Small Group Discussions (Active Learning Strategy)

Overview and Introduction: The WHAT and WHO

Discussions are an active learning strategy that provides opportunities for students to discuss the lesson content in pairs, small groups, or as a whole group. Discussions can be as flexible as needed depending on the intended purpose [1]:

This strategy relies heavily on the instructor’s creation of high-level, intentional questions that can:

When designing questions, take into consideration the level of thinking required of students.  Bloom’s Taxonomy [3] is a thinking framework that organizes thinking from lower-level skills to higher-level skills. It is suggested that instructors ask a variety of low and high-level questions during the lesson. Bloom’s taxonomy can serve as a valuable tool when designing questions to assess student knowledge within the levels of thinking [4]. Other sources for designing question stems include:  Socratic question stems [5] and Depth of Knowledge (DOK) [6] question stems.

Class discussions can be used in various courses, modalities, and with all learners. Certain considerations must be made depending on the class modality.

Be cognizant of the student demographics in the course. Arizona State University has a large population of international students whose primary language may not be English. For that reason, think ahead about how to support all ESL learners in the course.

Implementation and Timing: The WHEN, WHERE, and HOW

The use of discussions will vary based on class modality. For in-person, virtual synchronous, and hybrid courses, discussions can be used throughout a daily lesson. Instructors must focus on building questions before instruction. The questions can then be woven into the lesson instruction, allowing learners to discuss the content. Typically, if students are discussing the content to support comprehension, the conversations should be kept between one and three minutes before moving on to additional lesson content. Determine the intended purpose of the discussion to better determine time limits. If students are asked to debate a topic or determine problems and solutions, they may require more time to discuss. This additional time will need to be built into the class time.

Virtual asynchronous courses can embed discussion threads into weekly modules using Canvas or Ed Discussion and can be assigned points for participation.

In-Person Traditional-Sized CourseIn Person- Large CourseVirtual SynchronousVirtual Asynchronous
• Pair learners up based on seating location

• Allow students the chance to share with the whole class

• Before class, input student names into a randomizer name picker.  Allow students to pass if they are too shy

• Plan for absent people and how pairings will be adjusted

• Plan for odd pairings and how they will still receive equal discussion time		• Train UGTAs & TAs how to quickly assist in grouping and monitoring conversations

• Plan for absent learners and how pairings will be adjusted using the space

• Plan for odd pairings

• Rove around the entire space and listen in to conversations. Highlight good points you heard.		• Allow students to respond in chat.  Acknowledge their responses and read some aloud

• Place students in breakout rooms to discuss.  They can capture group thoughts on a virtual program (Zoom Whiteboard, Jamboard, etc.)

• Before class, input student names into a randomizer name picker.  Allow students to pass if they are shy

• Interactive presentation websites (like clickers)

• Zoom Whiteboard / Jamboard (online collaboration apps)		• Use the discussion tool in Canvas or Ed Discussion -Ask open-ended questions

• Make sure to comment on some of their posts.  This communicates you value their thoughts and find this task valuable

• Communicate how many times discussion posts should occur per week/module and assign points

• Expect them to comment on the threads of their peers. Follow up to address the quality of responses.  Consider having UGTAs follow up with students on discussion threads

• See the Discussion Board Prompts QRG for more ideas and resources

What if students do not respond to a direct question you pose?  

General Implementation Tips

Rationale and Research: The WHY

Promoting student discourse in classroom settings has been well-established over the years. It is a highly used strategy, and instructors find that discussions support students in establishing ideas and clearly communicating those ideas. Discussion with peers exposes students to the attitudes and perspectives of others and can promote active listening [7]. “A good give-and-take discussion can produce unmatched learning experiences as students articulate their ideas, respond to their classmates’ points, and develop skills in evaluating the evidence of their own and others’ positions” [p. 63, 8]. A simple discussion has the potential to assist students in learning in a multitude of ways. To promote discussions in the classroom, the use of questioning plays an important role. Numerous studies have examined the effect questions and the level of questions (lower-order versus higher-order) have on student achievement. Results from a meta-analysis of twenty studies on the teacher’s use of ‘lower’ and ‘higher’ cognitive questions found that students made academic gains when higher cognitive questions took precedence in a classroom setting [9]. To promote deeper levels of content understanding, instructors must consider the level of questioning and focus on higher-order questions. This, in turn, will promote deeper discussions of the content.  

Additional Resources and References