Handbook Table of Contents > Teaching Methods > Discussion
Indiana University Teaching Handbook
Discussion
- Introduction
- Preparing for Discussions
- Facilitating Discussions
- Problems with Discussion
- Managing Discussion and Debate Effectively
Introduction
Discussion is important to learning in all disciplines because it helps students process information rather than simply receive it. Discussion sections differ from lectures in many ways. Two major differences are that the students can be more active and that there can be more personal contact. But discussion is an instructional activity that has uses in classes of all sizes and disciplines. Students can and should talk to each other and the instructor even in a large class, as well as in small to medium-sized classes. Good discussions give students an opportunity to formulate principles in their own words and to suggest applications of these principles; they help students become aware of and define problems implied in readings or lectures; they can also increase students’ sensitivity to other points of view and alternative explanations (adapted with permission from Unruh, 1986).
Leading a discussion requires skills different from lecturing. The goal of a discussion is to get students to talk purposefully about the course material. Your role becomes that of facilitator. You moderate the discussion rather than convey information. If you want to hold a discussion, don’t do all the talking yourself; don’t lecture to the group or talk to one student at a time. Remember that the discussion isn’t just a matter of your communication with your students; it’s a chance for your students to share ideas and pool resources. Many instructors overlook this potential and end up trying to carry the whole conversation themselves. Remember that as long as you’re speaking, the students cannot (adapted with permission from Ronkowski, 1986).
Preparing for Discussions
Adapted with permission from Middendorf and Kalish, 1994
Some instructors have an unfortunate misunderstanding about the amount of preparation that discussions require. Too many instructors assume that you can “just walk in” to the classroom and begin useful discussion. It is as if they think that, with a basic understanding of the subject, they can rely upon their students to fill 40 or 50 minutes with questions and answers. However, a good discussion takes a great deal of prior planning and review of the subject matter.
Decide How Much Time You Want to Spend
Do you want this discussion to be a five-minute break in the middle of a lecture? Two minutes at the beginning of class to be sure they read the assignment? Or will you spend the entire class period having the students develop their own ideas? Any of these might be appropriate, depending on what your goal for the discussion is.
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 about what needs to be taught. 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 an Activity to Frame the Problem
Many discussion activities can be used in the classroom. You want to 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. Some possible tasks are as follows: Think-Pair-Share, brainstorm, buzz groups, case analysis, role-playing, and press conferences. Some of these techniques are described in articles listed here.
Choose a Grouping Method
Vary groups by size, method of selection, and duration.
- By size: 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.
- By selection: 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.
- By duration: 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
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.
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 from every group, but can instead choose a few at random. When groups start repeating ideas, it’s time to stop.
Facilitating Discussions
Adapted with permission from Middendorf & Kalish, 1994
- Establish a safe atmosphere to encourage participation, one in which students feel comfortable with one another and safe from harsh judgment. No one wants to feel that his or her remark will be put down or put off. Students are also sensitive to what they think you really want. (E.g., Does he want a discussion or a chance for an extended monologue? Does she say she wants disagreement and then gets defensive when someone challenges her?) Your students will try to read you so that they can respond appropriately. Be sensitive to the clues you give them.
- Create the expectation of participation by arranging the room so students can see one another’s faces. Devise ways so that students have something to say early in the semester. If discussion is to be a large component of the course, the first day of classes is not too early to start.
- Set clear expectations. Provide clear directions for the discussion activity. Explain that your role is facilitator rather than presenter of information. Students should address their comments to one another, not to you. Avoid dominating the discussion by becoming the expert. When they try to put you back in the authority role, throw the question back to the group.
- Pose a problem to solve, a question to answer, a task to complete, or a role to play. Don't just name a topic and hope a discussion will ensue.
- Monitor the discussion by listening and observing. Be sure that students understand the assignment. Help any group that begins to wander, not by providing the answer, but by initiating a line of inquiry to restore focus, even within a free-ranging discussion.
- Summarize the discussion; sometimes a faltering discussion can be put back on track or shifted away from a thoroughly explored subtopic to another aspect of a main topic. Always summarize and synthesize at the end of the session. You may use this time to add any points to the discussion that the students overlooked.
Problems with Discussion
Running a section skillfully requires creating a context of “organized spontaneity” in which “the good section leader gives the students opportunities and incentives to express themselves and develop skills within the otherwise somewhat passive context of the lecture course” (Segerstrale, 1982). One key to facilitating a discussion is to guide its course without appearing to do so. Here is a list of some common difficulties instructors encounter in leading discussions which relate to the problem of “control,” and some suggestions for overcoming them (McKeachie, 1994).
