The Messy Nature of a Classroom Discussion

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I love a good class discussion.  The best class discussions are the ones where the students take ownership of the topic.  When I design a whole class discussion, my main goal is for students to have a forum to share what they have learned, test their ideas in a public forum, and then allow their ideas to grow, shape, and change as they participate in group idea sharing.  Usually, I prepare readings and resources for students to read and process, and develop discussion questions to be prepared for discussion.  For a recent class discussion on contemporary Islam, I decided to hand the reins over to my classes.  The results were fruitful.

To complete a unit on Islam, small groups of students researched contemporary topics such as the application of Sharia Law, women in Islam, the rise of ISIS and fundamentalism in Islam, the tension between Sunni and Shia, and discrimination against Muslim groups globally.  Students worked together to find resources, shared them with each other, and analyzed them according to bias and accuracy. I have given this kind of assignment in the past.  At this point, traditionally, I would ask groups to present their findings to the class.  Instead of this, I asked these small groups to choose the best resource they found, to develop a discussion question from this resource, and then to assign this resource and discussion question to the rest of the class.  Student groups chose a wide variety of resources to share including articles from the Wall Street Journal, the BBC, Time, The Pew Research Forum, and The Economist.  Videos were also assigned from a variety of resources like Vox, Ben Shapiro, Now this World, etc.  I did not limit them in terms of biased resources, asking that they acknowledge the bias presented. 

Overall, I felt that the discussion questions that students generated were interesting and complex. Here are a few sample questions:

  • Does political climate affect the way that groups of people, specifically Muslims, are treated and thought of in a country?
  • Why do you think that certain followers of Islam practice fundamentalism and participate in terrorist organizations, while so many other followers of the faith manage to follow it in peace?
  • Based on the empowering Qur’an verses, do you think that Islam is inherently sexist?
  • Do you think a secular state, such as the law of Western societies, is more beneficial to society as a whole as opposed to Sharia? Why?
To prepare for the discussion, students read the articles, viewed the videos, and prepared their thoughts on all the possible discussion questions created by their peers.  
On the day of the discussion, students took control, offering their ideas, and calling on each other.  I interjected from time to time to clarify a comment, move the discussion, or ask a follow up question.  As students discussed, I took notes on student participation and what was said.
Each class experienced a different discussion that expressed the chemistry and interests of each class.  
I felt that the discussions went well, students learned more about contemporary Islam, and were able to develop their own points of view.  On the summative quiz, I included a short answer question that asked students to talk about what they learned from the discussion and connections that they made.  Student responses did show that they liked hearing what others had to say, and that their knowledge and opinions did grow and change as a result of this activity.    I have included pictures of some student comments below.

Overall, I feel like giving my students more agency in the process of developing the discussion prep allowed for students to be more engaged in the process.  My learning goal that students develop and test their own thoughts and opinions in the public forum did happen, as most students offered a  nuanced position on their quiz, referring to the conversation (and sometimes outside research).
I want to play more with student centered research and class discussion next year.  

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