FIGs Faculty Meet to Explore Small Group Discussion Techniques

In this discussion group held October 15^th, and led by Harry Brighouse, FIGs faculty focused on small group discussion as a pedagogical strategy: what works/what doesn’t, how to facilitate it, and what approaches are appropriate for FIGs students.

Compiled below are many of the ideas/techniques shared in the discussion

1. Force students to think about tradeoffs - choices force students to think about what they value.
2. Developmentally, students often see in black and white, and are looking for the “right” answer.
3. Open discussions of small groups up at the end to help facilitate even further discussion.
4. Put students in uncomfortable situations!  This will help the learning process.
   Give students a creative activity without a product.  Failure produces knowledge!
5. Discussion can take more forms than dialogue or even talking.  Grappling with issues can be physically embodied in movement, acting, or other non-traditional classroom discourse modalities.
6. Students often come up with their own good discussion prompts.
7. Students learn from, and enjoy discussing and posing potential exam questions.
8. Drop the lecture style of teaching.  Lecture teaching creates students waiting for the answers.  Make students create their own hypothesis, create their own questions, and give their own examples.
1. Participating faculty noted that their “lecture” time has been reduced to less than 1/3 of the class.

Other topics that were touched upon:

• Talked at end of session about if it's okay for faculty to use their own work, papers, or texts in the class assignments.
• Recognizing that it takes considerable energy to restrain oneself and not jump in while students are “hashing it out.” 
• Trying not to jump into the discussion too quickly to clear it all up
• Considering and navigating teacher identity in the post-lecture classroom.
• Attempting to step back into a moderator/facilitator role…taking on the role of critic in a discussion, not the source of information or content.

The discussion was robust and informative, and the exchange of ideas was beneficial to all.

The next planned discussion is November 5^th at 1:00 pm location TBA.