The Art of Science of Teaching Utilizing Discussion and Other Group Participation Methods in Class Room Teaching

The literature concerning teaching is replete with information and research on how to teach and how people learn. There is also a considerable body of knowledge indicating that adult students have learning preferences somewhat different from adolescent and child students. Yet we often find that we are not as well versed in the art and science of teaching as we would like to be, and unless we attend classes in a college of education, little in our formal education teaches us to teach, except our learning from the observational experience of going to class and watching others teach. This lack of emphasis on teaching by college teachers has been exacerbated by structures which reward publication, grantsmanship, and consultation more than effective teaching. Exposure to the literature on teaching allows one to categorize the many methods and techniques for teaching into five broad sets of methods: telling methods, discussion methods, showing methods, performance methods, and supervised study methods. In this paper the author addresses one of these sets, discussion methods. Discussion methods of teaching are often divided into two sets, closed group methods and open group methods. The distinction in the two being the extent of participation of all members. In closed group methods, all learners are active discussion participants. In open group methods one person or a small group take the most active part and the others are essentially an audience. Nine closed group methods and four open group methods are described and cautions and suggestions concerning their use are given