John Hattie’s Top Ten Visible Learning Takeaways –
Number Seven: Classroom Discussion
This is the third of a ten part series that serves to highlight the most significant findings and their applications to our classrooms from Hattie’s 2012 work, Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning.
Number 7 – Classroom Discussion
Classroom discussion is another critical area of Hattie’s study with a huge effect size. Classroom discussions provide the opportunity for students to communicate with one another for a variety of functions including to activate prior knowledge, to explore new topics, to learn from others, and to demonstrate their learning. This is an engagement strategy which provides all students the chance to participate, especially when structured in a way that extends beyond a teacher-student question and answer sequence.
Application to the Classroom
Consider what Hattie’s website, visiblelearning.org, asserts regarding what your most effective classroom discussions should include:
- creating a series of questions for the students to think about
- allocating enough time in the lesson for an elaborate discussion
- making sure that students can freely express their opinion without being laughed at or ridiculed
You can click here for a concise, yet detailed, paper by William E. Cashin on how to effectively plan, moderate, and reflect on classroom discussions. His advice includes the following recommendations for fostering participation (which he expands upon in the writing):
- Ask general (divergent) questions.
- Avoid looking only at the student talking.
- Control excessive talkers.
- Ask for examples and illustrations.
- Be sensitive to feelings and emotional reactions.
- Encourage and recognize students’ contributions.
Hattie, J., Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement (2009)
Hattie, J. Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning (2012)
Shute, V.J., Focus on Formative Feedback (2008)
Effect size image retrieved from: http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/what_works.htm
Maxwell image retrieved from http://quotesgram.com/care-john-c-maxwell-quotes/#9PWYZjgpMN
