How does it work?:
Divide students into groups of 3–5 students to consider the issues surrounding a problem. After about 10-15 minutes of discussion, one member of each sub-group presents the ideas, or questions, of the sub-group to the whole group. This can then be extended into a whole group discussion.
How does it work?:
Students are divided into groups. Each student in a group is assigned to learn one segment of the lesson. Students take a time to become familiar with their segment. Expert groups are formed by having one student from each group join other students assigned to the same segment, to discuss what they found out. The students return to their jigsaw groups, and present their information to the group.
How does it work?:
Students prepare by reading a text or group of texts and writing some higher-order discussion questions about the text. On seminar day, students sit in a circle and an introductory, open-ended question is posed by the teacher or student discussion leader. From there, students continue the conversation, prompting one another to support their claims with textual evidence.
How does it work?:
After instruction, the teacher provides students with a prompt directly related to the lesson. The the teacher then gives students a few minutes to formulate questions using a list of question stems. Students then form small groups of three or four and take turns asking their questions, and discussing their answers using response stems. Each small group notes any questions they have difficulty with. The teacher listens in on the small-groups discussion, & then chooses topics/questions for whole-class discussion, or for additional learning opportunities to solidify students’ understanding.
How does it work?:
Provide a text or a topic for the class to discuss. Students work in small groups. Designate students in the group to take the role of summarizer, predictor, questioner or clarifier. Provide the students with a description of their role, & then specify a set amount of time for them to discuss & gather information. Once time is up, the class discusses each group's findings.