Small Group Teaching

Presenter: Dr. Pravin

Moderator: Dr. Prasad
 Outline of presentation

• Introduction •Types of events in

• Characteristics of SGT
SGT •Advantages of the
• Size of the group
SGT.
• Educational
•Disadvantages /
• Methods of SGT
• Role of the instructor Challenges of the SGT.
in SGT •Evaluation
• Role of the students •Summary
in SGT •References
 Introduction
• SGT-
• Instructional settings optimizing instructor to learner
ratio
• comprising of smaller number of learners (2 to 30)
• prerequisite that it offers ample opportunity for tutor-
student and student-student interaction and
engagement
• making the learning session much active
• allowing the learners a better chance of understanding
the topic involved
• ‘The purist view of small group teaching is that it must
be learner-centred, with all students joining in free
discussion of a particular topic’ (McCrorie, 2006).
 Characteristics of SGT

• Purposeful activity.
• Face-to-face contact.
• Active participation.
• Clarification of tasks.
• Reflection

(adapted from Exley and Dennick, 2004)

Conditions for successful small group
teaching

• Effective planning and preparation

• Breaking the ice -- starting out with the group
• Keeping the group on track
• Dealing with possible problems and conflicts

(adapted from Exley and Dennick, 2004)

 Size of the group

• minimum of 3-4 students -mandatory for proper

functioning
• experienced tutors - facilitate many students,
inexperienced tutor - comfortable with fewer students .
• Ideal is 8 to 12 students,
• around thirty -medical education.
• Tutorials - up to five
• seminars -8 to 20 and
• problem-solving classes up to thirty.

• A typical view of a ‘small group’ is around eight to 12

learners facilitated by a teacher
 Goals of small group teaching
• Getting learners talking and thinking
• Promoting deeper learning
• Active, face-to-face interaction
• Communication skills
– Listening
– Explaining
– Questioning
– Responding

Small group teaching, Stephen Playfor, Manchester Children’s hospital, Central

Manchester University Hospitals, NHS, April 2015
 Conditions for small group teaching
• Optimal group size
• Physical arrangement
• Members accept ground rules
• Clear objectives
• Common sense of direction and purpose
• Group members feel responsible to each other and
the group
• Facilitator with necessary skills

Small group teaching, Stephen Playfor, Manchester Children’s hospital, Central

Manchester University Hospitals, NHS, April 2015
 Small group teaching environment

• Check seating arrangements

• Adjust lighting
• Consider heating and ventilation
• Check equipment
• Consider any safety issues
• Ensure all students can see

• Small group teaching, Stephen Playfor, Manchester Children’s hospital,

Central Manchester University Hospitals, NHS, April 2015
Small group teaching, Stephen Playfor, Manchester Children’s hospital, Central
Manchester University Hospitals, NHS, April 2015
Group dynamics /Group development
stages
Group development stages

A. Forming
This is when a group comes together for the first time. The teacher
can help by facilitating introductions, using ice-breaking tasks, and
explaining the tasks and purpose of the group.

B. Norming
The group begins to share ideas, thoughts and beliefs, and to
develop shared norms (group rules).

C. Storming
This stage is when the group is actively trying to carry out a task and
there may be conflict between one or more group members as the
group sorts itself out and becomes more functional.
 Group development stages
cont.
• Performing
This is when the group focuses on the activity and
starts to work together as a team to perform the
set tasks.
• Adjourning or the termination phase concerned
with sadness and some self evaluation (borrowed
from Lacoursiere’s 1974 work on Group
development stages)

• Stages of Small-Group Development Revisited, Bruce W. Tuckman and

Mary Ann C. Jensen.
 Structuring small group teaching

• Richmond (1984) sets out five key roles of the

teacher in terms of the ‘strategic
interventions’ required to maintain the group
as a functional unit.
• Start and finish group work
• Maintain the flow of content
• Manage group dynamics
• Facilitate goal achievement
• Manage group environment
 Small group teaching can be
structured around:
• topics or themes -
• clinical cases (actual patients or case notes) -
• clinical or community-based problems
• situations -
• tasks or skills
 Planning the structure of a small
discussion group
• Step 1
• Consider what you want the students to learn or
achieve - in other words, what the
• learning outcomes should be (
• Step 2
• Choose a suitable set of group tasks to deliver the
desired outcomes.
• Step 3
• Decide how to organise the small group.
 Techniques for effective
facilitation in group discussion
- Ensure that group members have an agreed set of ground
rules—for example, not talking at the same time as another
group member

-Ensure that the students are clear about the tasks to be carried
out

- When you present a question don't answer it yourself or try to

reformulate it—count to 10 silently before speaking again
Techniques for effective facilitation in
group discussion
cont.
-When you have something you could say (which
could be most of the time), count to 10 again

-Look round the group both when you are

speaking and when a student is speaking.
 Types of small group events

Seminars and tutorials are two of the most traditional

models for learning in groups in higher education.

