THEFISHBOWL

CLASS DISCUSSION TECHNIQUE

1.

Fiveseatsareplaced,inacircle,inthecenteroftheroom.

2.

Allotherseatsapushedtothewallsforseatingfornonparticipants.

3.

The five students in the circle, the fishbowl, are the

only ones allowed to speak in
the room. There is to be
no conversation outside of thecircle. Theteacherchooses
thefirststudentsinthecircle,atrandom.

4.

The students engage in debate on an issue presented, as an openended question,

bytheteacher.

5.

All participants must abide by the rules of civic discussion. These rules are
providedinthediscussionrubric.

6.

The participants must also operate under the standards of common courtesy. (No
yelling,nointerrupting,nonamecalling,etc.)

7.

Onceastudentinthecirclehasspoken,astudentfromoutsidethecirclemaycome
and tap that student. The student in the circle
must then give the one whotapped
them their seat and return to the outside observation seats. The new entrant may
notbetappeduntilheorshehasspokenatleastonce.

8.

Students, once removed from the circle, mayreturnatanytime.(Theymaynotbe

tapped untiltheyhavespoken again)Theteachermaygrantpreferentialseatingto
studentswhohavenotyetparticipatedinthedebate.

9.

The teacher does notparticipateinthediscussionexcepttoprovideanewquestion

ortoterminateanirrelevant,orinappropriate,lineofdiscussion.

DiscussionRubric(SS100505)

Discussion
Rubric
Substantive
Statesand
identifies
issues.

Accuratelystatesand Accuratelystatesan Statesarelevant

Doesnotstateany
identifiesissues.
issue.
factual,ethical,or issues.
definitionalissueasa
question.
Uses
Accuratelyand
Accuratelyexpresses Accuratelyexpresses Doesnotexpress
foundational expressescompletely mostlyrelevant
somewhatrelevant anyrelevant
knowledge.
relevantfoundational foundational
foundational
foundational
knowledgepertaining knowledgepertainingknowledgepertainingknowledge.
totheissuesraised
toissuesraised
toanissueraisedby
duringthediscussion. duringthe
someoneelse.
discussion.
Elaborates
Pursuesanissuewith PursuesanissuewithElaboratesa
Doesnotelaborate
statementswithmorethanone
oneelaborated
statementwithan
anyissues.
explanations, elaboratedstatements. statement.
explanation,reasons,
reasons,or
orevidence.
evidence.
Procedural

Invites
Engagesothersinthe Invitescomments Doesnotinvite
Doesnotinvite
contributions discussionbyinviting fromothersanddoes commentsfrom
commentsfrom
from,and
theircontributionsand notacknowledge
othersbutallows
othersnor
acknowledges acknowledgingtheir theirstatements.
otherstospeak.Does acknowledgetheir
statementsof, contributions.
notacknowledge
statements.
others.
contributionsfrom
others.
Challengesthe Constructively
Respondsinacivil Respondsinacivil Doesnotrespond
accuracy,logic,challengesthe
mannertoa
mannerbutdoesnot inacivilmannerin
relevance,or accuracy,clarity,
statementmadeby challengethe
allconversations.
clarityof
relevance,orlogicof someoneelseby
accuracy,clarity,
Doesnotchallenge
statements.
statementsmade.
challengingits
relevance,orlogicof theaccuracy,
accuracy,clarity,
statements.
clarity,relevance,
relevance,orlogic.
orlogicof
statements.

Adapted from Harris, David E. Assessing Discussion of Public Issues: A Scoring Guide.In
HandbookonTeaching
Social Issues
, edited by Ronald W. Evans and David WarrenSaxe.Washington,D.C.:NationalCouncilfortheSocial
Studies,1996.