Students? knowledge about the value of discussions for teaching and learning

Abstract

We are particularly interested in looking at teaching and learning from students' perspectives. Focussed interviews and written responses from a number of linked investigations with middle-school and tertiary students highlighted that students perceive discussion to be a valuable teaching -learning technique. This paper provides text extracts, organised into six key themes, to illustrate students' understandings about how discussion helps them to learn. We conclude that, across the whole participant group, knowledge about the various potentials of discussion for learning is wide ranging. However, at the individual level, some students' perspectives appear limited. We propose that specific attention to enhancing students' pedagogical knowledge about techniques such as discussion should accompany subject matter instruction.

The Application of Carousel Feedback and Round Table Cooperative Learning Models to Improve Student’s Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) and Social Studies Learning Outcomes

“…10, No. 10;2017 stimulate students to reveal that there are no wrong answers, so that students believe in themselves or on the answer that they wrote, and (c) explore the question to the student through group discussions (Askell-Williams & Lawson, 2005) and gives the example of stimulus (Zohar, 2004).…”

“…Increasing HOTS can be done by asking questions, group discussion, peer tutoring, and cooperative learning (Karabulut, 2012;King et al, 2011;Askell-Williams & Lawson, 2005;Kauchak & Eggen, 1998). Increasing HOTS using Carousel Feedback cooperative learning model can be initiated by familiarizing the students with the activity of observing, discussing, rotating teams, analyzing the work of other groups and providing feedback.…”

“…Secondly, there is a lack of contextual learning, as the source of information only relies on teacher's books and student books without relating it to the present condition and the environment. Thirdly, in teacher group discussions less trigger students' ability to have the ability in analyzing, evaluating, creating through the habituation of student activities such as collecting, processing, presenting, and concluding (Saido et al, 2015;Nuh, 2015;Askell-Williams & Lawson, 2005). The knowledge received by students actually depends on what is taught by the teacher (Arends, 2013;Noor, 2009;Sunal & Haas, 2005).…”

Scaffolding cognitive and metacognitive strategy instruction in regular class lessons

“…However, the language of the questionnaire items was straightforward, and although the strategies, such as 'discussions' or 'draw pictures or diagrams' or 'ask a question' might be enacted in different ways by younger or older students, our interpretation is that each strategy type was sufficiently clear, such that both younger and older students could recognise whether they did, or did not, use that strategy type. In our previous interview research with school students, questions such as these have been interpreted in the ways that we intended (e.g., Askell-Williams & Lawson, 2005a;2005b (2008) have argued that growth in strategy knowledge requires appropriate metacognitive activity, so that the generation of more precise knowledge about strategy effectiveness will be stimulated by performance monitoring and by linking the outcomes of monitoring to the prior strategy knowledge (Winne, 1996).…”

Prospective elementary teachers’ motivation to participate in whole-class discussions during mathematics content courses for teachers

“…With respect to task values and participation in discussion, Askell-Williams and Lawson (2005) found that middle school students and prospective teachers believed that discussion helped them learn, yet participants had a limited view of the purpose of discussions. The authors suggested the importance of teaching explicitly about the pedagogical purpose of engaging in discourse in conjunction with teaching subject matter content to prospective teachers.…”