2 Encouraging discussion

A well-crafted discussion involves student-to-student as well as teacher-to-student conversations. When students talk to each other without teacher intervention or interaction, the kind of interaction that takes place is often freer – students are prepared to take risks and share half-formed ideas.

However, many students may be reluctant at first to speak out in whole-class discussions because they do not want to expose their ignorance. If this is the case, it is important to build up a culture of support that allows students to feel confident enough to know that their contributions will be accepted and handled sensitively.

As a teacher, you should be interested in what everyone has to say on the topic. Encouraging more in-depth thinking, getting a variety of viewpoints and creating a classroom environment where everyone’s questions and contributions are valued, are key to effective discussion. With younger students, the kinds of discussion that you plan need to take account of the limited knowledge and experience that they have compared to older students and to their different stage of intellectual development.

Classroom discussions can take the form of free-flowing conversations or can be organised in more structured ways. It may be necessary to stage the discussion in steps, and plan ways to organise the students, such as using pairs, groups or the whole class. Resource 1, ‘Using pair work’, summarises the advantages of using pair work and may help you do the next activity”

Activity 1: Using pairs to discuss

Think of a topic or issue about nutrition or malnutrition that your students could talk to their neighbour about. What do you want them to learn from the experience, both in terms of science and in being able to discuss more effectively?

This, along with the age and range of ability of your students, will determine the type of question you might ask. For example, questions such as ‘What would happen to your body if you did not eat?’ or ‘What if you only ate rice?’ can clearly be used with younger students. They could also be used with older students but you would expect a deeper exchange of ideas about why we eat food and its impact if we don’t eat sensibly.

Having identified the question the students are going to discuss, think about how you will introduce the activity and organise the pairs. If you have a large class, for convenience, the students could talk to their neighbour on their left.

Will your students need any extra information to help them talk about the issue and, if so, where can they get this? It could be from the internet, radio, tapes, TV or the textbook or you could write some facts on the blackboard. What will be your role as they talk – will you go around and just listen or will you interact with pairs? If so, when and why?

Write out your plan and then hold the discussion.

Video: Talk for learning

Pause for thought

  • How did your students respond to being able to talk to each other without interference from you? Were they all involved and talking?
  • What went well in the discussion? How do you know this?
  • What was not so successful? Why was this?
  • What could you do to change this?
  • Which students did you need to prompt?

1 What is a discussion?

3 Developing discussion skills