Strategies for Large and Small Group Discussions:

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Strategies for Large and Small Group Discussions
Keeping the Students Engaged in Learning
Fred Phillips Associate Professor College of
Commerce
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Why not lecture?

• Many (most?) students like (prefer?) lectures
• Lectures can offer greater comfort and control
• Lectures can model critical thinking skills
• Lectures can be interesting and engaging
• Lectures can promote active learning (all
  learning is active)

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Why discussion (rather than lecture)?

• Students gain practice at developing expressing
  their own ideas
• Students potentially connect better to their own
  ideas
• Instructors get to hear what is in students
  heads
• Instructors get to provide instant feedback to
  students

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Barriers to discussion

1. Environment.
2. Students.
3. Instructor.

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Dimensions of Discussion Teaching(What does the
instructor do?)

• Prepare the class
• Be explicit
• Plan the class
• Content process
• Conduct the class
• Keep it going, on-track
• Evaluate the class
• Content performance

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Discussion Exercise
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In your opinion, what is a good campfire and/or
what do you need to have a good campfire?
A good campfire is/has
A good discussion is/has
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Easing-In to Discussion Teaching

• Quick-thinks (Susan Johnston Jim Cooper)
• Select the best response
• Correct the error
• Complete a sentence
• Compare or contrast
• Support a statement
• Reorder the steps
• Reach a conclusion
• Paraphrase the idea

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Tactics to Stimulate Discussion

• Line-by-line analysis
• Green/yellow/red
• Think/write/pair/share
• Jigsaw

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Jigsaw
Home group
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1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
2
3
2
4
4
4
4
Expert
2
2
1
1
3
3
4
4
1
1
2
2
4
4
3
3
Regroup
1
1
1
1
2
2
3
3
2
2
3
3
4
4
4
4
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Large Classes

• Endemic problems
• Anonymity
• Student self-consciousness
• Variety
• Time
• Muffle

• Tactics
• Call on some
• Think / write /
• pair / share
• Basis for grouping
• Spread it out
• Be explicit

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Large Classes

• Register for
• Student-Student Interactive Learning in The
  Large Classroom Setting a session sponsored by
  the Gwenna Moss TLC on Friday, March 22,
  130-400 pm
• Contact Corinne.f_at_usask.ca for more info.