A
STRUCTURED APPROACH
TO
DISCUSSING ECONOMICS
W.
Lee Hansen
Professor
Emeritus
UW-Madison
Presented
at Concurrent Workshop Session, Midwest Conference on Student Learning
in
Economics
November
4-5, 2004
University
of Akron
SELECTION OF DISCUSSION MATERIAL
Does
the material contain a sufficient number of ideas to warrant discussion?
Is the
material self-contained?
Is the
material reasonably well written?
Is
the material interesting to both the instructor and the students?
PREPARING
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Factual
Questions. A
factual question asks for specific information that can be found in the reading
assigned for discussion.
Interpretive
Questions. An
interpretive question asks discussion participants for an interpretation; it asks
them to explore what the author meant by what was said.
Evaluative
Questions. An
evaluative question asks participants for a judgment.
RELATIONSHIPS
AMONG QUESTIONS
BY
TYPE AND ROLE
|
|
Question Types |
|||
|
Inter-pretive |
Factual |
Eval-uative |
||
|
Quest-ion Roles |
Basic |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
Support-ing |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
|
Follow Up |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
|
Conclud-ing |
Possibly |
No |
Yes |
|
Responsibilities
of Discussion Leaders
1.
Read the material carefully.
2. Prepare clusters of questions carefully and in
advance.
3. Pose
questions carefully.
4. Develop
the discussion in depth.
5. Strive
for answers.
6. Avoid
difficult or technical terms.
7. Listen
intently.
8. Involve
each participant.
9. Confine
yourself to asking questions.
Responsibilities
of Participants
1. Read
the material carefully.
2. Offer evidence from the reading to support
your answers.
3. Don't base your answers on outside material
everyone has read it.
4. Listen
carefully.
5. Ask for clarification of any point that you
don't understand.
6. Challenge answers that you do not agree with.
7. Be willing to change your mind if someone
shows you to be in error.
8. Answer the questions posed by the leader
before making additional points.
9. Stick
to the subject.
10.
Do not interrupt when someone else is speaking.
11.
Be as brief as possible. Don’t continue
to babble.
Format
of Discussion Modules
In
Salemi-Hansen Book on
Discussing
Economics (Elgar 2005)
Summary of Reading
Learning Objectives
Question Clusters
Discussion Suggestions
Learning
How to Conduct and Participate in a Formal, Structured Discussion
Selection
Discussed
William
A. Galston
“Thinking
About the Draft”
from
The
Public Interest
Winter
2004, pp. 61-73
Discussion
Questions from
Michael
Salemi and W. Lee Hansen
Discussing
Economics (Elgar 2005)