3 Developing discussion skills

As soon as students have developed the skills of listening and responding to one another, they can engage in classroom discussion. It is important to identify as many opportunities as possible for your students to work together, explain their ideas and solve problems collaboratively. These activities will support them when taking part in scientific discussion.

In Activity 1 you may have found that asking the students to work in pairs limited the depth of discussion. However, as a starting point, it is a safe and easier context in which students can start learning to share ideas and explain concepts to each other.

In a large class, asking the students to work in pairs makes it hard for you to move around the classroom and listen in. But you can focus on the students that you know are less confident at speaking out or are unsure about their knowledge of science. Moving on to using group discussion and whole-class discussion will take time and preparation, both for you and your students, but the benefits in terms of confidence, motivation and interest will be easy to see, as will the rise in achievement (see Resource 2, ‘Using groupwork’, for further insights). With groups, you have fewer separate units to monitor and you can hear and see at once how more students are responding to the task and situation.

Figure 1 Working in groups will improve your students’ achievement.

Mr Bhana uses groups in the next case study; look at the ways he supports his students.

Video: Using groupwork

Case Study 2: Group discussion

Mr Bhana decided to teach his students about the causes of malnutrition through classroom discussion. He chose this teaching strategy because the causes of malnutrition are complex and controversial, involving a combination of biological, social and cultural factors. Also, his students would be able to relate directly to some of the issues involved.

I began the lesson by organising the class into groups of four. I explained to my students that they were going to discuss two questions. The first question I asked them was ‘What does malnutrition mean?’ I set them a five-minute time limit to share their ideas.

I wanted the discussions to be free-flowing so I did not allocate roles in the groups or ask them to note down their ideas. As I walked around the class, I discreetly listened to my students’ discussions without interrupting. This gave me the opportunity to establish what they understood by the term ‘malnutrition’.

After five minutes, I asked my students to share what they had been talking about with the rest of the class. As they spoke, I repeated their ideas and wrote them on the blackboard. These included ‘Malnutrition means not getting enough food’ and ‘It means you are not getting the right goodness into your body.’ I explained that I would share some definitions of malnutrition with them at the end of the lesson.

I then asked them the second question, ‘What are the consequences of malnutrition?’ As I listened in to their discussions, I noticed that a number of students were finding it difficult to explain their ideas. I therefore asked each group one or two additional questions to help them, including ‘Can you explain how malnutrition is not good for your body?’ and ‘In what ways might your body stop working properly?’

Each group then shared what they had discussed with the rest of the class. Again, I repeated their contributions and made notes about them on the blackboard. I concluded the lesson by giving them the definitions of malnutrition [see Resource 3] and briefly explaining what its effects are on the human body.

Pause for thought

  • What strategies did Mr Bhana use to help his students as they discussed the causes of malnutrition?
  • Which strategies did you especially like? What did he notice?
  • How did he respond to what he noticed?

2 Encouraging discussion

4 The role of the teacher