Facilitating Group Discussions

Educational Grand Rounds - July 18, 2003

Melissa S. Medina, Ed.M., ABD

Additional resource modified from Lowman, 1995

Lowman, J. 1995. Mastering the techniques of teaching-2nd edition. (p. 159-191). San Francisco:Jossey-Bass.

General Challenges and Techniques (Lowman, 1995)

Starting the discussion

  • Difficulty beginning discussion
  • Ask for discussion when the students are emotionally involved
  • Refer to a common experience
  • Consider how they would feel in a certain circumstance
  • Ask them to write down their answer(s)
  • Use cooperative learning groups or pairs
  • Word the question appropriately
  • Phrase as open-ended to elicit more than just factual, one word, or yes/no answers
  • Keep the question short and simple
  • Wait patiently for the answer
  • Most wait 2-3 seconds. Need to wait up to 10 seconds (relax, show that you are comfortable with silence and send nonverbal message that you can wait all day for an answer)
  • Summarize or restate the answer so that everyone hears the answer.
  • This technique can stimulate further discussion. But just repeat answer (adding personal commentary or a mini-lecture can prevent other students from participating).
  • Call students by their name (if you do not know their name, ask them when they raise their hand)
  • If you do call on students because of no volunteers, avoid resentment by offering students a safety net (can consult with a neighbor)
  • Responding to “wrong answers”
  • Summarize the comment and try to respond to something positive about it:
  • “I hadn’t thought of it that way”,
  • “If I understood you correctly, you are saying..”
  • Ask for consensus among the group
  • “What do you think of this response”

Facilitating Group Discussions

Educational Grand Rounds - July 18, 2003

Melissa S. Medina, Ed.M., ABD

Guiding the discussion

  • How to avoid controlling the discussion
  • Let the discussion develop in its own way
  • Faculty may be anxious for students to reach certain conclusions and want them to realize logical problems of an argument. As a result, they force the process, state their own position too quickly and deny students the chance to come to independent conclusions.
  • Faculty need to be patient and can try to diagnose problem (knowledge, control or beliefs) and provide a prompt or ask a question related to the diagnosis.
  • How to Organizing Student Comments to Relay Point
  • Listen carefully to comprehend what they really mean
  • Group comments into related ideas, then into themes
  • Write them on the board

Ending discussion

  • Trouble bringing a discussion to a close
  • If students are in groups discussing and you want to reconvene the larger group, tell them before they engage in the discussion how you are going to reconvene the group.
  • Warn students that you are going to bring this discussion to a close
  • “Are there any more comments before we bring tie these ideas together?”
  • Then, begin to summarize the major points

Group Discussion Activity

What are the primary issues in this case?

How would you diagnosis the unhappy student’s problem?

What additional information do you feel you need to address this situation?

What would you do as the group facilitator?

What specific questions could you ask the problem student to help re-engage her in the group discussion?

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