In Collaborative Learning (Johns
Hopkins UP, 1993), Kenneth Bruffee proposes a basic model of classroom
interaction which we have adopted here.
This model has four steps:
- Pose to the class a question or task which all students spend 3-5 minutes responding to in writing. Divide the blackboard into two parts, labeled "Ideas" and "Conclusions."
- Ask each student, or selected students, to read aloud their answers. Summarize, tabulate, and categorize these responses on the half of the board labeled "Ideas."
- Begin and focus the discussion by noting the variety of responses, and encourage the class to help you identify the prominent themes in those responses. Help the class see if it can reach a consensus on the issue in question, or lead them to discuss why consensus can't be reached or may not be desireable on this issue.
- Record whatever conclusions the class reaches on the other half of the board.
Advantages of the Consensus-Discussion Model
This model of holding
classroom discussions helps you achieve a number of important learning
objectives, and teaches students some important skills.
- It ensures that every student takes a few moments to think about the issue at hand, and to engage with that issue by articulating their thoughts in writing. Too often we walk into class, pose a question, and expect students to formulate clear and intelligent responses within seconds.
- You can give every student, even the quiet ones, the opportunity to speak in class. Even a quiet student usually doesn't mind simply reading to the class a response they have written down beforehand. And once a student has spoken for the first time, she will be far more likely to contribute again.
- While you determine the broad content of the discussion by raising the initial issue or setting the initial ask, the students' contributions help determine the actual ideas under discussion. Students will be far more motivated to contribute to the discussion when they have helped to establish the content of the discussion.
- The discussion has a specific starting point, a task to accomplish, and an ending move. These factors give it both focus and structure, though of course the instructor can certainly allow room for moves in different directions.
- Having the class work towards consensus teaches students an important lesson about the nature of knowledge: that what counts as knowledge or the truth in the academic community is attained through collaborative conversations with our peers-conversation which may take place through journals and books, but conversations nonetheless.
Disadvantages of the Consensus-Discussion Model
As with any teaching
technique, do not overuse it. Vary the format of your discussions by
using small groups, by occasionally allowing for less structured
conversations, by dividing up the class for mock debates, or by letting
students try their hand at leading the discussion.
Other issues to consider?
Some professors worry about the possibility of imposing consensus on their students. In truth, discussion classes very rarely reach consensus. What the process often leads to instead is the discovery of the fundamental issues which they will need to make decisions about in their papers or assignments: while they might not agree upon a definitive interpretation of a poem, for example, they may discover together which specific elements of the poem they will have to confront in order to construct a complete interpretation.
Give
me some practical examples of this model in use.
The Whip Sentence
A whip sentence, sometimes called a sentence stem, provides for students the first part of a statement about the work or issue under consideration; students are given specific directions as to how they should complete the sentence. For example,
In a literature seminar,
discussing Albert Camus's The Stranger:
Meursault, the novel's
hero, is . . . [offer one noun or adjective which best describes
Meursault]
In a philosophy seminar
on justice:
Justice always depends
upon . . . [complete the sentence with a noun or noun phrase]
In a political science
seminar in international relations:
Countries go to war
because of . . . [complete the sentence with one to three noun or verb
phrases]
Give me another example of the model.
Concrete Image Exercise
Peter Frederick
introduces the idea of the concrete image exercise in his well-known
article, "The Dreaded Discussion: Ten Ways to Start":
Go around the table and
ask each student to state one concrete image/scene/event/moment from
the text that stands out. No analysis is necessary-just recollections
and brief descriptions. As each student reports, the collective images
are listed on the board, thus providing a visual record of selected
content from the text as a backdrop to the following discussion . . . A
follow-up question is to invite the class to study the items on the
board, and ask: 'What themes seem to emerge from these items?' 'What
connects these images?' 'Is there a pattern to our recollected events?'
'What is missing?'
Give me another example of the model.
Application
This example works in a
slightly different manner, but would fit more in social science and
science courses than the previous examples. After introducing a theory
or model or formula, give the students five minutes to try to come up
with a real-life situation or problem to which that
theory/model/formula might apply or be useful.
Record all of the ideas
on the board, and then evaluate as a class which cases are truly
applicable. Then let the class decide which example they would like the
instructor to explore or discuss in more depth. This requires some
on-the-feet thinking on the part of the instructor, who may not have
rehearsed an explanation of the specific example which the class
chooses. But it will increase student interest and motivation by
demonstrating the relevance of the theory/model/formula in question to
a real-world situation which they have identified as interesting.