There are many different ways to begin a classroom discussion.
The most common is to present learners with a question or statement related to the topic.
There is also the frequently used method of providing learners with a task that they must complete; the results of which will form the basis of a discussion.
In a situation like this, learners investigate a topic and then discuss the results of their investigation.
Another way of starting a discussion is by using stimulus material.
Here, the teacher presents learners with something and asks them to respond to it; the material is, literally, stimulating learners into thinking.
It is an approach that is not appropriate in every setting.
For example, if learners already know a great deal about a topic and the teacher wishes them to use this knowledge in a discussion, then stimulus material will be a distraction rather than a help.
Similarly, if learners have completed a task, or a series of tasks, that were designed to lead up to a discussion, then any stimulus material is likely to get in the way of the lesson flow. It will detract from what has been planned, rather than add to it.
It is most effective to use stimulus material when any of the following apply:
- Learners have not done much, or any, prior work on the topic.
- The teacher wants to focus on something specific that can be easily accessed through certain resources.
- The purpose of the discussion is to ‘get learners thinking about a topic’.
- The teacher wishes to challenge learners’ thinking (this can include encouraging learners to think critically or creatively).
- The material is being used as an introduction to a topic or to an idea; discussion will draw out existing knowledge and lead on to other tasks concerning the topic or idea.
You can choose almost anything to be your stimulus material.
It could be an image, a part of a text, a historical document, an object, a speech, a newspaper article, a photograph, an event or a piece of music.
Once the material has been chosen, the teacher must decide how they will introduce it to learners, how they will frame it, and how they will use it to build a discussion.
We’ll look at each of these points in turn.
Introducing the material, the teacher has three options: say nothing, say a little or say a lot.
The first option has the advantage of not pre-empting learner thoughts and of not priming learners to look at the material in a certain way.
The main drawback is that the ambiguity may be too great for some learners, leading them to not engage with the activity and to make no response.
The second option requires the teacher to consider what precisely they want pupils to know about the material.
This judgement ought to consider the purpose of using the stimulus material.
For example, if the purpose is to provoke a creative discussion, then it will be best not to reveal too many specific points about the material as these could stymie original thinking.
The third option allows the teacher to contextualise the material for learners and to scaffold possible responses they might make when interacting with it.
The disadvantage here is that the teacher may unwittingly close down avenues of thought or inadvertently direct learners to specific ways of thinking, thus limiting the scope of the discussion that follows.
Having introduced the material, the teacher will need to frame it for learners, telling them how they ought to interact with it.
On a very basic level this could simply involve the teacher asking a question such as: ‘What might this be?’ or ‘How might this connect to the subject?’
A more detailed framing might involve a preamble in which the teacher picks out certain aspects of the material and suggests how they might be thought about or what questions might be asked of them.
An extensive framing sees the teacher specifying precisely what it is learners are expected to do with the material and, consequently, what they need to have ready to contribute to the discussion.
For example, the teacher may ask different pairs to analyse a specific line of a text, making use of a set of questions to do so.
Once learners have interacted with the stimulus material and thought about their responses it is time for the discussion to begin.
The teacher will need to judge whether the ensuing debate should stick close to the stimulus material, or whether it is merely a jumping-off point.
Such a judgement depends on your choice of stimulus material and its intended purpose, as well as the overarching aims on which the lesson is built.
Here are two examples to demonstrate this point:
Example 1: Stimulus material = Passage of dialogue from a Dickens novel.
- Learners will be studying this novel over the next few months. This may lead the teacher to keep the discussion close to the material.
Example 2: Stimulus material = A picture of an animal in a cage.
- Learners will be studying the English Legal System over the next three weeks. Here it will be best to use the stimulus material as a jumping-off point.
Stimulus material can provoke fantastic discussions.
It can grab learners’ attention, get them thinking, and cause them to engage with the subject and the lesson.
By thinking about when and how to use it, you can maximise these benefits and bring them to bear for your learners.
