I think discussion is a very important part of education, particularly at the beginning. I’ve used it as a form of introduction to units and transition points, and I think it helps the students to feel engaged and involved; I am taking their thoughts and ideas into account before beginning the unit. I think it also helps to know what preconceptions and background knowledge students have about a specific topic.
I think it’s not very effective as a method of imparting knowledge to a student, because some may not absorb the information through their auditory channels very well, or they may need time to digest the information, but I think once I give students time to digest the information, it is an effective method of testing how well they understand the knowledge. In my experience students often learn the knowledge as a formula or “parrot”, but they don’t necessarily know how to combine that knowledge with other pieces of information they previously learned.
I could see discussion doubling as a discovery or cooperative learning strategy of instruction.
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