Want to turn your classroom into a hotbed of discussion?
26/09/08 08:25 Filed in: Engaging
instruction | Teaching
tips
Deborah
Carpenter and Dana Bincer of Biblical Integration
Ideas share an
engaging instructional strategy you can use to
help your students connect what they study and
what the Bible teaches:
Want to turn your classroom into a hotbed of discussion? Get your students thinking about and discussing biblically based open-ended questions. Lively discussions don't just have to occur in debate or ethics class. Challenge your students to think about how the topic you are teaching has ethical components.
Students love to talk. Some will talk about anything. Others will wait until they feel they’ve got something to say. The beauty of a well crafted discussion starter is that most students will feel like they have something significant to contribute.
Ideally, a Biblically based discussion starter helps students ponder and process issues pertaining to the topic being taught and the Christian worldview. Some question may not appear at first blush to be biblical, but will turn out to be in discussion.
The question seems neutral enough, but it is fairly similar to the question posed to Jesus in Luke 20:19-26. On the surface, the question is about taxes. After further discussion, it could easily lead to discussions on obligation, citizenship, law, and morality.
Things to Consider
That is the beauty of a well written discussion starter. It should bring the topic into a whole new light. There are a few simple things to consider when coming up with a discussion starter.
Ok, so it should be a broad, open-ended, higher level thinking question that focuses on a biblical truth. Sounds easy enough, but how do you write it? It helps to have a topic and Biblical truth picked out ahead of time. What is the class going to be learning about? What is the basic Biblical truth that encompasses that?
It might help to think about what students like to talk about: themselves, entertainment (movies, music, books), their beliefs, justice and morality, etc. The following are just a few ideas to generate discussion starters.
Classroom discussions not only give the teacher insight into what students think and believe, it helps the teacher see which areas may warrant further discussion. When a teacher lectures all day, it is hard to tell what is going on in the students’ minds.
Classroom discussions will be most effective if the teacher has considered the questions ahead of time, and has a general direction he wants to take. Students may have differing opinions before, during, and after the discussions, but by-and-large, the teacher should try to help the students to come across the Biblical truths.
Even after Biblical truths have been discussed, students may not wish to believe them, but that is a personal decision. The teacher’s job is to highlight the truth with grace, and help students find where the truth has been twisted or distorted. If the teacher takes a strong-arm approach and rams the truth down students’ throats, those with different viewpoints may become less willing to share in class discussions.
With a little practice, you really can turn your class into a hotbed of discussion.
To see a list of sample discussion starters, click here.
Want to turn your classroom into a hotbed of discussion? Get your students thinking about and discussing biblically based open-ended questions. Lively discussions don't just have to occur in debate or ethics class. Challenge your students to think about how the topic you are teaching has ethical components.
- How is the knowledge of the topic being taught used and abused?
- What are some different worldviews regarding the topic?
- What are the ramifications of operating from those different worldviews?
Students love to talk. Some will talk about anything. Others will wait until they feel they’ve got something to say. The beauty of a well crafted discussion starter is that most students will feel like they have something significant to contribute.
Ideally, a Biblically based discussion starter helps students ponder and process issues pertaining to the topic being taught and the Christian worldview. Some question may not appear at first blush to be biblical, but will turn out to be in discussion.
Should one pay taxes while visiting or living in a foreign country, especially if one disagrees with the political status of that country?
The question seems neutral enough, but it is fairly similar to the question posed to Jesus in Luke 20:19-26. On the surface, the question is about taxes. After further discussion, it could easily lead to discussions on obligation, citizenship, law, and morality.
Things to Consider
That is the beauty of a well written discussion starter. It should bring the topic into a whole new light. There are a few simple things to consider when coming up with a discussion starter.
- It should be open-ended. Students should not be able to answer it with a yes, a no, or a simple answer.
- It should be a little broad, encompassing a couple of ideas, but not too broad that it is too hard to discuss
- It should touch on Biblical truths.
- It should involve thinking at one of the top three levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.
Ok, so it should be a broad, open-ended, higher level thinking question that focuses on a biblical truth. Sounds easy enough, but how do you write it? It helps to have a topic and Biblical truth picked out ahead of time. What is the class going to be learning about? What is the basic Biblical truth that encompasses that?
It might help to think about what students like to talk about: themselves, entertainment (movies, music, books), their beliefs, justice and morality, etc. The following are just a few ideas to generate discussion starters.
- How is the knowledge of the topic being taught used and abused? (How is the topic manipulated for good or evil?)
- What controversial or counterintuitive issues can be discussed about the topic?
- What are other worldviews regarding that topic?
- What are the ramifications of the different worldviews?
- Do all cultures view the topic the same way?
- Can an absolute standard be applied to the topic for all cases at all times?
- How does the topic relate to the students, their family, society at large?
- What are the current events regarding the topic, and do the current events reveal a religious or philosophical position?
- Does the topic differ when applied to children, youth, adults, or the elderly?
- Which form of entertainment reveal the topic at a controversial or absolute level?
Classroom discussions not only give the teacher insight into what students think and believe, it helps the teacher see which areas may warrant further discussion. When a teacher lectures all day, it is hard to tell what is going on in the students’ minds.
Classroom discussions will be most effective if the teacher has considered the questions ahead of time, and has a general direction he wants to take. Students may have differing opinions before, during, and after the discussions, but by-and-large, the teacher should try to help the students to come across the Biblical truths.
Even after Biblical truths have been discussed, students may not wish to believe them, but that is a personal decision. The teacher’s job is to highlight the truth with grace, and help students find where the truth has been twisted or distorted. If the teacher takes a strong-arm approach and rams the truth down students’ throats, those with different viewpoints may become less willing to share in class discussions.
With a little practice, you really can turn your class into a hotbed of discussion.
To see a list of sample discussion starters, click here.