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DISCUSSIONS :IMPROVING CLASSROOM INTERACTION

 

   GILBERTO TEIXEIRA (D.B.A.)


Are you afraid of long silent gaps in your discussion? This information provided below focuses on how to stimulate student involvement in the classroom. It includes ideas on how to fuel students' motivation, how to help students see relevance in your topic, and how these techniques can increase class participation.  

Stimulating Discussion

Two of the major barriers to discussion in an undergraduate classroom are that some students are afraid to talk in a group, and that they may not be interested in the subject matter. Thus, the two most important things to do in stimulating a discussion are to create a "safe" environment, and to motivate students by making the topic relevant, to stimulate their interest in the material.
The idea of a "safe" environment refers to the fact that we want students to feel comfortable about speaking out and sharing their views with the class. There are three major components to creating a safe environment:
1) Welcome the ideas of students.  Let them know directly that an ideal discussion section is about discussion of ideas and perspectives among students.  
2) Give all ideas and points of view reasonable consideration without rushing to judgment.  Sometimes a student may be factually wrong about a topic and it is OK to point out their error.  However, when discussing more subjective topics try to give all ideas and all students equal time and consideration.
3) Maintain the focus of the class on discussion of ideas rather than the judgment of people.  Some topics can evoke powerful emotions.  Try not to let the discussion of ideas degrade into the judgment of people. 
There are a number of different specific methods for generating a safe and comfortable environment for students:
  • Get to know the students and have them get to know you. 
    The discussion should really be an interaction among the students instead of all the individual students talking to you, or to each other through you. Getting students to know each other will stimulate their interaction with each other. Here are some suggestions on how to build familiarity among students:
- Call on students by name 
- Have them refer to each other by name 
- Play some sort of name game or ice-breaker on the first day 
- Have the students address each other instead of just you 
- Ask students to react to other students' comments 



  • Break the students into smaller groups.
    A popular method of making students feel comfortable about sharing ideas is to break them down into small groups (about 3-4 people) and have them discuss the topic of the day. Group work is a great way to get students to know each other and to get them talking (people who are nervous about speaking up in front of 25 people may feel comfortable with just 3.) Let them talk it over for about 10 - 15 minutes and then reconvene the group. You could have one member of each group report their ideas, or make a list on the board of what the groups come up with.  Group work has two major advantages. One was already listed; student may feel more comfortable talking with three people rather than 25. The other is that when the ideas are reported to the class as a whole the ideas are somewhat separated from the individuals that offered them.  Thus students can find comfort in a degree of anonymity.
  • What if you disagree with your students?
    There are some cases when students might be factually incorrect, but what if they hold an opinion that is different from yours? How do you deal with this situation? Do you make your bias clear or pretend to be neutral? How can you show them how to respectfully disagree with each other?
- Explicitly tell the students that they are safe voicing their opinions.
- Consider writing student responses on the board to validate them and organize them
- Create group activities
- Show your own vulnerability. Don't pretend you know everything. If you admit you don't know something the students will be less intimidated.
- Respond with more than just "good" and "okay". Describe specifically what you thought was good.



  • How do you deal with students who don't participate? 

    Should you call on them by name? Hopefully if you get to know the students well, and everybody feels comfortable and interested, you won't have too many of these. But if you do:
- Have students write down answers to your questions. Then you can ask them what they wrote without putting them on the spot to generate an answer.
- Ask the student a question that has no wrong answers
  • How do you deal with students who monopolize the discussion?



    - Ask for other people to contribute
    - Talk to the student specifically
  • Make the course material relevant to students' everyday lives.

    Discuss how to make the material relevant to the students. If a discussion is too abstracted students might lose interest. Find ways to remind them that what they are studying is important, practical, or real.
- Give credit for bringing newspaper/magazine articles to office hours 
- Show the students your own interest in the topic. Muster up some energy without being falsely enthusiastic. Especially if you are teaching on a topic that is your field of interest, you should be able to convey why you have devoted your life to its study. 
- Talk about why you find the material interesting.
- Ask the students to relate the material to something in their own lives.


Asking Effective Questions

Asking questions in the appropriate way is key to leading a good discussion. Here are a few ideas.
  • Be aware of the difference between questions that have one right answer and questions that have many. If you are tying to generate discussion among students asking for the "right" answer is probably the wrong thing to do. Instead, formulate questions that are open ended - that is questions that either have no clear right or wrong answer or that might have multiple right answers.  On the other hand, if you are trying to get students to exercise their factual knowledge of a subject, it might be appropriate to ask "right/wrong" questions or those sort of questions that have a single answerer.
  • Aim your questions at varying levels: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, etc. 
  • Wait at least 10 seconds for responses. It seems like a long time, but it usually takes this long to formulate a response. Research has shown that most teachers answer their own questions to quickly.
  • Ask open-ended questions (see above)
  • Ask follow-up questions 
  • Prepare some questions beforehand

The Cycle of Feedback

Improving classroom interaction involves continually assessing your teaching, students learning, and your relationship with the students. The students have a relationship with you, with each other, and with the material. It's important to get feedback about all three of these relationships.
- Feedback happens on many timescales. How did this go today? How is the quarter going?
 - Try a written mid-quarter evaluation. For example: Ask which exercise was most helpful? Which was least? 
- Use office hours to talk informally about how things are going 
- Have your teaching observed or videotaped. 
- Make sure students understand your assignments. Ask if there is anything else that they need to handle the assignment. 
- Make your teaching transparent. Ask the students if they understand why we are doing this assignment.