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The Real World Model of Classroom Discussion

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Title: The Real World Model of Classroom Discussion


1
The Real World Model of Classroom Discussion
  • Developed by Professor Terry Doyle
  • Ferris State University
  • Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning

2
Learning Outcomes
  • At the end of this workshop you will
  • Be better able to help students become more
    skilled in participating in discussion
  • Be better able to clarify for students how
    discussion can lead to effective learning
  • Be better able to explain to students the major
    role talking and listening play in the real
    world of work
  • Be able to facilitate the development of student
    driven discussion guidelines for their courses
  • Be better able to write effective discussion
    questions at multiple levels of thinking

3
Discussion vs. Recitation
  • Recitation is a controlled series of exchanges
    usually teacher led and often seeking specific
    conclusions
  • Discussion is when information is freely
    exchanged between several participantsit is
    marked by the absence of teacher control and the
    desire to seek a specific conclusion (Langauge
    and Learning in the English Classroom, M. Nystrand

4
Key Issues Affecting Discussion
  • Students dont necessarily know how to engage in
    effective discussion
  • Students often see discussion as unrelated to
    their learning
  • Students need a safe environment for sharing and
    testing their ideas

5
Key Issues Affecting Discussion
  • Students need some control over the discussion
    guidelines
  • Discussion activities need to be seen by students
    as having significant valuethis usually means
    grading the discussion
  • Students must see a real world application to
    discussion both the knowledge gained and the
    skills of speaking and listening

6

Faculty Need to See Discussion as Important
  • Allowing students the choice to
  • not learn how to express and
  • defend their views orally would be
  • no different than allowing
  • them to choose not to learn to write quality
    papers or take tests to demonstrate content
    knowledge

7
Real World Reasons Why Discussion is Important
  • Not knowing how to express your ideas in the
    workplace can be career threatening.
  • www.manhattanrickshaw.com/ graphics/apprentice.jpg

8
Real World Reasons Why Discussion is Important
  • Students need to learn that their ideas,
    suggestions, questions or concerns will not be
    heard in the world of work if they wait to be
    called upon

uponwww.dw-world.de/.../ 0,3772,11696_1,00.jpg
9
Real World Reasons Why Discussion is Important
  • Getting the attention of the leadership at any
    level will depend on learning to offer your
    ideas, suggestions, insights, etc., voluntarily
    and assertively.

10
Real World Reasons Why Discussion is Important
  • Learning to orally express ones ideas or values
    precisely is a vital skill needed for success in
    the world of work.

cagle.slate.msn.com/.../ debategifs/debate.jpg
11
Real World Reasons Why Discussion is Important
  • Students need to understand that one of the most
    important aspects of college learning is
    listening to the different views, thinking
    processes, and ideas of their peersit is a major
    way they develop and refine their own thinking.

12
Real World Reasons Why Discussion is Important
  • Learning to defend a point of view, accept and
    give criticism and adapt or rethink a position
    are key real world skills
  • Learning how to do this is crucial to being
    well-educated.

www.ircset.ie/images/ section_image_rethink.jpg
13
Discussion and Learning
  • Classroom discussion is one of the key tools
    teachers can use to have students test their
    learninglearning without testing is incomplete
    (James Zull, Art of Changing the Brain)
  • As Alfred North Whitehead put it, without
    testingYou have inert ideas

14
Discussion and Learning
  • When students present their ideas, they are
    changing the abstract into the concretemental
    ideas into physical eventsthey are completing
    the learning cycle.
  • (James Zull, The Art of Changing the Brain)

www.jmucci.com/ Flash/ideas.gif
15
Discussion and Learning
  • Testing of ideas brings claritybeing precise
    helps a learner to see the details of her
    thinkingto see what might be missing.

cms.dt.uh.edu/.../ StudentPictures/SACNAS03.JPG
16
Discussion and Learning
  • Discussion gives students feedback on the
    validity of their ideastheories are just
    theories until they are tested
  • (James Zull)
  • USA Today, 1-14-05

