Teacher's Curriculum Institute

Response Groups enrich class discussion and promote critical thinking. Groups of students receive historical information, view compelling images, read primary sources, or listen to music, and then discuss provocative questions about the material. After the small-group discussions, presenters from each group share findings with the class to stimulate whole-class discussion. Because students have access to rich resources and the ideas of their classmates, their responses are more thoughtful and detailed than during conventional class discussions.

1. Use Response Groups to discuss controversial issues, historical dilemmas, or multiple perspectives on the past.
Response Groups allow students to grapple with the ambiguities of history, to recognize the complexity of historical events, and to discuss the legacies of our past. Response Groups are most effective when you want students to: 2. Place students into heterogeneous groups of three or four based on gender, ethnicity, and dominant intelligence.
Create a transparency of the Response Groups classroom arrangement. Write the names of the group members on the transparency with a temporary marker so you can switch group members before the next response group.

3. Provide students with information to answer provocative, critical-thinking questions.
During Response Groups activities, background knowledge must be provided quickly so that students can spend the bulk of the activity grappling with critical-thinking questions. You can do this by assigning an interesting historical reading, discussing a powerful image, or giving a mini-lecture.

4. Assign and rotate the role of presenter in each group.
At the beginning of a Response Groups activity, assign the role of presenter to one student in each group. Presenters act as facilitators during group discussion and as the group’s spoke s persons during class discussion. Rotate the role of presenter for each set of critical-thinking questions that groups discuss.

5. Allow groups time to discuss critical-thinking questions.
Groups generally need three to seven minutes to discuss each critical-thinking question. Circulate through the room to monitor group discussion. Do not interrupt groups to interject your own opinions.

6. Facilitate a dynamic discussion with the entire class.
Facilitate a class discussion so that different points of view are brought forth in a lively, engaging fashion. Use any of the following ideas to inspire rich discussion:

Learning the Form and Function of a Mosque

In this Response Groups activity, students analyze pictures of the major architectural features of a mosque to discover how various parts of the building reflect Muslim beliefs and practices.

The Cuban Missile Crisis: You Make the Call

In this Response Groups activity, students examine slides of the Cuban missile crisis and respond critically to a series of questions that had the best and brightest people in the Kennedy administration working overtime during one of the most suspenseful moments in Cold War history.