Enhancing Student Involvement and Comprehension Through Group and Class Discussions
Abstract
The goals of this study were to incorporate group and class discussions in two psychology courses to promote critical thinking and interaction among students. Throughout the courses, students engaged in discussions of an issue and wrote position papers presenting their own conclusions. Readings from Opposing Viewpoints texts (Cozic, 1996; Wekesser, 1996; Williams, 1999) were incorporated into the courses to promote discussions. Quantitative and qualitative data from student evaluations suggest that the discussions improved interaction among students, engaged them in the issues, and promoted critical thinking. The author replicated the benefits of incorporating discussions into a different course to verify the reliability of the benefits.
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