What's the point in discussion?

Ms Sarah Cornelius University of Aberdeen Review published 17 November 2005 Diana Laurillard [1] has argued that one of the great untested assumptions of current educational practice is that students learn through discussion (Laurillard, 1993). Bligh’s book goes a long way to providing evidence that, at least in a face to face classroom setting, discussion is at least as effective as other methods of teaching. This is a book which draws on a wealth of research and personal experience to present the case that students do learn through discussion, and that as teachers we can do much to nurture and encourage the development of thinking skills, and the development of attitudes and values by using discussion and group work techniques. The central idea of the book is that you should ‘start with simple tasks in small groups for short periods of time, and then gradually increase their respective complexity, size and duration’. Indeed this maxim is presented so many times that there is no escaping the message of the book. But other equally important ideas are there too, for example that students need to learn basic thinking and discussion skills, and that teachers need to continuously reflect on and extend their repertoire of techniques. The book is written in an easy to read and engaging style, and the frequent use of the first person makes the reader feel that they are really learning from someone with a wealth of experience in this area. The material is structured and organised in such a fashion that the reader can get a feel for the argument from headings and subheadings, whilst more in depth reading will reveal the details of the research which provides supporting evidence. For readers without perfect memories it is suggested Section IV should be the starting point – this is where the ideas are applied and a developmental sequence of discussion methods is introduced. This section includes much thought-provoking and useful content; even for experienced users of techniques such as buzz groups, horseshoe groups, case discussion and different types of tutor led tutorials. Part IV of this book on its own would be useful for most practitioners. Earlier sections build up the case for the application of discussion methods, by reviewing studies of group discussion methods and comparing these with other types of teaching (Part I), by examining why thought and attitudes are developed with a sequence of tasks (Part II), and looking at factors influencing the discussion pr

שנה

2004

שפה

English

הוצאה

Intellect L & D E F a E

מהדורות

1

עמודים

320

ISBN

9781841508559

מקור הנתונים: Wikidata