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Do you get “the silent treatment” when you try to generate class discussion? This article presents a lot of practical tips on getting students to participate in class discussion. Hopefully some will fit your situation.
Set up a mindset of inquiry by beginning every lecture with one or more questions you’re trying to answer.
An interesting way to introduce topics you will cover in a class and to find out students' assumptions is to ask students to jot down answers to some questions on their own and then combine answers in a small group before presenting them to the class. As you present visuals, ask students what they see before you tell them what you see. As you show tabular data ask, "What do these data show? Where would you start? What questions do these data answer and how?" Use these devices to help students think about a problem as you introduce it. Wait for them to answer, rather than answering your own questions to avoid awkward silence—otherwise their reluctance to participate is reinforced.
Encourage discussion by asking questions as you teach, so lecturing becomes a conversation. Refer to assigned readings so their purpose is clear. Ask questions about the readings from time to time, and consider having individual students or groups prepare short presentations giving their interpretations of the readings.
End class with a series of questions that your lecture has raised or left unanswered, rather than summarizing “what we have learned today.” Ask students to volunteer these questions, and talk about what can be done to prepare to deal with them in the next class.
Set discussion expectations and increase student participation by involving students in setting discussion policies. Talk with the class to set ground rules for discussion, for such things as how people will indicate they are ready to speak, the order in which people will speak, how to be given adequate opportunity to reply to criticisms of one’s ideas without interrupting, appropriate tone, disputing ideas while respecting those holding them, number of times one person can contribute to one discussion, how often to use discussion, etc. Start the process by having students recall their most vivid experiences as discussion participants and making a list of agreed-upon characteristics of a good discussion. For each characteristic, get three specific suggestions to ensure that the characteristic is present. Or, use the “Golden Rule” approach of asking how they would like to be spoken to in a discussion, and use their responses to create a code of conduct, moving from general declarations to specific behaviours. For more details on conducting this activity, see Brookfield, p. 55ff.
Let students in on your teaching methods rationale. Explain your reasons for varying the traditional lecture style from the point of view of how it benefits them, specifically that cognitive psychology research shows that deep understanding that will enable to recall and use information after they have completed the course comes by explaining their understanding of concepts to others and refining them as they defend them against other students’ understandings (Entwistle, 21). Students more willingly participate in class if they understand the rationale behind an approach that may be unfamiliar, and will hopefully begin to think more about how they learn and move down the road towards becoming self-managing learners.
Use discussion and modeling to teach students the skills needed to participate. Students may not yet have the skills required to participate effectively. A discussion about characteristics of effective participation can reveal undeveloped areas in your students: ask them how they have participated in previous courses, and whether they could use some assistance.
Don’t fear silence. Tell students to use it productively. Use short periods of reflective silence as models for students to stop and think before contributing to discussion. Discussion is not continuous chatter, and pausing to think and collect ones’ thoughts is part of the process. Tell students you need a minute to think about what you want to say next. Tell students they can use this time to think about what has happened in the previous 20 minutes and write down the most important or significant thing, the most puzzling assertion, or the question they would most like to ask. (It’s a good idea to have students briefly collect thoughts on paper before contributing.) Students can then share their questions and ideas with other students in pairs, or with the class, or write them on paper and give to the instructor, who will read a random selection aloud.
Invite discussion and provoke critical thinking by deliberately introducing alternative perspectives. You could dramatize this by standing in different locations at the front when espousing different perspectives, and address other imaginary selves at these locations with “Student Name, what you’re omitting is…” or “Of course, Student Name, you could represent it completely differently if you argued that…” Or, have colleagues with differing perspectives come and present them. The goal of these techniques is to challenge students to consider alternative views of the same set of facts, something that aids good discussion.
Introduce “assumption hunting.” Model this first by listing assumptions upon which lecture assertions are made. Then have students hunt for the underlying assumptions on which their assertions are based.
Introduce “buzz groups” based on questions that invite students to make judgments on the relative merits, relevance, or usefulness of elements in the lecture. Some such questions may be:
Brookfield, S.D & Preskill, S. (1999). Discussion as a Way of Teaching: Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
The Derek Bok Centre for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University. Twenty Ways to Make Lectures More Participatory.
Entwistle, N. 2010. Taking Stock: An Overview of Key Research Findings. In Taking Stock: Research on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, McGill-Queens University Press, Montreal and London, 2010.
University of Waterloo, Promoting Effective Classroom Participation, in CTE Teaching Tips.