Published in the December 1992 issue of
The Penn State University Newsletter
Teaching by discussion can be an extremely effective means of helping students apply abstract ideas and think critically about what they are learning. In his now classic study, Bloom (1953) concludes that when the purpose of a class is to develop problem-solving skills and abilities, the least efficient discussion is superior to most lectures. However, fostering effective discussion is difficult--even for experienced faculty--and especially when class size exceeds 20.
Faculty who frequently do both report that leading an effective discussion takes greater preparation than does preparing a lecture. Like a lecture, an effective discussion has a beginning, a middle, and an end that are all determined by the agenda for a particular session. Unlike the lecture, however, this process is not controlled by one individual's presentation. Rather, the discussion leader must walk a fine line between controlling the group and letting its members speak. The most common pitfalls in a discussion--all exacerbated by lack of organization and clearly defined goals--are overly long digressions, pointless arguments, or no real discussion at all. The advantages of discussion teaching include helping students develop higher-order reasoning skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, as well as developing motivation and enthusiasm for a subject. In providing an opportunity for the members of the class to work actively with the ideas and the concepts that are being pursued, discussion teaching has the added benefit of providing immediate feedback to faculty about student learning.
Two basic guidelines underlie all successful discussions. First, know your students. Effective discussion leaders know which students have which skills and perspectives and will often use this information to decide whom to call on to keep, or get, the discussion moving in the appropriate direction. Second, never operate without some kind of a general plan. Occasionally, as a result of the comments or questions students raise in class, effective discussion teachers know they must adjust or alter their objectives in the midst of a discussion. Without a general plan at the outset, it is difficult to make such decisions responsibly. Like all good teaching, developing discussion teaching skill takes time, practice, and feedback. Some people seem to have a natural aptitude, but everyone can master the craft of discussion teaching sufficiently to use it with good purpose in their classes.
Despite publicity about the benefits of discussion teaching, faculty often resist using it in their classes. Such resistance is frequently based on fears and common misperceptions about what discussion teaching is, what it can accomplish, and how to prepare. Some teachers think discussion can only be used in small classes, but as the examples in the October ID demonstrate, several teachers at Penn State have found ways to incorporate discussion into large classes. Another common perception and concern is that discussion slows the pace of a class. Although the perception is accurate, the concern should be mitigated by the experiences of those who have ventured into this instructional arena and typically find, as did John Moore (English) when he began using discussion in his classes, that what may appear to be less "actually turned out to be a path to something more."
Ultimately, the trade-off we make when teaching by discussion is that while students may learn less, they learn it better and in greater depth. As faculty prepare to engage in discusssion teaching, they commonly articulate concerns about how to keep the discussion moving and on track. Accordingly, in the sections that follow, we have tried to address such frequently asked questions by drawing on the advice of several master teachers at Penn State.
How can I be sure the students will talk?
Discussion requires that students place their opinions, conclusions, and questions before the rest of the class. This prospect can be intimidating, especially for undergraduates. Therefore, in order for good discussion to take place, you need to create a comfortable and nonthreatening environment.
- Get acquainted: Just as it is important that you know who your students are, John Moore (English) suggests that it is also important for students to know each other so that they feel comfortable talking in front of their peers. As was noted in our October issue, Larry Spence (Political Science) helps students get to know each other by having them wear nametags in class. He says, "Students don't particularly like them because it reminds them of the fourth grade. So I try to make it fun by making up different names for my tag each day. After a while, they begin to know each other's names, and I can call on them by name."
- Show respect for all questions and comments: Ben Kleindorfer (Business) feels it is the important to avoid judging student responses so that students are never embarassed by asking or answering a question. Larry Spence also believes that "You have to provide a safe and welcome atmosphere for people to make mistakes, to make fools of themselves, to be wrong, and to disagree." He thus establishes the rule that "You can say anything except something that stops the dialogue, such as 'Anyone who believes that is stupid.'" You should avoid making evaluative comments or simply negating a student's response by turning to another student with exactly the same question. If your responses to student comments and questions reinforce their validity, students will be more willing to take the risk required to participate.
- Integrate student responses into the discussion: Students will commonly participate more freely in discussions when they feel their own concerns and ideas have contributed to the agenda. Instead of evaluative comments like "That's good," try to restate the critical portions of the comments and to connect them with the the main points under discussion. After the first person presents an opinion, pose follow-up questions, such as, "How do the rest of you feel about it?" You must make it clear that the students should listen to each other and not just to you.
What kinds of questions will promote discussion?
In large part, you control the progress of a discussion by controlling the kinds of questions you pose. Remember, a discussion is not just to test that they've read the book. Simply asking for information retreival will kill a discussion. If the goal is to get them to think critically and creatively, you need to ask questions that demand this kind of response.
- Start with an open-ended question: You can get a discussion going and people talking by asking open-ended questions such as, "What did you think about a particular chapter (or article or whatever)?" Or, "What struck you as most problematic about the concepts in this chapter?" These questions have several advantages. First, because they invite students' opinions, they decrease the odds that your question will be met with an awkward silence. Second, because they encourage multiple viewpoints, they also lessen the problem of having the brightest--or most vocal--student dominate the class. Finally, by asking students to pinpoint problems and crucial issues, they provide the beginnings of further topics for discussion.
- Ask questions with multiple answers: Perhaps the most straightforward method of encouraging participation from as many people as possible is--as John Moore and others have suggested--to ask questions with multiple rather than single answers. Divergent yet focused questions remove students' fear of not getting the "right" answer. For example, instead of asking, "Why is the ending of Wuthering Heights a good one?" you could ask, "What are other ways in which Emily Bront‘ might have ended Wuthering Heights?" Although these questions may not seem useful because they don't call for factual information, they are extremely valuable because they force students to examine and integrate the information they have and to reach some kind of conclusion that the facts will support. In other words, they promote critical thinking.
