Fishbowl

Why do it? During in-person sessions, encouraging students to both actively participate and listen carefully leads to better comprehension of material.

Category: Discussion
Time: 30-60 minutes
Group or Individual: Group Activity

Overview

The fishbowl strategy creates an incentive for multiple students to join in discussions by making the discussion space itself part of the focus. Additionally, the fishbowl reduces the likelihood that one or two students will dominate the discussion.

Directions

Place three chairs in the front of the room, with easy access for all class participants. You can put any space between the chairs.
Assign a topic for students to discuss or allow them to generate topics (see the Democratic Discussion activity for a helpful way to generate discussion topics).
Select students to sit on two of the chairs and explain that they will start the discussion rolling. Then, tell the class that any one of them can fill the empty chair, but when they do, one of the original speakers will need to exit voluntarily, leaving their chair empty for someone else to fill.
Set a time limit for the discussion and begin.

Note: In a virtual space? No worries. Use a conferencing tool and set up a "stage" for your students there using raised hands or some other method of noting who is "in the fishbowl".

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References

Pip Decks (2022).