Group Strategy Engages Students in Discussion

The Write Stuff 2.2 (1992)

Instructors looking for a way to increase class participation and, at the same time, transfer responsibility to students might consider Stephen Fishman's strategy. Fishman, a philosophy professor at University of North Carolina (Charlotte), operates his group discussions from class notes. A student is assigned to take notes for a single day's class session. The notes, written up in a 2-4 page report becomes the first topic of discussion at the next class meeting.

This strategy is useful in that it builds student-conducted review to class sessions. Another strength is that, because it comes from a student perspective, it elicits student points-of-view. Consequently, the instructor has a check on how students interpret classwork as well as what issues are of most interest to students. Finally, writers tend to be conscientious, knowing that the report is "published" and open to critique by their peers.

The strategy is discussed in Lucille Parkinson McCarthy and Stephen M. Fishman's "Boundary Conversations: Conflicting Ways of Knowing in Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research." Research in the Teaching of English 25 (1991): 419-468.