Panel Discussions

PANEL DISCUSSIONS provide a very useful means to vary your work with a class, to limit the number of people who can speak at one time, or to work with very large groups. I have used panel discussions with groups are large as 60.

In a panel discussion, the whole group is first split into smaller groups to discuss a question or statement for five or ten minutes. That can be provided by you or created and chosen by the group.

Then, one or two people from each group are chosen to come to the front of the class and take part in a discussion. Sit them in a horseshoe arrangement (so far as you can manage) so they can face the 'audience' but also see each other. You will lead the discussion. One way to choose children for the panel involves assigning each small-group member with a number and choosing a number from the set at random. All those with the chosen number a selected for the panel. You can try other ways of course. The rest of the class observe and make notes. You could seat them in rows as if they were an audience. Some possibilities are for note-making are:

Focus on content: (1) Make a note of anything anyone said that you agreed or disagreed with and give reasons. (2) Make a list of any opinions that arise in the panel discussion and the reasons that support them. (3) Write down any questions that occurred to you as you listened to the discussion. (4) Write down any examples given in the discussion and say what they were examples of. Write down any counter examples you can think of. (5) Write down any alternative ideas that were not expressed in the discussion.

Focus on performance.  Make a note of examples of such actions as listening well to others, asking questions, supporting ideas with reasons, encouraging others, considering other points of view and responding. Use and evaluation chart like THIS ONE

VOTING FOR A QUESTION
If you want large groups to vote, the 'clapometer' method can be fun and easy to carry out. For each question people can clap. The questions that gains the loudest claps is chosen.

TURN TAKING
I have found the panel discussion to be a very useful and flexible variation on whole-class work. You can swap panel members over after a short time or let one panel talk for longer and then choose a different panel in another lesson.

At the end of the session, you can ask the 'audience members' to share their thoughts on the discussion they have been attending to. If the focus has been content, you be able to see whether they are able to recognise similar and different opinions, reasons, examples and so on. If the focus has been on process, you will have some peer evaluation.

You could make membership of the panel voluntary and then monitor who does and doesn't volunteer. Those who don't can be given some coaching and encouragement away from the rest of the class. Those who dominate could be given a maximum limit for their panel appearances. It is really up to you how you use this idea.

PREPARATION
A panel discussion also works very well if you have spent a previous session getting to a question you will discuss with pupils. You could do the preliminary small-group discussions there as well and choose the panel members.