A ‘seminar’ normally describes a group discussion led

formally or informally by the tutor, focusing on issues
arising from subject matter. The number of students is
normally between eight and 20.

The word ‘tutorial’ tends to be used for smaller group

teaching events where more time is spent with
individual students and their development, using
certain aspects of subject matter to stimulate debate.
 Types of small group events
cont.
Workshops are educational seminars or meetings where
there is interaction and exchange of information;
sometimes they are designed to generate information
or position papers.

Journal clubs are meetings of staff where everyone is

asked to present their comments on recent papers in
the medical (or other) literature.
Syndicate groups are where participants are asked to
prepare (individually or in pairs) on a pre-selected topic
around a theme (for example, on different
conditions/diseases around a theme of chronic
obstructive airway disease) and report back at the
syndicate group.
 Types of small group events
cont.
Action learning sets (ALSs)
are frequently used in postgraduate staff
development and training. They comprise a group
of six to eight people who come together around
shared and negotiated tasks, problems or ‘issues’.

Problem based learning (PBL):

This term used to refer to many approaches to
learning but what all of these methods have in
common is that learning starts from dealing with
problems and the student-centeredness of the
approach.
 Methods of SGT

• Group round
• Each person has a brief time—say, 20 seconds
or one minute—
• to say something in turn round the group. The
direction round
• the group can be decided by the first
contributor, or members
• can speak in a random order.
 Buzz group
Student asked to turn to neighbour
•To answer prepared question
•Discuss what they understand
by…
•Speculate on what will happen
next in e.g. case scenario

•Can be used to provide a stimulating

change in the locus of attention
•Can be used by facilitators to gain
some idea of what the students know
•Can be used by the students to check
their own understanding
•Can also be used in large groups
 Snowball groups :

• An extension of buzz groups.

• The students are divided into pairs, which join
to form fours, then fours to eights.
• These group of eight report back to the whole
group.
 Crossover groups :

• Students are divided

into groups and
allowed to exchange
ideas and are later
regrouped to form new
groups and again
allowed to exchange
their own and what
they learned in the
earlier groups, to
maximize the exchange
of information.
 Fishbowls group :
• Inner group students discussing an issue or
topic while the outer group students listen,
looking for themes to give feedback to the
group on its functioning.
 Circular questioning :
• One group member formulate a question
relevant to the topic and put it to the person
opposite, who has a specified time ( 1-2
minutes) to answer.
• The questioning and answering continue
clockwise round the group until every one has
contributed.
 Hoarse shoe groups :
• Common practice in workshops. Groups are
arranged around tables .You can talk formally
from the board for a time before switching to
presenting a group task. This method allows you
to alternate between the lecture and discussion
formats.
 Advantages of SGT
• It encourages students to take responsibility of
their learning.
• Deeper understanding of the material.
• Encourage participation
• Encourage problem-solving skills
• Develop interpersonal skills
• Develop communication skills
• Social/team work skills
• Develop presentation skills.
• Integration of several learning processes such
as talking, listening, writing and reading.
• Opportunity to experience and observe
other’s learning and reasoning methods.
• Break down the isolation.
• Ease the distinction between tutor and
learners.
 Disadvantages/Challenges of SGT
• Infrastructure ( Halls , resources , Internet , etc …)
• Staff.
• Mentality of students.
• Group Composition.
• Group structure.
• Task of the group.
• Group atmosphere.
• Student participation.
• Group leadership skills.
• Finding a common ground.
• Content and instructional materials.
• Time.
• Assessment.
• The instructor must plan the group activities
carefuly since he or she will not be in charge
every minute.
• The instructor must be prepared to cope with
the unexpected from the groups.
• Some time one or two students will not
concentrate on the task at hand and will
require more careful monitoring.
• One student dominate or block the discussion.
• Students do not prepare for the sessions.
 Role of tutor in SGT
• In many SGT situations, the role of the tutor is
that of facilitator of learning: leading discussions,
asking open-ended questions, guiding process
and task,
• The tutor must plan the group activities and
construct the instructions
• The tutor must decide how to structure the group
s ( randomly , by interest , by skills , etc….) and
arrange the environment to facilitate the group
work.
• At the end of the session , the tutor is
responsible for the debriefing
• The tutor role is to highlights the major points
being made , to bring out things which were
not considered and, in general to sum up what
was learned from the session.
 Role of students in SGT
• active participation
• must attain essential knowledge and
additional skills which might be a prerequisite
for such sessions
• knowledge of group dynamics and ground
rules
• must provide much of the initiatives, explore
options, develop solutions and review
outcomes.
• must facilitate contributions like: peer –
assisted learning; group-work outside class in
teams
 Comparison between LGT and SGT

• In order to gain a deeper learning the

following four components are important to
both SGT and LGT:
• − Motivational context
• − Learner Activity
• − Interaction with others
• − A well structured knowledge base