Buzz
Groups
Class size: any / Time frame: 3-10 minutes / Setting: no limitations
Purpose: generate ideas/answers, re-stimulate student interest,
gauge student understanding
Description: These groups involve students engaging in short,
informal discussions, often in response to a particular sentence starter
or question. At a transitional moment in the class, have students
turn to 1-3 neighbours to discuss any difficulties in understanding,
answer a prepared question, define or give examples of key concepts,
or speculate on what will happen next in the class. The best discussions
are those in which students make judgments regarding the relative
merits, relevance, or usefulness of an aspect of the lecture (Brookfield
& Preskill, 1999). Sample questions include, Whats
the most contentious statement youve heard so far in the lecture
today? or Whats the most unsupported assertion youve
heard in the lecture today?. Reconvene as a class and have a
general discussion in which students share ideas or questions that
arose within their subgroups.
Comments: This method is very most flexible: it is easy to implement
in any size of class and in most classrooms, even the most formally
arranged lecture hall. Consider how to regain the attention of a large
group: turning the lights off and on is one simple yet effective method.
Think-Pair-Share
Class size: any / Time frame: 5-10 minutes / Setting: no limitations
Purpose: generate ideas, increase students confidence
in their answers, encourage broad participation in plenary session
Description: This strategy has three steps. First, students
think individually about a particular question or scenario. Then they
pair up to discuss and compare their ideas. Finally, they are given
the chance to share their ideas in a large class discussion.
Comments: Think-pair-sharing forces all students to attempt
an initial response to the question, which they can then clarify and
expand as they collaborate. It also gives them a chance to validate
their ideas in a small group before mentioning them to the large group,
which may help shy students feel more confident participating.
Circle
of Voices
Class size: any / Time frame: 10-20 minutes / Setting: moveable
chairs preferable
Purpose: generate ideas, develop listening skills, have all students
participate, equalize learning environment
Description: This method involves students taking turns to
speak. Students form circles of four or five. Give students a topic,
and allow them a few minutes to organize their thoughts about it.
Then the discussion begins, with each student having up to three minutes
(or choose a different length) of uninterrupted time to speak. During
this time, no one else is allowed to say anything.
After everyone has spoken once, open the floor within the subgroup
for general discussion. Specify that students should only build on
what someone else has said, not on their own ideas; also, at this
point, they should not introduce new ideas (Brookfield & Preskill,
1999).
Comments: Some shy students might feel uncomfortable having
to speak. Lessen their fear by making the topic specific and relevant
or by giving each person a relevant quote to speak about. A variation
to this method, which encourages students to listen more carefully
to each other, involves requiring each person to begin by paraphrasing
the comments of the previous student or by showing how his or her
remarks relate to those of the previous student. For this variation,
students will need less preparation time before the circle
begins, but they may need more time between speakers.
Rotating
Trios
Class size: 15-30 / Time frame: 10 or more minutes / Setting: a
fair bit of space, moveable seating helpful
Purpose: introduce students to many of their peers, generate ideas
Description: This strategy involves students discussing issues
with many of their fellow classmates in turn. Beforehand, prepare
discussion questions. In class, students form trios, with the groups
arranged in a large circle or square formation. Give the students
a question and suggest that each person take a turn answering. After
a suitable time period, ask the trios to assign a 0, 1, or 2 to each
of its members. Then direct the #1s to rotate one trio clockwise,
the #2s to rotate two trios clockwise, and the #0s to remain in the
same place; the result will be completely new trios. Now introduce
a new, slightly more difficult question. Rotate trios and introduce
new questions as many times as you would like (Silberman, 1996).
Comments: This type of group can be arranged with pairs or
foursomes and works well with most subject matter, including computational
questions. It would be difficult to implement in a large class, however.
Snowball
Groups/Pyramids
Class size: 12-50 / Time frame: 15-20 minutes, depending on how
many times the groups snowball / Setting: moveable seating
required
Purpose: generate well-vetted ideas, narrow a topic, develop decision-making
skills
Description: This method involves progressive doubling: students
first work alone, then in pairs, then in fours, and so on. In most
cases, after working in fours, students come together for a plenary
session in which their conclusions or solutions are pooled. Provide
a sequence of increasingly complex tasks so that students do not become
bored with repeated discussion at multiple stages. For example, have
students record a few questions that relate to the class topic. In
pairs, students try to answer one anothers questions. Pairs
join together to make fours and identify, depending on the topic,
either unanswered questions or areas of controversy or relevant principles
based on their previous discussions. Back in the large class group,
one representative from each group reports the groups conclusions
(Habeshaw et al, 1984; Jaques, 2000).