17
Discussion and Learning
  • Without testing our ideas we can not say that we
    have learnedmany times learners have been led to
    believe that the answer is the goal even if it
    is reached without knowledge or understanding
  • (James Zull, The Art of Changing the Brain)

www.educationprograms.com/ safefood/images/gra...
18
Discussion and Learning
  • Only through expression of a learners ideas
    (orally or in other forms) can we see how the
    learner has understoodhow he/she have reached
    their answer

www.aperfectworld.org/.../ government/speech.gif
19
Discussion and Learning
  • Experts, it seems, may become experts because of
    the freedom they feel to question and think in
    creative ways.
  • Happily, teachers can encourage such creative
    freedom in thinking by presenting what they know
    as an interim report in an on going inquiry, that
    is acknowledging the larger uncertainty that
    surrounds the process of knowing.(Ellen J.
    Langer, Mindfulness 1989)

20
Valuing Discussion
  • One way to value discussion activities is to
    grade themthe grade must be a meaningful part of
    the overall course grade.

www.epa.gov/.../images/ gold_star_poster.jpg
21
Valuing Discussion
  • Students need to see talking and listening is
    just another form of learning just like reading,
    writing papers, or taking tests

www.companysj.com/ v191/p13top.jpg
22
Valuing Discussion
  • Students need to understand that not sharing (not
    participating) in discussions is unacceptable as
    it diminishes the learning of the groupstudent
    ideas are part of the content of the class

maisnam.net/7/bored/
23
How Does Discussion Create Learning
  • It challenges and changes student attitudes
  • It aids significantly in the transference of
    knowledge
  • It motivates students for further
    exploration(Linda Nilson, Teaching at Its Best
    A Research Based Resource for College
    Instructors. 1998)

www.marine.usm.edu/ images/class_discussion.jpg
24
How Does Discussion Create Learning?
  • It enriches the ideas and thought processes
    available to students
  • It is highly superior to lecture in developing
    problem solving skills

(Linda Nilson, Teaching at Its Best A Research
Based Resource for College Instructors. 1998)
25
How Does Discussion Create Learning?
  • Promotes self-awarenesswho else holds my views
  • It promotes the taking of risks which can lead to
    new discoveries and insights(Linda Nilson,
    Teaching at Its Best A Research Based Resource
    for College Instructors. 1998)

trashotron.com/.../ mook-shuttle-launch.jpg
26
How Does Discussion Create Learning?
  • Develops critical oral expression skills
  • Enhances the organization of thoughts
  • Increases the accountability for our ideas and
    views
  • (Linda Nilson, Teaching at Its Best A Research
    Based Resource for College Instructors. 1998)

www.nada.kth.se/.../ Images/BigIdeas.small.jpg
27
Teaching Students How to Engage In Discussion
  • Students need to have input in to the ground
    rules and grading of participation and
    discussionownership by students is a key
    component of effective classroom discussion
  • (Weimer. 2002)

28
Teaching Students How to Engage In Discussion
  • Students need to understand that the classroom is
    where we want them to make and learn from their
    mistakesit is the testing and proving ground
  • (Robert Bjork, UCLA Memory and Metamemory)

www.spokane.wsu.edu/.../ archclassroomshot.jpg
29
Teaching Students How to Engage In Discussion
  • Teachers need to define the role they will take
    in discussionthat of a facilitator not a
    contributor

www.dramaed.net/ images/shhh.jpg
30
Teaching Students How to Engage In Discussion
  • All discussions must have follow up activities
    that cause students to reflect upon, use, or
    review the information discussedthis is needed
    to promote long-term learning

www.soest.hawaii.edu/.../ 1213.journaling.jpg
31
Teaching Students How to Engage In Discussion
  • Students should begin a semester with a practice
    discussion using the ground rules and grading
    system they have helped develop.

www.policy.hu/filtchenko/ osiphoto/petar.JPG
32
Developing Student Generated Discussion Guidelines
  • Have students meet in groups of three and
    discuss
  • What made for some of the best discussions they
    have been a part of in their past learning ?
  • What made for the worst discussions?
  • Have the students list the characteristics of
    each of these discussions

33
Developing Student Generated Discussion Guidelines
  • 3. Have each group share one characteristic for
    best discussions until all have been shared
    with the whole class
  • List all answers on the board
  • 4. Repeat for worst discussions

34
Developing Student Generated Discussion Guidelines
  • 5. In their groups have students use the
    information on the best and worst discussions
    to develop an effective set of guidelines for
    conducting class discussions
  • These guidelines would help the best
    suggestions happen and prevent the worst from
    happening

35
Developing Student Generated Discussion Guidelines
  • Questions to help groups formulate guidelines
  • Who gets to participate in the discussion?
  • Should everyone participate?
  • Do students have to have read the assignment or
    completed the homework to participate?
  • If sohow will it be verified?