- Discourage the plug-and-chug mindset: Questions that simply ask students to plug information into a formula often don't require real understanding. Try rephrasing the questions so that students must synthesize information. John Lowe (Chemistry) gives an example. In a question about ideal gases, instead of giving them pressure, temperature, and number of moles, and then asking them to find the volume, ask them to explain what happens to the volume of the gas if the pressure is doubled and the temperature is cut in half. In other words, instead of just filling in the blanks of a formula, they must understand and articulate what the formula means.
- Know which types of questions do what: Every form of question has its purposes, but you need to give some thought both to the objectives and to the kind of dynamic that particular type of question establishes. For example, questions such as, "Does everyone see how the uses of sexual passion in these two works differ?" or "Does everyone know Newton's three laws?" may not get much more than a few nods from your students. If this question is meant to encourage student participation, why not ask, "Would someone please summarize the major differences between the uses of sexual passion in these two works?" Or, "Can someone explain Newton's three laws to me?"
What should my role be in a discussion?
While a teacher's role in a lecture is clear-cut, it is less so in a discussion. John Moore and Larry Spence, among others, compare a discussion leader to a coach watching the team perform well. Individual style will influence the amount of control a teacher will use, but in general the teacher's role in a discussion is not to dominate, but rather to get the discussion started, set goals, summarize, mediate, clarify, and allow all to be heard.
- Make sure that everyone has a chance to contribute: Helen Manfull (Theatre) emphasizes that once you pose a question, you must pause long enough for someone to pick it up--and not necessarily the first person who raises a hand. Rapid reward for answering promotes the programmed answer even to an opinion question. You might occasionally try having students write down an answer first, which gives more reticent students a chance to articulate their thoughts before speaking. Repeating students' inaudible questions and answers--especially in classrooms where the students all face the front of the room--can also go a long way toward including all students in the discussion.
- Organize, summarize, and synthesize: Occasional summaries during a discussion, similar to those built into a lecture, help to structure the conclusions the class has reached and to keep them on track. When tangents develop, make the connection to the main topic or the subtopics as defined on the board. In other words, at transition points, remind the students of your goals and their responses. A good rule is to restate the correct portions of all comments--either questions or answers--made by a student. Show attention yourself by building on a student's point, by withholding judgment until you have several responses, or by listing the multiple responses on the board and asking the students to group them. At the end of the class, summarize the points they have made and connect them to the original questions posed at the beginning of the class. The point is to allow students to come to their own conclusions, but to help structure and analyze them.
- Tolerate opposition: If you're starting with the pretense that the class will arrive at their own conclusion, sometimes you have to let that happen. You should not be afraid of conflict and insist on reaching a consensus. Opposition can be very educational. If students are disagreeing in interpretation or conclusion, but are backing their arguments up, that's the nature of discussion. As Larry Spence says, "Discussion introduces a lot of chaos into your life that you have to tolerate." When the entire class appears to have a goal for the discussion that bears no relation to the one you intended or stated at the beginning of the class, it may be a good idea to listen for a while until you have some idea why they might have settled on their own set of issues rather than accepting the ones you intended. Sometimes, finding out what your students are thinking and how they will respond to a given question is more important than momentary control. John Moore points out that sometimes losing control of a discussion is a good thing, even if somewhat scary. If your students have gone off track not because they don't understand the information or because they have arrived at a legitimate conclusion different than yours, go along with it. It's also a learning experience for you.
How should I prepare for discussion teaching?
Although discussions do not have the formal structure of lectures, it is probably even more important to prepare for a discussion because you need to be ready for whatever direction the discussion takes. As was stated in the introduction, the two underlying principles of discussion are knowing your students and having a plan.
- Know your students: When planning a discussion, you need to ask "What can I assume with absolute certainty that my students will know? What misconceptions are they likely to have about the topic?" You can use this information to decide what questions to ask and which students to call on.
- Set goals: Although a discussion does not "cover" content in the same way that a lecture does, you should still focus on the course material. When planning, ask yourself, "If my students leave this discussion with one or two key ideas or insights, what would they be? How does this class session fit in with the last class discussion? With subsequent ones? With the course as a whole?" Then decide what topics and questions will help you reach those insights. It also helps to establish an outline of questions. Once you have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish, it will be easier to keep your students and yourself on track. You should also consider if there are parts of the material that would be better served by the lecture format.
- Establish class parameters: It helps to establish some guidelines for conducting the discussion, both for you and for your students. You need to decide how much or how little control you are comfortable with. With each class, ask "How important is it that we achieve consensus? On which points will I be most tolerant of divergent viewpoints? Do I want to control the whole agenda, or will the students should be active in setting part of it? How will I handle digressions?" One way that John Moore controls the agenda is to set time limits for each topic. Thus, although he doesn't control what students say, he can control the amount of time devoted to each topic.
A Few Caveats and Concluding Comments
Discussion teaching has advantages. Once converted, those who use it swear by it, yet also recommend prudence. Discussion teaching is not an effective means of transferring information, nor is it the method of choice when you are unwilling to entertain divergent viewpoints. If you want your students to agree with you, the best and most parsimonious route to such outcomes is to tell them--i.e., lecture.
Furthermore, faculty will occasionally report that they tried using discussion in class but saw no difference in student outcomes. Almost without exception, such failings are not the failing of the discussion per se--assuming things went reasonably well--but failings in how student outcomes were measured. Information retrieval and multiple-choice questions will probably never yield great advantage to discussions over lectures. Thus, as in any instructional situation, faculty need to give special attention to the type of measures they will use to assess student outcomes. In many cases, essay or short answer tests may be useful assessment mechanisms for determining student success due to discussion teaching.