Comments: This method takes time to unfold, so should be used
only when the concepts under discussion warrant the time. Also, depending
on the amount of time allotted, students may feel that certain nuances
of their discussions are lost.
Jigsaw
Class size: 10-50 / Time frame: 20 or more minutes / Setting: moveable
seating required, a lot of space preferable
Purpose: learn concepts in-depth, develop teamwork, have students
teaching students
Description: This strategy involves students becoming experts
on one aspect of a topic, then sharing their expertise with others.
Divide a topic into a few constitutive parts (puzzle pieces).
Form subgroups of 3-5 and assign each subgroup a different piece
of the topic (or, if the class is large, assign two or more subgroups
to each subtopic). Each groups task is to develop expertise
on its particular subtopic by brainstorming, developing ideas, and
if time permits,
researching. Once students have become experts on a particular subtopic,
shuffle the groups so that the members of each new group have a different
area of expertise. Students then take turns sharing their expertise
with the other group members, thereby creating a completed puzzle
of knowledge about the main topic (see Silberman, 1996). A convenient
way to assign different areas of expertise is to distribute handouts
of different colours. For the first stage of the group
work, groups are composed of students with the same colour of handout;
for the second stage, each member of the newly formed groups must
have a different colour of handout.
Comments: The jigsaw helps to avoid tiresome plenary sessions,
because most of the information is shared in small groups. This method
can be expanded by having students develop expertise about their subtopics
first through independent research outside of class. Then, when they
meet with those who have the same subtopic, they can clarify and expand
on their expertise before moving to a new group. One potential drawback
is that students hear only one groups expertise on a particular
topic and dont benefit as much from the insight of the whole
class; to address this issue, you could collect a written record of
each groups work and create a master documenta truly complete
puzzleon the topic.
Fishbowl
Class size: 10-50 / Time frame: 15 or more minutes / Setting: moveable
seating and a lot of space preferable; if necessary, have inner group
stand/sit at front of lecture hall and the outer group sit in regular
lecture hall seats
Purpose: observe group interaction, provide real illustrations
for concepts, provide opportunity for analysis
Description: This method involves one group observing another
group. The first group forms a circle and either discusses an issue
or topic, does a role play, or performs a brief drama. The second
group forms a circle around the inner group. Depending on the inner
groups task and the context of your course, the outer group
can look for themes, patterns, soundness of argument, etc., in the
inner groups discussion, analyze the inner groups functioning
as a group, or simply
watch and comment on the role play. Debrief with both groups at the
end in a plenary to capture
their experiences. See Jaques (2000) for several variations on this
technique.
Comments: Be aware that the outer group members can become
bored if their task is not challenging enough. You could have groups
switch places and roles to help with this. Also note that the inner
group could feel inhibited by the observers; mitigate this concern
by asking for volunteers to participate in the inner circle or by
specifying that each student will have a chance to be both inner and
outer group members. Although this method is easiest to implement
in small classes, you could also expand it so that multiple fishbowls
are occurring at once.
Learning
Teams
Class size: any / Time frame: any / Setting: no limitations
Purpose: foster relationships among students, increase confidence
in participating
Description: For this type of group, students are divided into
groups at the beginning of the term. When you want to incorporate
small group discussion or teamwork into your class, you direct the
students to get into these term-long learning groups. Groups of four
work well, because each foursome can be subdivided into pairs, depending
on the activity.
Comments: Students get to know a small number of their classmates
well over the course of the term, and may come to see their team mates
as study partners even outside the classroom. Using learning teams
eliminates the time it takes to organize students into groups each
time you wish to use group work. However, because students will be
working with each other over an extended time period, be very careful
about how you assign them to groups. Have students submit data
cards about themselves at the beginning of term, possibly even completing
a short personality inventory. You might want to ask them also to
suggest the names of two or three classmates with whom they would
and would not like to work.
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