36
Developing Student Generated Discussion Guidelines
  • How do people participate in the discussion? Do
    they raise their hands or just speak out when
    they have something to ask or add?
  • Since challenge and disagreement are a healthy
    part of discussion, what behaviors should be
    acceptable when students challenge or disagree
    with one another so the discussion remains civil
    and productive?

37
Developing Student Generated Discussion Guidelines
  • What language will be deemed inappropriate for
    classroom use based on current cultural norms?
  • How should students be graded on their
    participation in the discussion?
  • Do all responses count the samei.e., asking a
    question, giving a view, challenging an answer,
    expanding on an answer etc?

38
Teaching Students How to Engage In Discussion
  • What are the consequences for those who do not
    participate?
  • Should there be a privacy rulethat anything
    discussed in the classroom stays in the
    classroom? Or, if a person asks that it remain in
    the classroom, that request will be honored?

39
Teaching Students How to Engage In Discussion
  • Should their be a time limit as to how long any
    one person can speak?
  • Who should be responsible for keeping the
    discussion on track?
  • Since hearing everyones ideas is a key to
    discussion should everyone be required to take
    part?

40
Teaching Students How to Engage In Discussion
  • Have each group share one at a time, the
    guidelines they suggest and make a master list of
    guidelinesrefining and combining similar
    suggestions from groups

www.iq-home.com/Plumbing/ 1020rules20for20s...
41
Teaching Students How to Engage In Discussion
  • The faculty member takes all of the suggestions
    home and reformats them into clear, easy to read
    guidelines
  • (Add guidelines that are essential or and trying
    not to delete anyexcept ones that are totally
    inappropriate)

42
Teaching Students How to Engage In Discussion
  • Have each suggestion represent a plank of the
    classes guidelines and have the students vote on
    each plank
  • Majority will rule and all planks approved will
    become the guidelines for the class
  • They will be printed up by the faculty member and
    distributed to the class

43
Specialized Guidelines
  • We agree to disagree
  • Dont personalize the dialogue
  • The purpose of discussion is not to reach
    consensus, nor to convince each other of
    different view points (Teaching and Learning
    Center, U of Nebraska)

44
Discussion Tools for Students
  • Questions to ask Others when seeking clarity
  • "What, exactly do you mean?"
  • "Will you please rephrase your statement?"
  • "Could you elaborate on that point?"
  • "What did you mean by the term. . .?"

45
Discussion Tools for Students
  • Questions to ask themselves
  • "What assumptions underlie what I am saying?"
  • "What are the reasons for thinking as I do?"
  • "Is what I am saying all there is to it?"
  • Is there more than one question here that needs
    to be addressed?"
  • "How would an opponent to my point of view
    respond?"

46
Discussion Tools for Students
  • International students who are concerned about
    their English can write out their input in
    advance and use the writing to help them when
    sharing in the discussion.

47
Research on Classroom Discussion
  • Depending on which study you read, the average
    college course spends only 1 to 3 of its time
    in discussion
  • (Source P. E. Blosser. (1975). How to Ask the
    Right Questions. National Science Teachers
    Association)

nodens.physics.ox.ac.uk/ oi/Partiii/Photos/be
48
Research on Classroom Discussion
  • The kinds of questions asked in higher education
    courses break into three categories
  • 60 require only recall of facts
  • 20 require critical thinking
  • 20 are procedural in nature
  • (Source P. E. Blosser. (1975). How to Ask the
    Right Questions. National Science Teachers
    Association)

49
Developing Great Discussion Questions
  • 1. Open-ended
  • 2. Multiple aspects to the question
  • 3. Solving a problem or case
  • 4. Seek specific kinds of thinking or reasoning

