

Knowing the content to be covered is not enough. Naming the chapter your students will read is
not enough. If you’ve only thought as far as, “I want students to know ...” you haven't thought
through enough what needs to be accomplished. You should be able to articulate what the
students will be able to do with the information or ideas. For example, in a philosophy class for
which students have read a chapter on epistemologies or theories of knowledge, you might want
students to be able to construct legitimate arguments for and against any epistemology about
which they have read.

Problematize the Topic

Having a clear goal in mind makes it much easier to plan a discussion. You know what you want
students to get out of it. But it is not enough: An instructor at IU several years ago told the story
of how she wanted her students to deal with the issue of prejudice. She tried to start discussion
merely by saying “Discuss prejudice.” No one spoke. She then asked if anyone had seen
prejudice. One student raised a hand. When she asked what it was like, the student merely said
“awful.” She had a goal, but not a problem or an activity to get the students to engage the ideas
to achieve the goal.

The opposite end of the spectrum is also a problem. While “Discuss prejudice” is too open-
ended, merely asking for the basic facts won’t work either. You’ve probably heard a professor
rattle off a list of questions that require only brief factual replies and little student involvement:
Q. When was the Battle of Hastings?
A. 1066.

The result could hardly be called a discussion. So, give your students an open-ended problem to
solve, a task to complete, a judgment to reach, a decision to make, or a list to create—something
that begs for closure.

Select a Discussion Format

Many discussion activities can be used in the classroom. Choose one that will help your students
meet your goals for the discussion. The more specific you can be in assigning the task, the more
likely your students will be to succeed at it. Consider the protocols for tasks such as Think-Pair-
Share, Affinity Mapping, Chalk Talk and other conversation structures.

Choose a Method to Assign Students to Groups

When assigning students to groups, consider the following questions.

 How big should the groups be: Two to six is ideal. Smaller groups (two-three) are better
for simple tasks and reaching consensus. Also, students are more likely to speak in
smaller groups. Larger groups of four-five are better for more complex tasks and
generating lots of ideas.
 How should students be assigned to groups: Randomly assigning students to groups
avoids the problem of friends wanting to get off track. For long-term groups, you may
want to select for certain attributes or skills (e.g. a statistician, a geology major, and a
writer) or by interest in the topic, if different groups have different tasks.
 How long should the groups meet: Just for this activity or for all semester. Stop the
discussion groups while they are still hard at work; next time, they will work doubly
hard. Long-term groups allow students to practice collaborative skills and make stronger
bonds, but sometimes they get tired of each other.

Choose a Debriefing Method

Always debrief students; it is the most important part of a discussion, the time to summarize and
synthesize. Most of learning in discussions happens during debriefing, so don't squeeze it in—a
rule of thumb is to use one-third of the total discussion time for debriefing.

You can use debriefing to correct incorrect notions. You can slip in any points that students
neglected but that are important. You can pick which student reports from each group, though
you should tell them in advance that you plan to do this. This makes everyone in the group
responsible. You don’t have to hear back from every group, but can instead choose a few at
random. When groups start repeating ideas, it’s time to stop.

Many techniques can get students to share what their smaller groups have done with the entire
class: verbally, on newsprint/flipchart, blackboard or overhead, ditto/photocopy, etc. And you
don't have to hear from everyone; calling on a few groups at random to report works quite well.
To encourage student cross-team competition in Team-Based Learning, reporting out from
groups is simultaneous. Answers can be posted to a Powerpoint slide or pieces of newsprint hung
on walls of class.

Problems with Discussion

 Getting Started: Students are often reluctant to get down to work in a discussion.
Students are more likely to join in discussion if you divide them into pairs or small
groups and assign a specific discussion question. After a few minutes of small group
discussion, ask several groups to report out their ideas to the entire class. This often
helps to get discussion going because students have had a chance to “try out” their ideas
on their peers. Alternatively, give students time to write individually before opening up a
discussion; they are much more likely to speak up if they have some notes to speak from.
Further, by allowing for this kind of pre-discussion activity, you will be able to ask more
complex and interesting questions. At the same time you will be promoting equity in the
 conversation, allowing everyone in the class to gather his or her thoughts before speaking
rather than privileging the bold or the entitled, who can otherwise dominate the
discussion.
 Attendance: Despite the fact that discussion section participation is a requirement for
many introductory courses, students may believe that their attendance is not mandatory
since the AI rather than the professor is in charge. Therefore you may want to devise a
way to structure required assignments, projects or presentations into your sections so that
section participation will be a part of the final course grade. If students know that the AI
has some responsibility for determining their grades, that AI will have considerably more
authority in the classroom or in any interactions with students.
 Losing Control: One fear about discussion is the possibility that the discussion will be
TOO enthusiastic or not remain civil. Develop ground rules as a class. Gently, students
can be reminded that behavior X (e.g., interrupting, blatantly ignoring the conversation,
showing disrespect) is not appropriate in the context of the rules the class agreed on. If
no rules have been established, or if the inappropriate behavior doesn’t seem to fit under
the rules, you should address it immediately. Otherwise, you send a message to the
students that such behavior is acceptable. Often, simply walking toward the student(s)
will resolve the problem, as they will see that you are paying attention. Sometimes,
however, you will need to address the problem directly. Try not to get rattled—take a
deep breath, allow some silence, and then respond. This gives you some time to plan a
response that models for the students how to handle a difficult situation. Remember:
never shame or humiliate a student, and don’t take student remarks personally—although
an attack may seem personal, it may be directed at authority figures in general rather than
at you in particular.
 Discussion Monopolizers: If the same students answer all the time, you might say, “Let’s
hear from someone else.” Then don’t call on students who have already spoken. Do not
allow one student to speak for an inordinate amount of class time. Take that person aside
and ask him or her to limit comments in class. If the student does not respond to this hint,
tell him or her an exact number of times he or she will be allowed to respond in class, and
do not call on him or her after that number has been reached in any class period.
 Controversial Topics: If you teach charged topics, prepare students for discussing them.
For an article about how to build up the skills necessary to discuss sensitive topics, see
“Controlled Fission: Teaching Supercharged Subjects” (Pace, 2003).
What are the Advantages of Discussion Method of teaching?
 Emphasis on Learning instead of Teaching, ...
 Participation by Everybody. ...
 Development of Democratic way of Thinking. ...
 Training in Reflective Thinking. ...
 Training in Self-expression. ...
 Spirit of Tolerance is inculcated. ...
 Learning is made Interesting.
What are the Advantages of Discussion Method of teaching?
 Discussion method is not appropriate for all the topics.
 It can be used only to students who have some basic knowledge in the topic.
 Some of the students may feel shy or reluctant to take part while others may try to
dominate.
 Teacher may lose control over the students and they may end up in quarelling.