- If you habitually can’t get discussion started, you first need to pay more attention to the topics you’re picking; they may not be broad enough. Or you may not be using good questioning skills—putting people on the spot or embarrassing them.
- If your students are unwilling or unable to discuss as a whole group, try putting them into pairs or small groups with a question to answer. Then have at least several groups report their conclusions to the class. You might also have your students write for a minute or two, and then discuss. This gives them a chance to start to think through the issue in private before they have to go public. Seeing a thought in writing, even one of their own, often lets students feel like it is important enough to share.
- If one or two students consistently monopolize the floor, you may want to take one of two approaches. Either use their comments to throw the discussion back to the class (You’ve raised an important point. Maybe others would like to comment.”), or acknowledge the comments and offer another outlet. (“Those ideas deserve a lot more time. Maybe we can discuss them after class.”)
- If there is a lull in the discussion, relax. This doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Every conversation needs a chance to catch its breath. It may mean that your topic is exhausted or it may be a pause for people to digest what they’ve heard. If the lull comes too frequently, though, you may need to give more attention to the types of topics you’re picking. It is often not enough just to have a topic; you should come to class with several specific but open-ended questions prepared. You may also be inadvertently shutting down discussion by dominating rather than facilitating.
- Most teachers tend not to wait long enough between questions or before answering their own questions because a silent classroom induces too much anxiety in the instructor; research actually shows an average wait time of 0.9 seconds. Try counting to 10 slowly after asking a provocative question to which you are just dying to respond yourself. Students don’t like a silent classroom either. Once they have confidence that you will give them time to think their responses through, they will participate more freely.
- If students are talking only to you instead of to each other, you are probably focusing too intently on the speaker. You can help students talk to each other by leading with your eyes, looking occasionally at others in the room. This will lead the speaker to do likewise.
- If there are students who seldom or never talk, see if you can find out whether they are shy, confused, or simply turned off. Watch for clues that indicate that they might want to speak up (“Alan, you seem disturbed by Dan’s idea. What do you think?”). However, be careful that you don’t embarrass a student into participating. You may want to make a point of talking to this student before or after class to indicate your interest.
- If you run out of material before the end of class, ask your students if there are other topics they might be interested in discussing. If not, let them go early. Don’t keep them the whole hour just for form’s sake.
- If a fight breaks out over an issue, then you’ve got a hot topic on your hands! Facilitate! Your major task here is to keep the argument focused on the issues. Don’t let it turn personal, under any circumstances. Remember to demand evidence and reasons, not name-calling.
AIs: Despite the fact that 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. Students will also be more likely to attend sections or lectures led by the associate instructor.
Links
The following links will take you to small additional readings associated with this general section.
- How to get Students to come to Office Hours
- Helping Students feel less anxious about making Presentations
- How to Respond when Students give a Wrong Answer
- Research on Teaching: Leading Discussions
- Frequently Asked Questions about Discussions
- Learning Students' Names
Managing Discussion and Debate Effectively
- Delay the problem-solving part until the rest of the discussion has had time to develop. Start with expository questions to clarify the facts, then move to analysis, and finally to evaluation, judgment, and recommendations.
- Shift points of view: “Now that we’ve seen it from [W’s] standpoint, what’s happening here from [Y’s] standpoint?” What evidence would support Y’s position? What are the dynamics between the two positions?
- Shift levels of abstraction: if the answer to the question above is “It’s just a bad situation for her,” quotations help: When [Y] says “_____,” what are her assumptions? Or seek more concrete explanations: Why does she hold this point of view?”
- Ask for benefits/disadvantages of a position; for all sides.
- Shift time frame—not just to “What’s next?” but also to “How could this situation have been different?” What could have been done earlier to head off this conflict and turn it into a productive conversation? Is it too late to fix this? What are possible leverage points for a more productive discussion? What good can come of the existing situation?
- Shift to another context: We see how a person who thinks X would see the situation. How would a person who thinks Y see it? We see what happened in the Johannesburg news, how could this be handled in [your town/province]? How might [insert person, organization] address this problem?
- Follow-up questions: “What do you mean by ___?” Or, “Could you clarify what you said about ___?” (even if it was a pretty clear statement—this gives students time for thinking, developing different views, and exploration in more depth). Or “How would you square that observation with what [name of person] pointed out?”
- Point out and acknowledge differences in discussion—“that’s an interesting difference from what Sam just said, Sarah. Let’s look at where the differences lie.” (let sides clarify their points before moving on).
