A tutor's guide to teaching and learning at UQ - TEDI - University of ...

Section 3: Effective Small Group Teaching and Learning 21Essential elements of small classesAccording to Newble and Cannon (2000) there are three elements necessary forsuccessful small group teaching:Active participation♦ Participation by all the students – requires keeping numbers as low as 5-8, butyou can break up “small groups” of 20-30 in to smaller groups for at least someof the time.♦♦Getting everyone involved in a way that is productive and inclusive – this is oneof the major skill areas for you to develop as a small class teacher.Creating the right atmosphere from the beginning is important, and it isimportant to recognise and respect students’ personal comfort zones – the use ofice breaker activities, getting to know names, etc can help in the early stages tomake the context non-threatening – so students feel comfortable discussing theirideas with the group.Face-to-face contact♦ It is important to ensure that your physical environment (i.e., classroom) allowsfor face-to-face contact between you and the students and among the studentsthemselves – having students sit in rows will not help to generate effectivecommunication and discussion in the tutorial. Non-verbals (gestures, facialexpressions, etc) are often just as important as the spoken voice in the deliveryand comprehension of people’s ideas.♦This is also an important aspect in the development of good interpersonal skills,verbal communication and listening skills (see above).Purposeful activity♦ Learners must recognise that information is important if it is to be learned –knowing why you have to know something, enables students to ‘fit’ this intotheir developing knowledge, connecting new information with their existingknowledge. It is much easier to learn subsets of knowledge when you have anidea of the big picture, can see its relevance, see how it is connected to practiceand how it builds on what you already know.♦♦Therefore, each session should have a purpose (that is clearly explained tostudents) and develop in an orderly way – this requires you to plan tasks that aregoing to bring about the learning you want students to achieve.Remember all the while that there are many skills students may be learning(such as the social and personal skills) while they are working through tasks thatseem on the face of it to be concerned with content. So, staying mindful of whatyour students can, and are, learning because they are doing small class activitiesis very important because it allows you to self-consciously build into yourplanning both the specialist disciplinary content and the small group skills youwant them to learn.