Discussion Method in teaching Araling Panlipunan Content credit to UNSW Australia

1. DISCUSSION
Presented by: Maria Jiwani B. Laña
BSED – Social Studies 3

2. Lecture vs. Discussion
• A lecture is controlled by one individual
presentation.
• A discussion is not controlled by one
individual presentation rather the teacher
must walk a fine line between controlling the
group and letting its member speak.

3. Why use discussion?
• It lets class members work actively with
the ideas and the concepts being pursued
• Discussion sessions can be an extremely
effective in changing behavior or attitudes.

4. Goals
• Develop problem-solving or critical
thinking skills.
• Enable students to articulate a position or
an informed opinion.

5. Common Issues
• Getting student to talk and keeping the
discussion moving can be problematic.
• Long digressions or pointless arguments
by dominant students or the whole group
which can throw the discussion off track.

6. How to Achieve Effective
Discussion
1. Encourage students to contribute
 You can direct the discussion by asking
questions.
 At the beginning of a discussion session,
ask students open-ended or multiple-
answer questions.

7. Advantages
• They decrease the odds that students will
completely unable to answer the question.
• They encourage multiple viewpoints.
• It is likely that the most vocal student in the
class will answer and dispose of the question
straight away.

8. Advantages
• If you record these multiple responses on the
board, you can use them to begin further topics
for discussion; students often participate more
freely in discussions when they feel their own
concerns and ideas have contributed to the
agenda.

9. How to Achieve Effective
Discussion
2. Direct the Discussion
 Knowing the student’s skills and
perspectives helps them whom to call on
to start the discussion moving in the
appropriate direction and to maintain its
momentum.

10. How to Achieve Effective
Discussion
2. Direct the Discussion
 Send clear signals about the kind of
contributions you want.
 “wait time”
 Ask follow-up questions
 Ask them to elaborate or analyse farther

11. How to Achieve Effective
Discussion
2. Direct the Discussion
 Emphasise that students should listen to
each other and not just you.
 Building on student’s point
 Withholding judgement until several
responses are put forward
 Listing the multiple responses on the board
and asking the students to regroup them.

12. How to Achieve Effective
Discussion
3. Control the Discussion
 Listen for a while until you see the
students agenda clearly.
 Try to summarise the key points they have
made.
 Ask the group to connect their points to
those you originally made.

13. How to Achieve Effective
Discussion
3. Aligning discussion with the
curriculum
 Each discussion session must work within
the course as a whole.
 One way to ensure the alignment of
discussion with the learning objectives is to
assign specific tasks before each class.