IF YOU WANT TO:
Prompting discussion through the use of key phrases on index cards.
Before class, an education professor prepares a set of 3 x 5 index cards, each containing an important phrase or issue relating to the topic or readings for that week. He makes three to six cards depending on the amount of time he wishes to spend on the topic. A student draws a card out of a hat and has three minutes to respond to the prompt. The class then discusses and elaborates on the student's presentation. At the beginning of the course, students are told that they will be called on to speak two or three times throughout the semester.
"I find this technique very useful in breaking the ice for discussion," he explains. "Furthermore, this activity gives students a chance to polish their impromptu speaking skills."
A variation which this teacher employs is to give the same question to groups of two or three students and have them discuss the issue among themselves for five to ten minutes. Small groups are then combined into larger groups of four to nine students and discussion continues for another 10 minutes. Finally, a student is selected from each group to make a brief presentation to the assembled class on the conclusions reached by his or her group.
"By beginning the discussion with only two or three people," this teacher explains, "students are more likely to `open up' and express their views. In order for two people to have a discussion, they both have to talk."
Limitations on Use of Suggestion
Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California