50
Developing Great Discussion Questions
  • Sample Evaluation Thinking
  • Assuming equal resources, make a case based on
    their decisions made during the Civil War for
    who would have been the most skillful general,
    Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant?

www.nps.gov/frsp/ images/grant.gif
51
Developing Great Discussion Questions
  • Sample Clinical Reasoning
  • A previously healthy 10-day-old newborn is
    brought to the emergency department suffering
    from a fever for past two hours. He was born at
    term after an uncomplicated pregnancy. His
    temperature is 39C. Physical examination shows no
    abnormalities. What tests would you order? Why
    these tests?

52
Developing Great Discussion Questions
  • Sample Inductive Reasoning
  • What are the leadership qualities the following
    leaders have in common( list leaders) and from
    these commonalities what might we conclude are
    the qualities necessary for effective leadership?

President George W. Bush. Photo by Eric Draper,
White House.
53
Developing Great Discussion Questions
  • Sample Problem Solving
  • Suppose you grow up with the idea that dogs were
    bad. Out of the many dogs you came into contact
    with, none bit you when you were quite young. How
    would you react towards dogs now? Would the type,
    size, etc., of the dog make any difference as to
    how you react? Explain the notion of prejudices
    using this example."

54
Websites for Discussion
  • http//teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/participation.htm
    l
  • This website offers lengthy suggestions on how to
    "create a classroom in which students feel
    comfortable, secure, willing to take risks, and
    ready to test and share ideas." The site also
    includes a list of references for further
    reading. The topics here run a wide range, from
    instructor body language to icebreaking tips to
    dealing with students who monopolize discussion.

55
Websites for Discussion
  • http//www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/faqdisc.htm
    (National Teaching and Learning Forum)
  • Consisting of answers to eight frequently asked
    questions, this site offers instructors useful
    approaches for evaluating classroom discussion.

56
Websites for Discussion
  • http//ftad.osu.edu/Publications/TeachingHandbook/
    chap-5.pdf (Ohio State University)
  • A lengthy but very thorough site, covering
    objectives, question types, classroom atmosphere,
    student interaction, and active learning, among
    other topics. Includes suggestions for
    incorporating discussion into a variety of
    disciplines and ways to make transitions between
    writing and discussion.

57
Websites for Discussion
  • http//www.ksu.edu/catl/discuss.htm
  • (Kansas State University)
  • Some helpful ideas to consider when helping
    students to understand why discussion is
    important to their learning.

58
References
  • References
  • Opening Dialogue Understanding the Dynamics of
    Language and Learning in the English Classroom.
    Martin Nystrand with Adam Gamoran, Robert Kachur
    and Catherine Prendergast. New York Teachers
    College Press, Columbia University, 1997.
  • James Zull, The Art of Changing the Brain
    Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring
    the Biology of Learning, Stylus Virginia, 2002
  • Ellen Langer, Mindfulness Choice and Control in
    Everyday Life (1989) Linda B. Nilson Teaching
    at Its Best A Research-Based Resource for College
    Instructors 1998, 2nd Edition
  • Mary Ellen Weimer, Learner Centered Teaching
    Jossey Bass 2002
  • R. A. Bjork Memory and Metamemory Considerations
    in the training of human beings in J. Metcalfe
    and A. Shimamura ( Eds) Metacognitive Knowing
    about Knowing pp185-205 Cambridge, MA MIT press
  • A. Cannon, "Fostering Positive Race, Class, and
    Gender Dynamics in the Classroom." Women's
    Studies Quarterly, 19901 2 126-134.
  • http//www.teachingtips.com/articles/Mtechniques1.
    html P E Blosser 1975 How to Ask the Right
    Questions National Science teachers Association
  • University of Nebraska Teaching and Learning
    Center
  • http//ctl.unc.edu/cal.html The Guided Discussion
    (February, 1992)
  • http//www.indiana.edu/teaching/ Classroom
    Discussion Suggestions, Joan Middendorf and Alan
    Kalish, 1996
  • Nystrand, M,. Language and Learning in the
    English Classroom, Teachers College Press New
    York,
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